Los Angeles Dodgers

Lost amidst the splashes of Johan Santana, Miguel Cabrera and Erik Bedard changing teams was the exile of Joe Torre from New York. The guy may not have been able to bring home the hardware since 2000, but he's still an outstanding manager who did wonders in the never-ending spotlight in New York. The Dodgers are hoping he can bring some of that magic out to the West coast and help them compete in a suddenly tough division in 2008.

Lineup

• SS Rafael Furcal
• LF Juan Pierre
• RF Matt Kemp
• CF Andruw Jones
• 2B Jeff Kent
• 1B James Loney
• C  Russell Martin
• 3B Nomar Garciaparra (Andy LaRoche)

Rotation

• Brad Penny
• Derek Lowe
• Chad Billingsley
• Hiroki Kuroda
• Jason Schmidt

Closer: Takashi Saito

Thoughts...

Whether you love or hate Juan Pierre, it's impossible to argue that he isn't a prolific base stealer. He's not going to pass Ricky Henderson anytime soon, but the Dodgers seem unlikely to swallow their pride and let him ride the bench in favor of Andre Ethier. He and Furcal should form a duo that is on base constantly and scores a ton of runs, with Furcal being a little more well-rounded and contributing more in other categories. Nonetheless, Pierre did hit .293 at season's end last year.

I'm very big on Andruw Jones to rebound this season. His defense guarantees him regular playing time even if he struggles at the plate, and though I doubt he'll return to 51/128, a 35/110 season (with 95 runs to boot) is a very good possibility. Looks great in the tenth round in many leagues.

People keep waiting for Saito to fail, but age has yet to take its toll on the Japanese import. The very capable Jonathan Broxton is waiting in the wings, and draftable (just like Brian Fuentes and many others) for his stats in relief and as a handcuff to one of fantasy's better closers the past two years.

Brad Penny, notorious for second half collapses, had an ERA of only 3.03 at season's end in 2008. He won 16 and struck out 135 - these numbers don't make him a staff ace, but they certainly make him worth drafting as a number two or three. If you can move him in July, it's a bonus, but if you have those numbers at season's end, you've done better than you realize. Free-agent-to-be Derek Lowe also deserves a look--he quietly struck out 147 last year and kept the ERA below 4.00 for the third straight year. Not stud numbers, but they look good rounding out a staff.

Finally, I'd be remiss not to mention the young guns on this team. Matt Kemp still looks a little better in keeper leagues, because he hasn't put together a full season yet and can't quite shake Andre Ethier in that outfield logjam. Still, he'll be great when he puts it all together. James Loney has been raking in spring training (.423 average at the time of this post), which isn't an end-all but certainly makes me optimistic for a big year. Be wary of expecting too much from Russell Martin in the way of steals - most catchers cannot keep up that pace for long. He's still a very valuable commodity at a position with no depth, though. Finally, Andy LaRoche is out 8-10 weeks, and with Nomar also missing the start of the season, third base is for the taking. It's not necessary to draft him, but put him on a watch list as he recovers.

Dodgertown is hoping for another World Series trip in this, the 20th anniversary Kirk Gibson's famous home run. They have the talent to win games, and the leader to take them to the playoffs in Joe Torre. There's plenty of reason for hope in 2008.