Season Previews: Los Angeles Dodgers

Moving right along with our preview of the National League West is a look at the upcoming Los Angeles Dodgers' season.

The Dodgers didn't want Greg Maddux anyway. He's 41 years old! Besides, they have an ace in Jason Schmidt and a comebacker in Randy Wolf... right? They also believe Derek Lowe, Chad Billingsley and Brad Penny can match up with any club in the division, in the league... maybe in all of baseball.

Pssh. They didn't want Eric Gagne and his dumb old glasses, either. He had basically already been gone for a couple of seasons due to injuries, anyway. And so, the closer baton was passed to a few players, including righty reliever Yhency Brazoban. It finally landed in the lap of 37-year-old Takashi Saito, who successfully converted 24 of 26 save opportunities since May. Since there are a few million miles on Saito's arm, the club has been grooming setup man Jonathan Broxton for the future closer role.

Then there's Joe Beimel, a journeyman who had a breakthrough regular season as the situational left-hander, showed up drunk for his team photo, and got his left hand into a situation that helped cost the club in the playoffs. Veteran Elmer Dessens returns as the versatile long reliever/swingman and is joined by right-handers Brett Tomko and Chin-hui Tsao, along with leftys Eric Stultz, Mark Hendrickson and Tim Hamulack.

The wild aspirations of Dodger fans went unanswered this offseason, with no big-name signings for their outfield. No Manny Being Manny, no Andruw Jones. Not even a Vernon Wells. (Oh, how the rumors fly during the winter meetings). To top that off, they were betrayed by J.D. Drew through a loophole in his contract when he moved to Beantown.

Instead, they have replaced Kenny Lofton with a younger and fancier model in Juan Pierre. Since 22-year-old Matt Kemp isn't quite ready for a starting spot, general manager Ned Colletti rented 39-year-old Luis Gonzalez for a year. With his 57-homer and 100-RBI seasons long behind him, Lugo and his surgically repaired elbow will play left field, with Andre Ethier moving to right. A healthy Jason Repko, and possibly Kemp or youngster Delwyn Young will play backup to all outfield positions.

Arguably the best player on last year's team was shortstop Rafael Furcal. He hit .300 last season, providing significant power at lead-off with 15 homers and 113 runs scored, the most for a Dodgers leadoff hitter since Maury Wills in 1962. The other half of the middle-infield duo is a man who was supposed to be the best. Second baseman Jeff Kent endured a disappointing 2006 with 2 stints on the DL, after Coletti granted him an extension. He is more 36-years-old than most 36-year-olds. Ramon Martinez is the main man to backup either position, along with Marlon Anderson.

With Nomar Garciaparra (whose OCD is uncanny in MLB2k7) back to play first base until he hurts himself, James Loney will play second fiddle. Switch-hitting third baseman Wilson Betemit will hold down the opposite corner, even though Dodger fans were clearly disappointed with his inconsistency. He's only 25-years-old and hit 18 homers last season, so only time will tell if he can grow into his position and improve at right-handed hitting.

Rookie Andy LaRoche, who hit 30 bombs in 2005 while splitting time between Class-A and Double-A, but dropped to 19 home runs when moving to AAA last season, will back up third base. Olmedo Saenz will provide some depth at the corners.

The Dodgers aren't known for their outstanding decision-making at the backstop position, as they gave up future Hall of Fame catcher Mike Piazza during his prime and dealt away Paul Lo Duca, also in his prime. Now the club has developed a third potential All-Star catcher in Russell Martin. The Canadian catcher hit .282 with 10 homers and 62 RBIs last season, playing in 121 games after spending the entire month of April at AAA. Mike Lieberthal, who was signed on as a replacement for Toby Hall and a mentor to Martin, will play backup.

The Dodgers tied for first in the division with the San Diego Padres last season at 88-74, 11.5 games in front of the resurging San Francisco Giants. Expect them to make a run for the playoffs once again, as long as they can keep track of their winning intradivisional record.