1. Los Angeles Dodgers The Dodgers did two important things this offseason. First, they acquired enough players that they are now a legitimate contender (if not the favorite) to win the NL West. Second, they didn't sign anybody to such a long deal that he's going to block their excellent prospects. The Dodgers have probably the best farm system in baseball right now, and they can still plug any of their guys in pretty much as soon as they're ready. The biggest move the Dodgers made was signing Rafael Furcal to a three-year, $39 million deal. The deal is a good one because he's a huge upgrade from Cesar Izturis, they're getting his age 28-30 seasons and he's not blocking Joel Guzman (who's moving to the outfield) or Chin-Lung Hu (who won't be ready for at least three years even if he develops). The Dodgers also gave Mueller $9.5 million over two years. Mueller should definitely be able to help Los Angeles improve upon the .722 OPS it got from third base last year, and either Andy LaRoche or Blake DeWitt should be ready to take over third base when Mueller's contract runs out (or if he gets hurt in 2007). In another move, Los Angeles gave $6 million to Nomar Garciaparra for one year, and will have him play first base. Garciaparra's not going to get back to the production level he had in 1998-2000, but if he's healthy, he could be the good hitter he was in 2002-03. If not, the Dodgers still have Hee Seop Choi to play first base. The Dodgers had to trade Bradley because of his issues while he was with the team, but he only gave them 283 at-bats last year, so that's not a huge loss. Ethier, the outfield prospect they received, could be ready to help this year, and the Dodgers also gave Kenny Lofton $3.85 million to take some at-bats in center field. The Dodgers lost Jeff Weaver to free agency, but they have several options to replace the 4.22 ERA he posted in 224 innings last year. The first is Brett Tomko, who they signed to a two-year, $8.7 million contract. The second is Seo, who they acquired along with Hamulack for Sanchez and Schmoll. And the third and fourth are Chad Billingsley and Jonathan Broxton, either of whom may be ready for the major league rotation at some point this season. The final piece to the puzzle for Los Angeles is the trade of Edwin Jackson and Chuck Tiffany for Danys Baez and Lance Carter. This is probably the worst player move they made this offseason, because Tiffany's a nice prospect and Jackson still has the potential to be useful. But Baez is a quality reliever and can help the Dodgers, especially if Eric Gagne gets hurt again this season. Really, the only thing that made me consider not giving the Dodgers the top spot was the fact that they hired Grady Little to be their manager. He's going to drive Dodgers fans crazy, but even he couldn't prevent two talented Red Sox teams from winning 188 games. --

※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 128.128.93.48