2008 MLB Preview: NL West

I love Hoffy, but the fact is, he’s 40. Now you don’t get more than 500 career saves and eight 40 save seasons without being great, but on the other hand you don’t get there without being really old either.

I’m not pinning the fact that the Padres didn’t see October baseball last season on the fact that Hoffman blew a few key saves, and I hope he comes back and saves another 40 this year, but I’ve got to be realistic at the same time—he could very well implode.

Which is why Heath Bell is here. Last season, Bell supplanted Scott Linebrink (who was later traded for three pitching prospects) as the setup man for Hoffy, and he appears to be set to take over the closers role when Hoffman chooses to hang them up. Sure he was 2/6 in save opportunities last season, but he also struck out 102, gathered a 1.02 ERA, and totaled 34 holds last season.

Cla Meredith, who saw his ERA balloon up from the 1.07 he posted in 2006, will look to see if he can bring it back down from the 3.50 he finished with last season, which would lead to fewer blown leads for the Padres.

There’s also Joe Thatcher (part of the Linebrink deal) who posted a minuscule 1.29 ERA in his 22 games with San Diego, and Kevin Cameron will again be in the competition for a late-inning job, while Justin Hampson, who saw some success at the major league level will look to stick with the big club, rounding out a relief corps who could once again be one of the best in baseball—so long as the wheels don’t fall off.

(2008 Prediction: 81-81, fourth in NL West. However, if things go the Friars' way, they could challenge for first.)

Los Angeles Dodgers (2007 Results: 82-80, fourth in NL West): So Joe Torre has decided to try and solve the conundrum that is the Los Angeles Dodgers. Good luck.

Each year the Dodgers have brought in some new high-priced talent that is supposed to give them a better shot at winning. This year his name was Andruw Jones.

Jones came off an anemic year offensively by his standards. First of all, he hit .222 (which is Adam Dunn on a good day) while his 26 home runs were the fewest he’s hit since 1999. Although Jones has stated that the drop in his numbers is because of compensation in his batting stance for a hyper-extended elbow, the fact that he strikes out a lot could also catch up with him this season. No one questions Jones’ defense, however if he doesn’t show up to the plate offensively, Jones could become the polar opposite of Juan Pierre—strong defense, no offense.

Speaking of which—the reason why Dodgers fans have become so annoyed with Pierre over just one season is because Pierre’s arm proved to be a liability in centre last season. Sure Pierre is durable (has played all 162 games five straight seasons) and he has outstanding speed (two 60+ steal seasons, while never having stolen fewer than 45 bases in a season), but the fact that singles turn to doubles, and doubles to triples when Pierre is in the field essentially forces him to be a catalyst offensively to make up for that fact.

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