7 Reasons to Be Optimistic for the Los Angeles Dodgers' 2015 Season
After winning the NL West each of the last two seasons, the Los Angeles Dodgers head into 2015 as the clear favorites in the division. They are an excellent team—projected to win 91 games by FanGraphs—and are chock-full of exciting storylines and impact players who are fun to watch.
I have detailed the players and stories that I believe to be the most exciting. Whether it be the on-field product or the off-field decision-making, everything is working for the Dodgers right now. It is an exciting time to be a Dodgers fan.
Clayton Kershaw
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The No. 1 reason to watch the Dodgers every fifth day is the best pitcher in baseball. He has won three of the last four Cy Young Awards, and he is the reigning NL MVP, as well. His ERA has decreased each of the last three seasons, culminating in a 1.77 mark in 2014. He is an incredible pitcher at the top of his game, and his incredible mix of pitches—highlighted by an unhittable curveball—makes him a joy to watch.
Yasiel Puig
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If Kershaw is the best pitcher in the game, Puig is the most exciting. He is an immensely talented player and is still just 24 years old, so the best is hopefully yet to come.
His 2014 was highlighted by his first All-Star appearance, and the Dodgers hope that he will be able to build on that. The concern is his poor second half, but his age and overall talent level suggest that an improvement wouldn't be a huge surprise.
Regardless, even his down year saw him post a 147 wRC+, which is fantastic.
Weak Division
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This seems like a bizarre claim given that they share a division with the defending champions (San Francisco) and the team that made the offseason's biggest splash (San Diego).
However, the Dodgers really do have a relatively easy path to the division title. Part of that is simply how good they are, but they also don't have all that much competition.
Arizona and Colorado finished with the two worst records in baseball last year and made no notable additions, so they are not real threats.
And San Francisco, despite its success last year, has actually only won 90 games twice in the last 10 years, and they replaced outgoing All-Star Pablo Sandoval with Casey McGehee.
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New Front Office
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While it's admittedly not very cool to be excited about a new front office, the Dodgers appear to finally have entered the 21st century—and that is in fact a huge deal.
For a fanbase that had been stuck watching Ned Colletti for nearly a decade, the introduction of Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi is a welcome breath of fresh air. They will bring a new and smarter way of thinking to the team, and they will be able to build a better and more sustainable organization.
Exciting Prospects
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Everyone likes young players, right?
The Dodgers have three of the most exciting prospects in the game in Joc Pederson, Corey Seager and Julio Urias—and we could see all three of them this year.
Pederson will likely make the Opening Day roster and play center field, while Seager and Urias will begin the year in Double-A. Should injuries or performance concerns force the Dodgers to look elsewhere for either an infielder or a left-handed pitcher, Seager or Urias will get a chance to prove themselves.
New Additions
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We all love new players, and the Dodgers actually got some good ones this year.
Howie Kendrick, Jimmy Rollins and Yasmani Grandal are all above-average hitters who will be shoehorned into a lineup already full of good players. Additionally, each presents a significant improvement—either short-term, long-term or both—over his predecessor.
Kendrick has a much longer track record than did Dee Gordon, and it's actually quite impressive. He's been an above-average hitter (for all of baseball, not just second base) each of the last four seasons, while Gordon was quite poor until the first half of 2014.
Rollins, while no longer the player he once was and definitely not the same caliber hitter as was Hanley Ramirez, provides a short-term stopgap who should be worth two or three wins. And even though he is 36 years old, the Dodgers only need him to be good until Corey Seager is ready for the big leagues.
Grandal probably has the most variance in his potential performance. A 26-year-old switch-hitting catcher, Grandal has been a solid hitter thus far (119 wRC+ in his career) who is also known as a good pitch framer. If he develops as a hitter—as Mike Petriello of ESPN believes might be the case—he could be an actual All-Star, which would make the Matt Kemp trade look like even more of a win.
Depth
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Ultimately, what we all want as fans is to root for a winning team, and the depth that this organization has accumulated will help it field just that.
Pitchers get hurt, and the new front office has built enough depth so that trades for Roberto Hernandez or Kevin Correia will no longer be necessary. Instead, Joe Wieland, Zach Lee or Mike Bolsinger will get the call; even though they aren't great pitchers, they're serviceable and won't cost actual prospects to acquire.
Should a position player get hurt, the Dodgers are well-equipped to replace almost anyone.
The Grandal trade made A.J. Ellis the backup catcher and thus added a little extra depth behind the plate, and the outfield logjam has been well-documented.
Additionally, Cubans Alex Guerrero and new signing Hector Olivera will provide some offensive firepower at reserve infield spots.
All of this combines to create a formidable roster that no one else in the NL West can match.
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