From Boys to Men (A Story Without Manny)

In an offseason plagued by an ownership divorce and no typical Ned Colleti signings, the Dodgers still remain the same team. Besides the possibility of losing the gold glove of Orlando Hudson, the fielding and pitching staff seems to have frozen since their series loss in October into this years spring training. The evolution of the Dodger players is the only key addition to their roster. Which doesn't look to be that bad of a deal. Andre Ethier's home run and rbi ratio has escalated nicely through his four year career. 11-55, 13-64, 20-77, 31-106. As a 28 year old he still has high chances of his graph to be kept in that pattern. Russell "J." Martin has no excuses for his poor offensive season last year. The Canadian catcher struggled heavily and never really found a way in getting his bat to work. Dodger fans didn't really mind his numbers though as he was able to play well in his mask and prevented pitchers from easily being rattled. Last season he was just as good defensively as he was bad offensively. Although he might want to call for time after every pitch when his closer Jonathon Broxton faces Matt Stairs. Martin's chances of acquiring his 2nd gold glove is worth the sacrifice of the chance of him not getting his 2nd silver slugger.

Now onto the man that deserves his own paragraph: Matt Kemp. His emergence in this league has taken him from being a calve to living up to his nickname "The Bison". Not only do his numbers reflect his skills, but as does his lifestyle. He has gone from spending his afternoons back home in the grasslands of Oklahoma to lotioning Rihanna in the beaches of Mexico. If his emergence hadn't come at the age of 25 people would be throwing the possibilty of him becoming an Albert Pujols or Alex Rodriguez, you know, having the chance to get a 10yr/$275,000,000 contract. Posting silver slugger number, 26 home runs 101 rbi's and 34 sb's with a Gold Glove somewhere in his closet is not easy to do. He was once quoted by the Los Angeles Times saying that he's capable of a 40-40 season. If he at some time during his career he accomplished such milestone he would join Jose Canseco (steroids), Barry Bonds (steroids), Alex Rodriguez (steriods), and Alfonso Soriano. Being 25, Matt easily will have 4-5 more stellar seasons with great legs before his speed begins to diminish. The power factor doesn't look to be an issue when you see a Raul Ibanez, or Derek Lee hitting home runs in the mid thirties in their own mid thirties. Matt Kemp is a huge lift to the Dodgers and will probably make up for the shortage of offensive input that number 99 will be having now that his syringes have been confiscated.

Jonathon Broxton is to the Dodgers as Shayne Graham is to the Bengals. He's consistent 36/42 is not too shabby. But twice, in back to back years he has blown saves in the NCLS where it has played with the momentum. But his ability to strike players out and get ahead in the count with his 100mph fastball is a good enough reason for Joe Torre to keep him as the closer. Although there can't really be any large statistical improvement with Broxton (besides breaking K-Rod's record) the only way he will show he has gotten better is through his mental processing of selecting pitches and not crashing under pressure. With the veteran leadership of George Sherrill mentoring him in the bullpen and his playoffs experience, Jonathon Broxtons mental edge should be enough to outduel most players in closing and clutch situations. Now onto the starting pitchers, Clayton Kershaw the king of no decisions. His 8-8 record isn't indicative of how much he was really able to mature as a player. Putting all his stints aside where his pitching was more about balls, like a scene straight out of Brokeback Mountain, he showed maturity through out last season. He was given the chance twice to start a playoff game something that he had never done in his short career. This upcoming season he will be pitching through it all being 22 years old, while his friends are finishing college and having trouble finding a job in this recession, he will be entering his 3rd MLB season with playoff experience. Chad Billingsley, he finished the season 12-11 with a 4.03, and guess what? He was selected to the All-Star game. He got to hangout with Tim Lincecum and Johan Santana and after his flight back from St.Louis decided to stop pitching well. His 47-30 accumulative record shows that he has the stuff to get guys out. But the problem is staying consistent. The Dodgers don't want him to be another Brad Penny, and they obviously see something in him to have not traded him away for Roy Halladay when they could have. There is really not any way to make a case for him, there is only the hope that he transcends into a consistent pitcher, or else we seem to be looking at a part two of Derek Lowe or Brad Penny; posting 15-12 records and being labeled as good but not great.

The Dodgers have a amazing pedestal set up for themselves. Offensively they have 2 30HR-100RBI stars that with one more solid season can potentially be superstars.  Backed up by 15HR-80RBI players. Defensively, they have one of the best catchers behind the plate, and a couple of gold gloves scattered through out the grass and diamond. Pitching they've opted to keep Kershaw and Billingsley as their 1-2 punch, and adding veterans that will help them develop into a force. Lets not count out, a solid bullpen, and a hall of fame manager. Baseball fans shouldn't expect the Dodgers to lose the division to a Panda (Pablo Sandoval) and a freak (Tim Lincecum) or to the Rockies, unless they fire there manager midway thru the season and Troy Tulowitzki can carry them for the 3rd time in his career into the postseason. But they should expect them to reach the playoffs once again and only then will we see if their biggest offseason acquisition of themselves evolving from boys to men will be enough to get them past their NLCS haunting of losing there two years straight.