Dodgers Hoping New Stars Produce Wins

LA spent a combined $208 million to acquire Ryu and Greinke

Contrary to yesterday's post about the American League signing almost all of the big name players on the market, the National League's Los Angeles Dodgers have done just fine for themselves in the last calendar year when it comes to signing big talent. Near the end of last season they traded for the Boston Red Sox failures and this winter they signed Zack Greinke away from their crosstown rival in Anaheim.

New owner Magic Johnson has shown he isn't afraid to throw some cash around and it's obvious when looking down the roster. Josh Beckett ($17 mil), Clayton Kershaw ($7.75 mil), Ted Lilly ($11.6 mil) and Zack Greinke ($13.5 mil) are an expensive starting rotation and that doesn't guarantee they will be reliable. The Dodgers can be confident about Kershaw. The 24-year-old ace has been named to the All-Star team the past two seasons and also finished in the top two for the Cy Young. He has led the NL in ERA both years as well.

LA can also be confident in what they are getting with Greinke. The right hander split time between Milwaukee and Anaheim last season and finished 15-5 with a 3.48 ERA. He has a Cy Young on his resume and has averaged 14 victories per season since 2009. He is money well spent and will provide a dependable arm at the top of the rotation.

After Kershaw and Greinke the rotation gets a bit murky. Coupled with Beckett and Hyun-Jin Ryu, it looks like the best rotation in baseball, but there are reasons to be hesitant. Beckett is coming off a disappointing season and didn't leave Boston on good terms. In seven starts with LA he went 2-3 with an ERA below three. If he can pitch like the 2011 Josh Beckett rather than the 2012 version then the Dodgers may have something special. Ryu was not a cheap signing by any means and he comes over to LA from South Korea. Obviously there is plenty of hype around Ryu, but will his success translate over to the American game?

The good news for the Dodgers is that even if half of the rotation doesn't pitch to their potential, the lineup should cover the slack. Again, Magic has spent an awful lot on his lineup, but doubts surround some of the brightest stars. Adrian Gonzalez ($22 mil), Andre Ethier ($10.95 mil), Matt Kemp ($10.25 mil), Carl Crawford ($20 mil) and Hanley Ramirez ($15 mil) are a formidable bunch, but they come with a large price tag and even larger question marks.

Gonzalez and Crawford, like Beckett, left Boston on bad terms. Both were enormous free agent signings for the Sox, but neither performed as was expected of them and they became the focal points of the Red Sox demise. Crawford spent much of the year injured and never played a game for the Dodgers. Gonzalez got off to a slow start, but he recovered to have a decent year batting .297 with 18 home runs and 108 RBI. His home run total was his lowest since he became a regular player in the lineup.

Ramirez joined the Dodgers midseason and, like the trio from Boston, became the focal point of a team's failure. The Miami Marlins floundered through 2012 and Ramirez was shipped to LA after 93 games. When motivated, Ramirez is one of the best in the game, but he hasn't always been the most coachable player. His attitude will play a large part in this Dodgers' team success.

Kemp and Ethier are the foundation of the lineup and LA can only hope Kemp puts together another spectacular season like he did in 2011 when he led the league in home runs and RBI while batting .324 and stealing 40 bases.

On paper this is the best team in the National League and perhaps in the MLB, but will it translate to the field? Magic Johnson has spent plenty of money and Don Mattingly is a solid manager, but we have seen plans that looked like they couldn't fail fall hard. LA hopes to avoid being part of that category because, not only would a season without the playoffs be an embarrassment, it would also be a costly mistake.