The Acorn’s 2008 National League West showdown

Sportswriters Thomas Gase and Stephen Dorman debate who will win MLB's toughest division


Gase

Gase


Not since the days of Billy the Kid and “Doc” Holliday has the West been this wild.

This year the National League West Division will be a race between four solid teams- San Francisco doesn’t belong in this conversation- and no longer will 85 wins be good enough to capture the title.

The Arizona Diamondbacks, last year’s division winner, only became stronger with the acquisition of pitching ace Dan Haren. The Colorado Rockies, the reigning NL pennant winner, kept all their important players in place and should continue to crush the baseball.

The San Diego Padres, who, last time I checked, didn’t have any World Series banners blowing in the breeze at Petco Park, should be decent.

But the team that will come away with the championship will be the Los Angeles Dodgers, who signed one of the best managers in baseball history- Joe Torre.

In Torre’s 12-year reign with the New York Yankees, the skipper guided the team to 11 division championships and four World Series titles. It’s difficult to bet against him.

It’s also tough to bet against a team that has one of the deepest pitching staffs in baseball. If the Dodgers score some runs this season for Derek Lowe, something they couldn’t do last year, Los Angeles could have a pair of 20game winners on the mound in Lowe and fireballer Brad Penny.

Penny and Lowe are great, but the pitcher I’m most excited about is 23yearold Chad Billingsley. Former Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda is also thrilled with Billingsley and recently nicknamed the kid “Pit-bull.”

On offense, young hitters such as Russell Martin, James Loney, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier lead the Dodgers’ attack. Andruw Jones is the power bat the team has been chasing for years, but his average must improve over last year’s .222 mark. Jeff Kent, provided he’s healthy, remains one of the most dangerous hitters in the game.

If the Dodgers want to pile up runs, however, the top two men in their lineup must get on base more frequently. Shortstop Rafael Furcal is now healthy and won’t have any problem batting .300 again.

And then there’s left fielder Juan Pierre. I’m not going to hide it, I like Pierre. Most Dodger fans haven’t given him a fair chance. Pierre hit a respectable .293 and stole 64 bases last season. Those numbers aren’t too shabby.

Yes, Pierre signed a big contract, but the guy isn’t going to hit 20 home runs and play allworld defense. Let’s be realistic. That’s about as crazy as believing the Padres are going to win this thing.

– Contact Thomas Gase at tgase@theacorn.com.

It’s time for a reality check, Gase, and I’m just the man for the job.

The bottom line is this: Last season the Dodgers ranked fourth in Major League Baseball team payroll and got nothing for it. This year, because Big Blue’s management still can’t figure out how to spend wisely and take advantage of all that money, it’s going to be another mediocre year in La La Land.

In 2007, Los Angeles spent more than $125.3 million on a group of ballplayers that won a grand total of 82 games, good for fourth place in the NL West. (In case you were wondering, and I know you were, L.A. hasn’t topped the 90-win plateau since 2004).

The division champion Arizona Diamondbacks, on the other hand, spent only $58.9 million on team salary, ranking 26th in MLB. The Colorado Rockies, who snatched the NL Wild Card from the San Diego Padres in a play-in game and later advanced to the World Series, ranked 20th with a $70.8 million payroll. The Padres were 18th at $76.5 million. All had better records than the Dodgers, at nearly half the cost.

San Francisco wasted its cash on southpaw Barry Zito and then really paid the price with a last-place finish in the division.

In the past few offseasons, the Dodgers’ terrible free agent signings of pitcher Jason Schmidt- he was paid a team high $15.7 million last year and went 1-4 with a 6.31 ERA before shutting it down because of a shoulder problem- outfielder Juan Pierre and the re-signing of infielder/perennial DL candidate Nomar Garciaparra have robbed the team of any positive momentum.

This offseason, instead of letting his young, up-and-coming corner outfielders continue to mature- I am, of course, talking about Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp- Dodger general manager Ned Colletti went out and spent $36.2 million for two years of Andruw Jones in center field.

Did the Jones signing help fill the team’s offensive power void? It’s fair to say so. The guy did hit 51 home runs in 2005. But what about Pierre, the established starter in center? Dude needs to play every day to be effective. Four starting outfielders isn’t a recipe for success, especially when you don’t have a capable third baseman, but that’s another story.

It’s like my buddy says: “It’s tough to soar like an eagle when you’re hangin’ with turkeys.” Right now, Colletti and the front office are driving the L.A. turkey train right into a third-place finish. Believe it.

So who will win the NL West?

Certainly not San Francisco. The Giants can’t hit. The Rockies were an average team before they caught fire at the tail end of last season. Colorado doesn’t have enough starting pitching for the long haul.

Alas, it all comes down to San Diego and Arizona. Me? I’m taking the Padres because they have camouflage uniforms, and you can’t put a price tag on that.

– Contact Stephen Dorman at sdorman@theacorn.com.

Dorman

Dorman

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *