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The Los Angeles Dodgers are hoping Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, and manager Don Mattingly are enough to lead the 2012 baseball team to the top of the NL West. Los Angeles Dodgers tickets are being sold to see if this trio of All Stars is enough to take the franchise out of the “divorce years” and into the “new owner” period. The season schedule will be a challenge for the other 23 players on the roster, who all have to prove they are worth believing in.
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Kemp is going to put up a repeat performance as an All Star and make another serious run at the National League MVP. That means he is going to give the Dodgers a hitter capable of putting up nearly 40 homeruns with a nearly .330 batting average with 40 stolen bases. His RBI and run total will depend on Andre Ethier, James Lonely, Juan Rivera, and Dee Gordon to get on base and get him to home plate. The first three players have been promising, or All Star-worthy players in the past. Gordon is the new guy. He is 23 years old and enjoyed a very productive third of a season schedule last year. He hit around .300 with 20 stolen bases in just over 50 games. In 2012, he could be the breakout player of the year if he could maintain the batting average, steal 50 bases, and improve his OBP from .320 to around .350. Then Gordon could be the traditional type of leadoff hitter.
Kershaw is the returning staff ace and Cy Young winner. He is a strikeout volume pitcher with enough control to boast a WHIP below 1.00 and, thusly, an ERA in the low 2.00s. After Keshaw, the rotation features Chad Billingsley, Ted Lilly, Aaron Harang and Chris Cappuano. None of these four are sure things. Billingsley is a good middle to end of the rotation pitcher, Lilly has had spectacular seasons before but has settled in as a middle of the rotation guy, Harang has been a disaster since 2007, and Capuno has made a career filling out the end of the rotation. Between these four, one has to emerge as a killer number two guy for the Dodgers to compete in the NL West.
The Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen is far from a sure thing too. Kenley Jansen and Mike MacDougal is a formidable pair of right handed pitchers and Scott Elbert is a very good southpaw. However, Javy Guerra, the current favorite to take over at closer, has never been in the position full-time. The late arrival (26 years old) second-year reliever closed 21 of 23 games in 47 appearances. Spring training will likely see Jansen challenging for the role.
