ddain's Blog

So Frank McCourt promised to spend some dough after the Dodgers fell apart in September last year and put their season in the toilet. So did he bring in the right guys?

McCourt opened up the checkbook and brought in Joe Torre since it was apparent Grady Little lost control over the clubhouse and couldn't get the veterans and rookies to like one another. Torre should keep that from happening.

He signed Andruw Jones after he had the worst year of his career to a two-year contract. Let's hope Andruw uses the next two seasons to redeem himself at the plate and hit 40 homers and knock in 100+ runs. Ironically, as bad as his season was last year, he would have led the Dodgers in homers and RBI. That's how bad the Dodgers offense was.

And McCourt went to Japan to sign a starting pitcher named Hiroki Kuroda. Not much is known about him, but if he can be somewhat successful this year in the 4th spot in their rotation, that would be fine. Let's hope he's about as good as Daisuke was for Boston last year.

The question marks are at 3rd base (although Nomar seems to have the job for the next couple of months because Andy LaRoche tore a ligament in his thumb. They also have three outfielders for two spots (Matt Kemp, Juan Pierre, and Andre Ethier). Who starts, and who sits?

So? What do you think of this team? Are they good enough to beat the Padres, Diamondbacks, and Rockies, all of whom finished higher in the standings than the Dodgers did last year?