Back on June 9th, the Dodgers were 36-24, sitting in first place one-half game up on the Padres. They started the season with a 25-8 record within the division. They're 10-23 within the division since then. My how things have changed.
The Dodgers were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention this past week and currently sit in fourth place in the NL West at 75-81, 13 games back of the first place Giants.
You could make the argument that the season went south the weekend the Yankees were in town to play the Dodgers during interleague play in late June. That Sunday night, June 27th, the Dodgers held a four-run ninth inning lead with Jonathan Broxton on the mound, and Broxton promptly gave up the lead, the game, and the win when the Yankees scored four runs off him. The Yankees would eventually add two more in the 10th for an 8-6 win, and Broxton and the Dodgers were never the same since.
The bullpen has been a big problem for the Dodgers since that night. Before that, the starting pitching seemed to be the issue, but that quickly turned around when it became evident that the pen was the becoming the problem. It never really situated itself, even after Broxton was pulled from his roll as the team's closer after a series of blown saves in some key moments and games.
The offense has been another major issue for the Dodgers, and not just recently. The team started off looking good offensively, but quickly hit the tailspins by mid-May when Andre Ethier went down with a broken finger, and Manny Ramirez wound up disabled three different times before he was eventually shipped out to Chicago in a waiver claim at the end of August.
The Dodgers have a number of issues to deal with heading into the off-season when it comes to the on-the-field stuff. Several players will become free agents, including three-fifths of what became the regular starting rotation after Ted Lilly was acquired from the Cubs at the trade deadline at the end of July. The offense/lineup could use an upgrade at at least half of the positions. And of course, the bullpen needs to be fixed.
In the rotation, Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley have etched themselves as mainstays. But Lilly, Hiroki Kuroda and Vicente Padilla will all become free agents, and chances are the Dodgers will let Kuroda and Padilla walk while trying to retain Lilly. Outside of Cliff Lee, the free agent list for starting pitching doesn't really look to be all that strong, which makes me think the Dodgers will continue to do what they've been doing the past several off-seasons: take flyers on mid-level, over-the-hill, washed-up has-beens, and hope a couple of them stick.
As for the offense, where to start? Andre Ethier appears to be the only sure-thing right now. Matt Kemp, who has all the potential in the world, hasn't been the same since his one-week tear in late April, and his defensive abilities in center-field are being questioned by many. There's a gapping hole now in left field with Manny gone, and there's really only two viable options on the free agent market to replace him. One is likely going to command top dollar, and will likely get it from either the Yankees or maybe even the Angels, and the other is a Scott Boras client, and we all know about the Boras-Ned Colletti relationship. For now, it looks like Jay Gibbons will be brought back, at the very least to be the primary lefty-handed power bat off the bench.
The infield is a mess, as well. James Loney has been as consistent as ever for the Dodgers both offensively and defensively, but he possesses very little power for a first baseman. For whatever reason, his power hasn't developed much and my guess is the team is very concerned about it. Ryan Theriot was brought in as part of the Ted Lilly deal for Blake DeWitt, and while he's been adequate, he hasn't been tearing the cover off the ball. If anything, he's a natural second baseman defensively, but he isn't hitting. Raffy Furcal is as good as they come at shortstop, when he's healthy, which isn't very often. He spent more time on the disabled list again this season which has to be of concern for the Dodgers considering what they're paying him. And Casey Blake continues to regress at third as his age is finally catching up to him, while Russell Martin continues to regress behind the plate in spite of his age.
The bullpen is a whole other can of worms. Will Broxton ever regain his form? Will he ever get that Yankee monkey off his back? Can Hong-Chih Kuo pitch often enough to be the everyday closer? Is Kenley Jensen even ready for the role? And what about the rest of the bullpen? Ramon Troncoso? Ronald Belisario? George Sherrill? Even Jeff Weaver. My guess is the Dodgers will explore the free agent market to revamp the pen, including at the very back end at closer. Rafael Soriano, for one, will be available.
The biggest off-season concern, however, has to be the McCourts divorce proceedings. Frank McCourt says it will be business as usual this off-season, which means the Dodgers will be active in the free agent market again, but at what cost? Sure the team will have nearly $40MM coming off the books after this season, but can the Dodgers really spend money to fix this mess?
The scary part is this is more or less the same team that went to the NLCS each of the past two seasons, but for some reason they just didn't have it this year. And instead of Joe Torre coming back for one more year as it had been talked about going back to last season, he's stepping down instead and Don Mattingly will assume the task of putting all the pieces back together once Colletti and the rest of front office figure out who to bring in either via free agency or through trades.
The off-season should be an interesting one. There's no question the Dodgers have a lot of work to do and it will be rather interesting to see really how much the McCourt divorce affects Ned Colletti's ability to revamp and fix this team.
