SO FAR, SO GOOD...

At this juncture in time, Ned Colletti has done a solid job in bringing in pieces needed on this team. These pieces however, where not the ones I was thinking off when the season ended. I wanted Ned to go after a power bat, and an ace to bolster the staff. Dodger faithful are still waiting for the powerbat, although he managed to solve the ace situation. Even though, I wanted to go after the eccentric Barry Zito. Zito is somewhat of my favorite ballplayer, and I wished to see him in Dodger blue. I can only hope that the Zito to the San Francisco Giant rumors are just that. Still, Jason Schmidt is by no means a slouch, and having him on board makes me blissful. Another crucial decision I wanted Ned to make was to keep the farm system as is. For the most part Ned did so. Andy LaRoche, James Loney, Matt Kemp, Scott Elbert, Andre Ethier, and Chad Billingsley survived what seemed to be countless rumors of them going elsewhere. It's great to see that the organization is going to the way it used to be, building from with in. Ned needs to stick to his gun, and keep the kids.

The day after the New York Mets finished off our boys in blue, I wrote on this blog my predictions to what the team would look like. I was way off. Needless to say, I was thinking with my heart, rather than my brain. At this point, the team looks something like this

CF. Juan Pierre: slight improvement over Kenny Lofton
C. Russell Martin: needs to avoid sophomore slump
SS. Rafael Furcal: moves down the order, be more clutch
2B. Jeff Kent: can he stay healthy?
1B. Nomar Garciaparra: again, can he stay healthy?
LF. Luis Gonzalez: does he have anything left?
RF. Andre Ethier: must prove his first have was no fluke
3B. Wilson Betemit: I would rather see LaRoche in there

Rotation
Jason Shmidt: nice coup from the Giants
Derek Lowe: needs to stay focused
Brad Penny: to many questions about him
Chad Billingsley: CONTROL!
Randy Wolf: walking injury

I have a feeling that our boys will do more than well. It's a nice hitting team, with surplus pitching. Lets believe Ned...

BELIEVE IN BLUE!