Better, Worse, or Just Different?
When Paul DePodesta traded away Paul LoDuca, the heart and soul of last year’s team, the GM said he knew that the Dodgers were a playoff team, but he worried that they wouldn’t be able to go very deep into the playoffs.
Two months later, despite DePodesta’s best intentions, the Dodgers lost meekly to the St. Louis Cardinals, winning one of the four games only because Jose Lima threw the game of his life. Meanwhile, Dave Roberts stole the base that saved the Red Sox season and won a World Series ring.
This past off-season, DePodesta made more moves, jettisoning even more cogs from the 2004 team like Shawn Green, Adrian Beltre, and Alex Cora in favor of J.D. Drew, Jeff Kent, and a parade of horribles at third base. Presumably, the point of any off-season move is to make the team better than they were (unless you’re the GM in Kansas City, where the point is to make the team cheaper to run).
So how have those moves paid off so far? We could sit here and compare batting averages, ERAs, slugging percentages, etc. But the simplest measure of this team’s ability is its won-lost record against the best teams in the league. And the news isn’t pretty.
While the Dodgers have beaten up on some bad teams early this year, they’ve struggled against good ones. A lot of people thought the Giants were the team to beat in this division, but without Barry Bonds, they’re just a .500 club. So the Dodgers’ early season wins against San Francisco weren’t much of a test. Nor were wins over Milwaukee or Colorado.
Meanwhile, the team’s record against suddenly surging Arizona is 2-4; they’re 1-3 against St. Louis, 1-2 versus Atlanta, and 1-2 when they play Washington. The only quality team Los Angeles has beaten more often than not is San Diego, whom the Dodgers swept early in the season.
It’s still May, and a lot can happen. And despite all of DePodesta’s tinkering, the team still seems to have some kind of chemistry that is keeping things together (thank you very much, Jim Tracy, one of the better managers in baseball) . They’re only a game out of first place in a division that must be pretty weak if the Diamondbacks and Padres can compete in it. The Dodgers may even win the NL west again. But it doesn’t look like they have what it takes to go any farther than that.
Two months later, despite DePodesta’s best intentions, the Dodgers lost meekly to the St. Louis Cardinals, winning one of the four games only because Jose Lima threw the game of his life. Meanwhile, Dave Roberts stole the base that saved the Red Sox season and won a World Series ring.
This past off-season, DePodesta made more moves, jettisoning even more cogs from the 2004 team like Shawn Green, Adrian Beltre, and Alex Cora in favor of J.D. Drew, Jeff Kent, and a parade of horribles at third base. Presumably, the point of any off-season move is to make the team better than they were (unless you’re the GM in Kansas City, where the point is to make the team cheaper to run).
So how have those moves paid off so far? We could sit here and compare batting averages, ERAs, slugging percentages, etc. But the simplest measure of this team’s ability is its won-lost record against the best teams in the league. And the news isn’t pretty.
While the Dodgers have beaten up on some bad teams early this year, they’ve struggled against good ones. A lot of people thought the Giants were the team to beat in this division, but without Barry Bonds, they’re just a .500 club. So the Dodgers’ early season wins against San Francisco weren’t much of a test. Nor were wins over Milwaukee or Colorado.
Meanwhile, the team’s record against suddenly surging Arizona is 2-4; they’re 1-3 against St. Louis, 1-2 versus Atlanta, and 1-2 when they play Washington. The only quality team Los Angeles has beaten more often than not is San Diego, whom the Dodgers swept early in the season.
It’s still May, and a lot can happen. And despite all of DePodesta’s tinkering, the team still seems to have some kind of chemistry that is keeping things together (thank you very much, Jim Tracy, one of the better managers in baseball) . They’re only a game out of first place in a division that must be pretty weak if the Diamondbacks and Padres can compete in it. The Dodgers may even win the NL west again. But it doesn’t look like they have what it takes to go any farther than that.
posted by John Rosenthal @ 6:27 PM
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