Couple of thoughts on a couple of teams.....

Nobody this side of Michael Jackson, their neighbor to the north, had as controversial and unsettling an offseason as the Dodgers. Coming off of the NL West championship and their first postseason victory since 1988, DePodesta this winter finished the job he started in July: sticking dynamite under the roster and lighting the fuse.

Dodgers: We're better! Us: We're not buying it!

The anti-Moneyballers strike again.

Let's look at the Opening Day lineups for 2003, 2004, and 2005 for the Dodgers.

C - Paul Lo Duca
1B - Fred McGriff
2B - Jolbert Cabrera
3B - Adrian Beltre
SS - Cesar Izturis
LF - Brian Jordan
CF - Dave Roberts
RF - Shawn Green

Early 2004: The Dodgers hire DePodesta.

C - Paul Lo Duca
1B - Shawn Green
2B - Alex Cora
SS - Cesar Izturis
3B - Adrian Beltre
LF - Dave Roberts
CF - Milton Bradley
RF - Juan Encarnacion

2005:

C - David Ross
1B - Hee Seop Choi
2B - Jeff Kent
SS - Cesar Izturis
3B - Jose Valentin / Norihiro Nakamura
LF - Jayson Werth
CF - Milton Bradley
RF - J.D. Drew

Well, 2004 is definitely an upgrade over 2003. Encarnacion, in addition to being moved during the year, replaced Jordan, and Bradley is a significant upgrade over Roberts. DePodesta also added Steve Finley to the fold in the middle of last year, a crucial component for their playoff race as he hit .263/.324/.491 in pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium. Great addition.

And this year? David Ross is an unknown, but is anyone gonna miss Paul Lo Duca, outside of the "clubhouse presence" advocates? (In addition to dropping off after a very hot beginning of the season, Lo Duca put up an unimpressive .258/.314/.376 for the Marlins down the stretch.)

Beltre for Drew is a wash, and, yeah, I'm going to say that Beltre probably would have been a better signing because of the fact that third base is weak. Werth looks to be a pretty good ballplayer, so far; last year, he hit 16 homers in 326 plate appearances.

Hee Seop Choi? He struggled down the stretch, but he was outstanding in four months with the Marlins, hitting for an absurd .883 OPS at Pro-Player Stadium. He struggled in limited time with the Dodgers last year, but I'd sure as hell rather have him than Shawn Green.

Kent is a clear upgrade over Cora, at least for this year....I'm pretty sure that Dodger fans won't mind the defensive loss in exchange for his 13 straight 100+ OPS+ seasons and his 124 OPS+ from last year. Aging? Yeah. On the verge of collapse? I don't see any signs.

Rotation? Weaver + Perez + Lowe (crappy signing, but in the right park) + Edwin Jackson + Ishii + possibly Penny and people think that the Dodgers are going to be bad this year? Couple that with the best 8/9 inning combo in the game in Brazoban and Gagne, and, frankly, I don't think that DePodesta is tearing down this franchise.

Is DePo perfect? No! The Lowe signing was a bad one. He misread the market on Beltre, who ended up being a pretty good deal for the Mariners. But to say that he's tearing down the franchise is as ridiculous as that article about Blue Jays that I posted a few days ago.

The Astros, opening the season without the injured Lance Berkman, will do everything possible to avoid forcing center fielder Willy Taveras to make the jump from Class AA to the majors. Barring a trade, Jason Lane is likely to start the season in center, and second baseman Chris Burke and third baseman Mike Lamb could see time in the outfield. Rockies center fielder Preston Wilson eventually could be a trade possibility for the Astros if he makes a successful recovery from knee surgery....

MLB Notes

Mike Lamb lives!!

Lamb has been splitting time between the minor leagues and the big leagues for a while now...but last year, he got to play in the bigs all year and managed to get over 300 PAs. He hit 14 HRs, 14 doubles, and he on-based .356. You want to keep this guy on the bench when you have no offense to speak of?

To me, I don't care who plays where at that point, when your offense could be as abysmal as the Astros offense, you ought to give a guy like Mike Lamb a shot. Maybe he brings something reasonably close to a .511 slugging to the lineup. The two projection systems that I've seen say this about Lamb:

ZIPS: .277/.355/.446
PECOTA: .262/.344/.447

Palmeiro's .241/.344/.346 looks real good next to Lamb. :P Here's what the Astros could look like on opening day.

1. Chris Burke (2B)
2. Adam Everett (SS)
3. Craig Biggio (LF)
4. Jeff Bagwell (1B)
5. Jason Lane (CF)
6. Morgan Ensberg (3B)
7. Mike Lamb (standing in RF)
8. Brad Ausmus (C)

It's not as bad as it could be....although that outfield looks pretty scary with or without Palmeiro. Here's hoping that Jason Lane's got some range in center.