If the sky is falling in Los Angeles, the Dodgers may have done enough to keep their fortress intact.
That is the sentiment from MLB.com columnist Richard Justice, based on the recent moves Los Angeles made to counter the effects of losing Zack Greinke and failed acquisition attempts of starter Hisashi Iwakuma and closer Aroldis Chapman.
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"The Dodgers have had a remarkable offseason -- not the one they expected to have, and certainly not the one they hoped to have," Justice wrote. "Still, despite a few twists and turns, here they sit almost certainly favored to win a fourth straight division championship.
"This isn't where things seemed to be headed a few weeks ago, after the Dodgers lost Zack Greinke to the D-backs in free agency and didn't land one of the premier available starters -- David Price, Johnny Cueto, etc."
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How can it be that L.A. is still the NL West favorite? Especially now that the aforementioned Greinke went to one division rival (the Diamondbacks), who had hitting but lacked pitching, and Cueto and Jeff Samardzija went to another rival (the Giants).
Los Angeles was able to land veteran Scott Kazmir and Japanese import Kenta Maeda, who won the Sawamura Award (the Japanese equivalent to the Cy Young), last season. Also, Hyun-Jin Ryu returns from injury to battle Brett Anderson and Alex Wood for rotation spots. So despite not being as top-heavy as it was last year with Clayton Kershaw and Greinke, the Dodgers appear to have more depth Nos. 1-5 in the rotation.
And the team did it without gutting a farm system that has players on the verge of producing. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman was able to hold on to shortstop Corey Seager and pitchers Julio Urias and Jose De Leon.
Kershaw and Greinke had to be perfect in the postseason for the Dodgers the last three seasons, and they weren't able to advance to the World Series. Now, Kershaw may not have as much pressure -- provided Los Angeles can still win the season-long division marathon over the Diamondbacks and Giants.
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