[Dodgers Roster]
Fresh from the fishwrap, your 1998 L.A. Dodgers (projected roster, anyways):
STARTING PITCHERS:
Ramon Martinez
Chan Ho Park
Ismael Valdes
Hideo Nomo
Darren Driefort
The way I see it, Chan Ho might be a 20-game winner. I hope I'm not expecting
too much from him, since it's only his 2nd full year in the rotation, but he's
gonna be the future ace of this staff. Ramon is fully recovered from his
injury and is throwing bullets, he'll have a great year. Driefort's a stud,
Valdes needs to get his mental problems under control (and get some run
support), and I predict Hideo Nomo will be on the disabled list or in the
bullpen by May. Maybe sooner.
BULLPEN:
Darren Hall
Frank Lankford
Mark Guthrie
Scott Radinsky
Dennis Reyes
Antonio Osuna
Lankford impressed everybody this spring, let's hope he continues to shine.
Osuna wasn't all that overwhelming, so I think he'll end up sharing closer duty
with Radinsky, which is just as well. Bill Russell's fixation with a shaky
closer last year cost us the division.
CATCHERS:
Mike Piazza
Tom Prince
Not much needs to be said here, except "MIKE, PLEASE RE-SIGN, ASAP!"
INFIELDERS:
Eric Karros
Eric Young
Jose Vizcaino
Todd Zeile
Paul Konerko
Wilton Guerrero
Juan Castro
All Dodger fans everywhere are (or should be) hoping that Konerko plays Lou
Gehrig to Karros's Wally Pipp. EK might find himself on the bench when he gets
back, or perhaps Konerko will find himself in the outfield. Regardless, Paul
is going to be the Ddogers 6th ROY of the decade. I want solid OBP's out of
Vizcaino and Young, but I'm not holding my breath. And I'd like to see Zeile
improve somewhat on that lousy April and May he had last year, but again I'm
not holding my breath.
OUTFIELD:
Raul Mondesi
Todd Hollandsworth
Roger Cedeno
Matt Luke
Thomas Howard
Trenidad Hubbard
Mike Devereaux
Cedeno still needs to prove himself, and starting the season the DL is not the
best way. I still can't believe Hollandsworth got protected in the draft
instead of Karim Garcia, but he had a nice spring, so all we can do is adopt a
wait-and-see position on him. I expect Raul to have another 30-30 year and
Matt Luke might continue the Dodgers recent Rule V success stories. Can
someone please tell me where the hell Thomas Howard and Trenidad Hubbard came
from? Who are these guys? As for Mike Devereaux, I just wish we had him
about nine years ago. Oh wait...
So there you go. Do you all think this is a world championship roster or what?
With some chemistry and a few breakthrough/career years here and there, I
think this team definitely has the stuff to be champs. Of course, we've been
saying that for four years now...
--Dan The Man.
This article was taken from the LA Dodgers Newsgroup