2008 Record: 84-78 2008 Pythagorean Record: 87-75 FIC Rank: 16th 1st in NL West 2008 Payroll: $118.6 million (7th in MLB, 2nd in NL) Cost per win: $1.41 million (25th in MLB, 14th in NL) Dodgers Season Review The Dodgers became relevant for the first time since 1988 largely due Boston's eager dumping of Manny Ramirez, which cost the Dodgers a couple of prospects they had largely already given up on. While GM Ned Colleti wasn't given a full do-over on Andruw Jones, Juan Pierre and Jason Schmidt, landing a motivated Manny looking to prove himself as having intangibles that match his bat on the eve of his free agency proved to be the kind of mulligan that comes along once in a career. Pitching has almost always been king at Chavez Ravine and the Dodgers once again led the NL in ERA with a mark of 3.68, but they finally began scoring enough runs to give those hurlers a chance to win consistently. Their offense did finish 24th in the AL in runs with 4.3 per game, but they scored 5.4 in September (3rd in NL), a surge that carried into the postseason as they outscored the Cubs 20-6 in their three-game sweep. Their blend of young talent and veterans is an excellent one and while they don't appear convinced that they need to re-sign Manny, their are still too many doubts whether the quartet of Martin, Kemp, Loney and Ethier will be great or just very good, especially as sluggers. * Individual FIC Rank, Season FIC and Reina Value appear in parenthesis next to each player's name. The FIC is a statistical system that attempts to objectively rank all players and the Reina Value determines how that performance relates to their contract. A player with a positive Reina Value outperformed his contract while a negative one means he likely was overvalued. Catcher Russell Martin (137th, 168, +1300%) had another very good season to solidify himself as one of the game's best young catchers, though his OPS was down 62 points to .781. Martin and Brian McCann are the only two catchers in MLB history to hit at least 42 homers with a .285 or better average over their first three seasons (averaging at least 100 games) in the majors. Martin's numbers actually dropped, however, after the arrival of Manny. First Base James Loney (243rd, 119, +825%) saw his slugging drop over 100 points from 2007 this season (down to .434), and he was especially brutal in September, hitting .209/.229/.297. He hit for an .815 OPS against righties, but just .664 against lefties. Second Base Jeff Kent (397th, 76, -87%) had his best month of 2008 after the arrival of Manny, but he once again didn't want to let his presence beside a transcendent slugger diminish his own accomplishments. He finished the season batting .280/.327/.418 and his first sub.800 OPS since he split time between the Mets and Indians back in 2006. He tore the meniscus in his left knee in the end of August, but fought his way into some postseason at bats, but he went zero-for-eight and will likely retire. Blake DeWitt (424th, 72, +156%) became the young infielder the Dodgers had been expecting Andy LaRoche to become. He hit for an OPS of .727 with nine homers in 368 at bats while somehow hitting lefties better than righties. After a rough summer, DeWitt hit .872 in September. Third Base Casey Blake (277th, 106, -51%) hit 10 homers in Dodger Blue, but his .773 OPS was actually down from where it was in Cleveland. Nomar Garciaparra (553rd, 50, -96%) once again had an injury-marred season, playing in just 55 games. When healthy enough to play, he hit .265/.326/.466 with eight homers, including an exciting walk off job in August against the Phillies. He was better than ever against lefties and had a really good second half. Shortstop Rafael Furcal (396th, 76, -92%) had a huge drop in production in 2007 in which his OPS dropped to .688, but he began the 2008 season as one of the NL's best hitters. When he went down with his back injury after just 32 games, Furcal was hitting .366/.448/.597. He came back early and rejoined the Dodgers for the postseason in which he had mixed success. Angel Berroa (1195th, -3, -61%) hit for an OPS of just .614 while filling in for Furcal and it's hard to believe he once hit 17 homers in a season back in 2003. Left Field Manny Ramirez (13th, 274, -15%) hit an unseemly .396/.489/.743 in 53 games with the Dodgers following the deadline deal. His impact in the lineup sent ripples all around him and he gave the club the edge they needed to surpass the Diamondbacks in the extremely weak NL West. For the first time since Shawn Green, the Dodgers had a player that could beat you with the consistent long ball. Juan Pierre (308th, 96, -70%) had his OPS drop again in 2008 down to .655, but he was far from the most maligned overpaid member of the Dodgers' outfield thanks to Andruw Jones. The Dodgers were 55-64 in his appearances. Center Field Matt Kemp (247th, 118, +824%) saw a drop in both on base and slugging in his first full season in the big leagues. He closed 2007 with a line of .342/.373/.521 and followed it up with .290/.340/.459. He struggled in the postseason and down the stretch, as he still struggles against righties. Kemp has only hit nine of his 35 career homers on the road, and his OPS is 168 points better against lefties (.933) than it is against righties (.765). Andruw Jones (1295, -40, -97%) had one of the worst seasons in baseball history, hitting .158/.256/.249. There have only been six other players since 1960 to have at least 200 plate appearances and a batting average of .158 or less. He was an unmitigated disaster in 2007, but at least he still slugged .413. Right Field Andre Ethier (85th, 196, +2256%) took another step forward as a pure hitter while also increasing his power numbers, hitting 20 homers with 38 doubles and five triples, getting his slugging percentage up to .510. He has been helped significantly by Ramirez as he hit .335/.409/.583 in the second half. Starting Pitching Derek Lowe (50th, 223, +25%) came over to the Dodgers in 2004 and there was really nothing to suggest he'd have four consecutive seasons of an ERA of 3.88 or better and be 13th in ERA+ amongst pitchers with at least 140 starts. He also increased his strikeout rate and though he still relies on the ground ball, he recorded a higher percentage of flyball outs in 2008 than ever before. Chad Billingsley (35th, 242, +3153%) had an excellent, albeit under-appreciated, season throwing 200+ innings while having an ERA of 3.14 and striking out 201. He had a 2.99 ERA in the second half even though he lost some of his strike out stuff. Hiroki Kuroda (110th, 185, +8%) had a 3.73 ERA this season and was even better in August and September. With a K/BB rate of almost three to one and two complete games, it was a solid first big league season for the 33-year-old. Clayton Kershaw (279th, 105, +669%) had a 4.26 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 21 starts (107.7 innings) despite struggling against lefties (that will undoubtedly improve in time) and on the road (5.36 ERA). He was only 20 this season and he has the velocity and mentality to be great. Brad Penny (445th, 68, -90%) had the worst season of his career, seeing his ERA more than double to 6.27 from his 2007 mark of 3.03 and his strikeout to walk ratio plummet as he battled a bad shoulder. Jason Schmidt (NA, NA, -100%) has thrown 25.7 innings in two seasons for the Dodgers and didn't take the mound once in 2008 despite a salary of $15.22M. He is a really good guy and hopefully that shoulder gets well enough for him to pitch again. Greg Maddux (146th, 161, -36%) made seven starts in his second stint with the Dodgers and unlike the 3.30 ERA he posted in 2006, he gave up 23 earned runs in 40.7 innings. Relief Pitching Jonathan Broxton (249th, 116, +715%) throws 100 miles per hour, strikes out 11.48 batters per nine innings with a great strikeout to walk rate, but he occasionally was hittable and batters had a very good .321 BAbip against him. This, at least in part, led to his human ERA of 3.13. Takashi Saito (258th, 113, +75%) was more than a run worse than 2007 and missed a good portion of the second half due to elbow problems, but he still saved 18 games with an excellent strikeout rate thanks to the heat the 38-year-old still delivers. Joe Beimel (472nd, 63, -58%) had a career season at 31 with a 2.02 ERA. He pitches to contact and had a high WHIP, but he was able to weave in and out of jams for the most part. Beimel inherited 60 runners and 33% of them ended up scoring. Cory Wade (394th, 76, +221%) made his debut in 2008 and ended up being one of Torre's most dependable options out of the bullpen, posting a 2.27 ERA with a WHIP under 1.000. Chan Ho Park (305th, 97, +380%) returned to the Dodgers after raking in $65M from the Rangers, plus an additional $3M from the Mets on a whim. He made five starts, but was primarily a reliever, making 49 appearances. Park was actually significantly better as a starter (2.16 ERA vs. 3.84). Park had significant difficulties in the second half and against lefties. Hong-Chih Kuo (271st, 107, +691%) was yet another bullpen arm that had more strikeouts than innings to go with career bests in ERA (2.14) and WHIP (1.013). - Christopher Reina is the executive editor of RealGM