According to various sources right now, including this one, the rumors of a Manny to the Dodgers, or any other team for that matter, are once again dying out as Boston can't seem to find a taker willing to give them the price Theo Epstein's asking for of a powerhouse closer, three stud prospects, the Hope Diamond, two Victoria's Secret supermodels, and a round-trip ticket to the soon to be built moon base. Go figure. I thought the Dodgers might have been able to swing that.
What this means, though, is that instead of having Manny or JD Drew patrolling the outfield in Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers will have Juan Pierre, Andre Ethier, maybe that Repko guy (do they still have him even?) or Matt Kemp. In other words, inconsistent, unproven, unreliable and then Juan Pierre, who's at least all of the above even if he's lacking in other crucial facets of his game. For their rotation, they are now desperately scrambling to sign Jason Schmidt to give them some umph now that Greg Maddux is on his way to San Diego, and for their infield they're alright until Nomar and/or Jeff Kent get injured in early May.
Admittedly, LA's rotation even without Schmidt (with him it could be scary) will be solid, and signing Saito today only emphasizes that their bullpen is at least as strong as San Diego's and will be tough to overcome, but the offense is looking very vulnerable right now. If this is the shape of the most worrisome of our division competition heading into 2007, our chances of winning aren't that bad. Let's hope it stays this way.
Update [2006-12-6 13:17:1 by Rox Girl]:
According to Ken Rosenthal, the Dodgers are signing Jason Schmidt to a three-year $47 million contract. Yikes, not only to this addition but to that dollar figure.