2010 MLB "Preview": NL West
By Jason McIntyre
1. LA Dodgers – Best balance of bats and arms in the division. Of slight concern – Manny Ramirez. Not necessarily his production – though it tailed off considerably following the performance-enhancing drugs revelations – but his bouts of moodiness and pouting. Hope Joe Torre doesn’t mind another year of babysitting. Love the top half of the rotation – Kershaw and Billingsley – but the 3rd and 4th spots leave something to be desired. Out with Wolf and Garland, in with … oh, right. Nobody. Matt Kemp will probably be a 30-30 guy this year, and Andre Ethier is clutch – 4th in the majors in game-wining RBI last year with 19. Russell Martin? Still dating a model, as best we can tell. The guess here is 88 wins and the division crown for the third year in a row.
4. Arizona Diamondbacks – Arizona’s closer is Chad Qualls. We hear that name and instantly have a memory jog to DJ Qualls, the mopey-looking actor with perpetually-slumped shoulders whose career highlight was landing Eliza Dushku in The New Guy, a really bad movie. This scene, however, was worth the price of admission. Seventy-four wins.
5. San Diego Padres: Only reason to give half a shit about these guys this season – to see where Adrian Gonzalez gets dealt. If the young kids pan out … then in 2013 the Padres might matter. They’re not Nationals or Pirates bad, but this is probably the 3rd worst team in the NL. We’ll guess 70 wins.