Kuzul

The Los Angeles Dodgers are going to spend as much money as possible to put together a winning team; that much is clear. But with great payroll comes great responsibility to not go crazy with contracts. 

I can’t say the Dodgers have abided by that made-up rule quite yet, because they certainly have their fair share of well-overpaid players. You can point to about half of the starting lineup as being “overpaid,” but having an expensive contract doesn’t necessarily make one overpaid.

Instead, I focused on guys who do not earn the money they are paid. For example, I truly believe that Matt Kemp, despite his mammoth salary, earns his paycheck by being a legitimate five-tool player. On the other hand, B.J. Upton’s new $15 million-per-year contract with Atlanta doesn’t seem very justified based on his performance.

Similarly, you won’t see Hanley Ramirez or Adrian Gonzalez on this list. They may earn too much money, but they are multi-faceted, talented players who make one of the biggest impacts to any team in any league.

Read on for a list of the six most overpaid players on the current Dodgers roster—quick, before it balloons to double digits!

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The Los Angeles Dodgers are taking the free agent market seriously. Jayson Stark of ESPN reported Tuesday that the Dodgers are looking at top shelf starting pitchers Zack Greinke, Hiroki Kuroda and Anibal Sanchez.

While each of these three pitchers would obviously help the Dodgers, it is difficult to tell if this is really the best use of all of the money that new ownership is going to be pumping into the franchise.

First, as Jayson Stark also mentioned, the Dodgers have a veteran group of starting pitchers. Clayton Kershaw obviously leads the way as a potential Cy Young candidate every season. Chad Billingsley and Josh Beckett should provide plenty of support as well.

In fact, if Beckett is able to rebound from an incredibly frustrating 2012, he should be more than support. In 2011, he went 13-7 with a very low 2.89 ERA. The reason that I designated that ERA especially is because he posted that in the American League East.

For perspective, in 2011, every team in the American League East was in the top half of Major League Baseball in terms of runs scored. In such a high-scoring division, it is obvious that Beckett did great things if he kept his ERA that low.

With the pitching staff seemingly under control, it seems as if it would be more logical for the Dodgers to worry about the offense. In 2012, they came in 26th in terms of total runs scored. There is a lot of room for improvement in their lineup.

While they do have potential All-Stars at almost every position thanks to a major blockbuster with the Boston Red Sox last July, third base has the potential to be a weak link.

Luis Cruz saw a substantial portion of time at the hot corner last season, and he handled himself very well at the plate with a .297 batting average, six home runs and 40 RBI in 78 games. However, that was a small sample size, and he rarely displayed that much power or average in the minor leagues.

A free-agent option such as Kevin Youkilis might make a lot more sense at third base and be a better use of that money.

Last season was definitely not ideal as he hit .235 with 19 home runs and 60 RBI. However, he did play markedly better once he was traded away from the Boston Red Sox to the Chicago White Sox.

Although his average only crept up slightly, he hit 15 home runs in 80 games. When you expand that over an entire season, 30 home runs would definitely be valued at third base.

I know that the Los Angeles Dodgers might be a little bit heavy on former Red Sox, but this situation is entirely different with different management in place. A similar meltdown would almost definitely not occur.

While I do not doubt for one minute that the Los Angeles Dodgers are indeed looking at top end starting pitchers, that strategy is questionable to say the least.

With an offense that ranked near the bottom of the league in terms of runs produced last season, it might not hurt to a little bit more firepower to that lineup.

Whether you think I know everything or nothing about Major League Baseball, you should follow me on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook and keep in touch. I love hearing what you all have to say!

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The Dodgers stacked up a lot of expensive talent this past July and August. It made their team look ten-times better on paper, but they didn’t start playing well until a couple weeks remained, and they were just too far out in the Wild Card.

With players like Hanley Ramirez, Josh Beckett and Adrian Gonzalez on board for at least a couple more years, there is some fat around the edges that will need to be trimmed this offseason. 

I’m actually a big fan of Shane Victorino, despite his lack of success in Dodger Blue. And though Brandon League can be a heart attack in the closer’s role, I think he needs to be kept on as well. So with those two out of the equation, who are the five players the Dodgers must replace this offseason, via trade, benching or demotion?

Read on.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers didn’t have Carl Crawford available to help their playoff push this season, but his return in 2013 will help L.A. avoid missing the postseason for a fourth consecutive year. 

Crawford underwent Tommy John surgery on his left elbow in July, shortly before being traded to the Dodgers from the Boston Red Sox in a blockbuster trade in August. The surgery reduced his 2012 campaign to a mere 31 games played, but he’s expected to be fully recovered by the beginning of June at the absolute latest.

Once Crawford returns, he’ll provide another offensive weapon toward the top of a Los Angeles lineup that’s loaded with All-Star-caliber players. He will give the Dodgers five hitters that have made at least two All-Star game appearances since 2009. 

The Dodgers’ lineup will be tough on opposing pitchers with Crawford hitting out of the two-hole. His ability to get on base and steal bases eliminates L.A.’s need for a traditional leadoff hitter, and his left-handed bat allows Los Angeles to alternate righties and lefties in the first seven spots of the lineup.

Depending on how the Dodgers sort out their crowded left side of the infield, second baseman Mark Ellis and shortstop Dee Gordon are the most likely candidates to bat leadoff for Los Angeles.

If he can make it back into the starting lineup by opening day, Crawford could eclipse his career high of 110 runs scored with Matt Kemp, Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez and Andre Ethier hitting behind him. 

Skeptics will point out that Crawford’s career has recently been marked by injuries and poor performance. There’s reason for Dodgers fans to believe, however, that his failure to produce in Boston was not the beginning of a career in decline.

Crawford only appeared in 161 games for the Red Sox over the past two seasons while battling a combination of hamstring, wrist and elbow injuries. But he began to show flashes of the player Boston thought it was getting when they signed him to a seven-year, $142 million contract in December of 2010 during his abbreviated 2012 campaign.

He hit .282 with three home runs, 23 runs scored, 19 runs batted in and five stolen bases in 117 regular-season at bats.

Crawford never seemed to be a good fit in the intense media environment in Boston. The Los Angeles market will prove to be a much more comfortable fit for the reserved outfielder, especially with player-friendly manager Don Mattingly on the bench.

Still Just 31, and with his health issues finally behind him, Crawford will prove to be more than just a high-risk salary dump included in the Adrian Gonzalez trade. Dodgers fans will be pleased to see the 2010 AL Gold Glove winner patrolling left field every day. He’ll combine with Kemp and Ethier to give Los Angeles MLB’s most complete outfield.

Crawford’s days of stealing 50-plus bases are likely permanently behind him and the Dodgers would be crazy to let him run free with the plethora of run producers hitting behind him. He still has enough speed to score from first base on doubles hit to the gaps, which is sure to be a common occurrence in cavernous Dodgers Stadium.

With Crawford, Ramirez and a healthy Kemp in Los Angeles for an entire season, the Dodgers will steal more than the 104 bases they swiped this season—the eighth-best total in the National League. That’s a much-needed advantage for an offense that finished second-to-last in the league in home runs with 116.   

While the home run total is sure to go up as well, the Dodgers will never be confused with the New York Yankees and their dependence on the long ball to score runs. Besides, the American League Championship Series exposed the folly in building an offense that cannot manufacture runs.

Dodgers fans shouldn’t expect Crawford to be the same player that he was during his best days with the Tampa Bay Rays. But a .290 batting average with 10 home runs, 65 runs batted in, 105 runs scored and 35 stolen bases is a reasonable expectation for his first season in Los Angeles. 

If Crawford comes anywhere close to those numbers while playing in 145 games or more, the Dodgers will be celebrating a NL West division title and their first postseason appearance since 2009.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers faithful have plenty of reasons to be upset over the less than spectacular 2012 campaign—about 200 million-plus reasons, to be exact. Failure leaves a sour taste in the mouth, without question, but that doesn’t mean optimism can’t refuel the hunger for next year.  

Undoubtedly, the organization did not want to commemorate the 50-year mark at Chavez Ravine with an epic fall from first place, and possible Wild Card, at the hands of the hated Giants, but it happened anyway. Unless the Reds fight off their one-week celebration hangover and somehow shock the Cardinals, while using the bench to rest the starters, the MLB Playoffs are set in the National League. And, unfortunately, the Dodgers are not a part of it.

However, before fans begin packing away the blue for good, praying for NFL in 2014 or growing excited over the new-look Lakers and possible choices of shades Jack Nicholson will wear, there are signs of hope. 

Here are the top five reasons the Dodgers will be a tough act in 2013, keeping the fan-base thinking blue, instead of feeling blue. 

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Despite everything seemingly going wrong for the National League wild-card contenders, the Los Angeles Dodgers got some much-needed great news on Friday.

Closer Kenley Jansen, who is currently out of action due a heart condition, is off blood thinners and will return to the team on Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Times’ Dylan Hernandez.

Kenley Jansen off blood thinners, will return Tuesday.

— Dylan Hernandez (@dylanohernandez) September 14, 2012

This news couldn’t come at a better time for the Dodgers, who are losers of four straight games, and now sit two games out of the last National League Wild Card spot heading into Friday night’s home tilt with the St. Louis Cardinals. 

Jansen had been out since late August, and this was the second time in his career he has missed time due to the condition. The flamethrower first noticed an irregular heartbeat midway through last season and missed a month of action to regulate the condition. 

In just his second season in the majors, Jansen has flourished since taking over the closer role from Javy Guerra full-time in May. Though he has struggled with command this year, the 24-year-old has racked up 25 saves in 31 chances and has an astounding 86 strikeouts in 56.2 innings.

The team mostly used midseason acquisition Brandon League in Jansen’s absence, though Ronald Belisario also got recorded a save.

For the Dodgers, this will allow manager Don Mattingly to give his bullpen a sense of normalcy. League will likely return to an eighth-inning role as Jansen takes back over the closer duties.

With the scary situation under control, this will hopefully be the last time this condition pops up for Jansen.

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When the Los Angeles Dodgers secured the lineup of Matt Kemp, Shane Victorino, Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez and Andre Ethier, it looked like money could buy success.

At least on paper.

Now, after a record of 6-15 since they put this new team together—and with injuries to key players piling up—it looks like success will be much harder to come by.

Kemp has recently been out of action due to a shoulder injury he got when running into a wall in Colorado.  Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw missed a key start against the Giants due to a sore hip.

Both men may return tonight, but it may not matter in the greater scheme of things this season if they keep playing so poorly.

As of now, the Giants have taken a five-game lead in the NL West, and the Dodgers only hope of making the playoffs seems to be to overtake the St. Louis Cardinals for the second wild-card spot.  L.A. trails by one and a half games and will host the Cardinals this weekend.

But to claim that second wild card, the Dodgers have to score more runs.

In Sunday’s game against the Giants, the Dodgers were 1-for-23 (.043) with men in scoring position, a stat that has become the tale of the tape for L.A. in the past few games. 

Gonzalez has been pretty pathetic, batting.249 since the trade and .202 with RISP.  Kemp, probably due to his injury, has three hits in his last 30 at-bats.

After the trade, the Dodgers are averaging 3.03 runs per game.  Before the trade, they averaged four runs per game.

Numbers don’t tell the entire story, though, as the anemic run production has been the result of a variety of factors:  poor managing by Don Mattingly, a lack of chemistry, suspect pitching, injuries and a general lack of hustle.

The lack of hustle was very apparent against the Giants when Juan Rivera hit a ball down the right-field line and watched it as he trotted to first base, eventually making it to second in a leisurely fashion.  Had he taken off fast and not looked at the ball—as he was taught in Little League—he may have had a triple. He eventually got stuck at second.

At shortstop, Ramirez is anything but slick and seems way too nonchalant. We may have been spoiled by the rocket arm of Rafael Furcal, but Ramirez, no matter what the play, just seems to sling the ball over to first base, with the ball, often times, barely beating the runner.

The highly regarded shortstop and one-time NL batting champ came to the Dodgers with a bad rap for being lazy and disinterested.  Is that what the Dodger fans are going to get from him?

Ramirez is batting a meager .254 for the season, and while he has had some timely run-producing hits, he has only two home runs and four RBI in the last 10 games.

In addition to having temporarily lost Kemp and Kershaw, the Dodgers in recent weeks have lost Chad Billingsley, Kenley Jansen and Adam Kennedy for the season. There is no question that Kemp and Kershaw are the spark plugs for the team, and if they should go out again or cannot produce at their normal levels, the team will be in even more dire straits.

The Dodger pitching remains strong (3.48 ERA) thanks to solid recent performances by Josh Beckett, Chris Capuano and Brandon League, who is filling in nicely as the closer.  But is there really a lot of confidence in Joe Blanton, Aaron Harang and the newly assembled bullpen?

The hardest part of putting together a bunch of new players is getting them to gel.  In this case, the Dodgers threw together a bunch of talented individuals who, on paper, should comprise a winning team.

But what about chemistry?  Should we really expect them to unite quickly, give each other high fives and then go out there and beat the competition to death.  They barely know each other, and they barely know each others’ tendencies.

Anyone watching the games knows that Ramirez is a pull hitter and a first-ball swinger. In a recent game, Gonzalez was at third base with a sizable lead, and Ramirez hit the first pitch on a hop to the third baseman.

Gonzalez had no chance of getting back to bag.  What was he doing off it in the first place?  Maybe he just didn’t know Hanley’s tendency to pull the ball. Why didn’t third base coach Tim Wallach have him back at the bag?

The upshot was yet another run was left stranded.

Ultimately, it is up to the manager to manage all of these details, psych up his team, get them to hit and run, run and hit, move quickly on the bases, bring the heat at the right time and the curveball at others. For the most part, Mattingly has met those responsibilities quite well.

But he could do a lot better.

As a former player, Mattingly may have given his new players a bit too much leeway as they were getting acclimated to their new surroundings.

Perhaps there was a bit of a honeymoon period in which he wanted to observe how they worked individually and together as a team.

Well, Don, the honeymoon is over, and it is time to kick this team into gear or this will look like one bad marriage.

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They say it’s a team game. That it takes everyone coming together to win or lose a game. Teamwork matters. And all these things are true. 

But that doesn’t mean assigning blame to individual people is wrong. There is always someone who is in a slump that you point to as the culprit for a lost game. And while I do believe it’s a team win or loss in most cases, it’s fun to have a scapegoat. If I could, I’d put one slide titled “Juan Uribe” and call it a day.

I won’t do that.

I will do this: Since the Dodgers traded for half of the Red Sox roster a couple weeks ago, the picture in L.A. has not been as pretty as we expected. 

So who’s to blame for the post-deadline Dodger struggles? Read on.

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Just over one year ago, the Los Angeles Dodgers were a team on the verge of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  On May 1, 2012, the team’s fortunes changed dramatically as the Guggenheim group, fronted by Magic Johnson, purchased the team for an astounding $2.15 billion.  Under this new ownership, the Dodgers have become big spenders in a hurry.

In just two months, the Dodgers have acquired a group of big-name stars, including Hanley Ramirez, Shane Victorino, Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett and Carl Crawford.  With the acquisition of those last three players alone, the Dodgers taken on a quarter of a billion dollars in contracts from the Boston Red Sox, a team intent on a salary purge.

However, these moves should come as no surprise, since the Dodgers are under new ownership that expects a cash windfall for local TV rights.  The current deal expires at the conclusion of the 2013 season.  Estimates are that a new deal with Fox could yield $4 billion.  Thus, the team has gone from frugality to big spending seemingly overnight.

Of course, investing large sums of money in top free agents is no guarantee of victory.  The Red Sox, perennial contenders during the first decade of the 2000s, have consistently ranked among the top three in MLB payroll for years.  Still, Boston has not won a playoff game since 2008 and won’t make the postseason this year.  The Yankees, who annually spend more than any other team, have won the World Series—the only measure of success in the Bronx—just one time in the past decade. 

Recently, the Yankees have talked about fiscal prudence, and say they aim to cut payroll in order to avoid the luxury tax imposed on clubs that exceed a salary of $178 million.  Both New York and Boston seem to be looking at the success models of AL East rivals Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays, who have fielded competitive teams despite having two of the lowest payrolls in the majors.

Meanwhile, on the West Coast, there is an arms race, albeit in different leagues.  The Angels inked a 20-year local TV contract with Fox Sports last December worth more than $3 billion.  The infusion of cash allowed the team to invest more than $300 million in Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson. 

Following the Frank McCourt era, in which the team was cash-strapped and the ownership unlikeable, the Dodgers began to lose some of their relevance in Southern California. Now the team is investing in All-Star players and will certainly have significant dollars available to retain 24-year-old NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw, whose contract expires in 2014.  Naturally, Kershaw—and his agent—anticipate that the Dodgers will be the frontrunners to retain his services.

Baseball’s eyes will be turned out west as the 2012 pennant races wind down.  The Dodgers have reloaded in their efforts to catch their longtime rival San Francisco Giants and beat out the St. Louis Cardinals for a wild-card spot.  If the Dodgers fail to win it all this year, I would not be surprised to see them pursue big-name free agents Josh Hamilton and 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke in the offseason.

The question moving forward will be whether the spending on player salaries—by the Dodgers as well as all the other teams—is sustainable in the long term. 

Jed Hughes is Vice Chair of Korn/Ferry and the leader of the executive search firm’s Global Sports Practice.  Among his high-profile placements are Mark Murphy, CEO of the Green Bay Packers; Larry Scott, Commissioner of the Pac-12 Conference; and Brady Hoke, head coach of the Michigan Wolverines.  Earlier in his career, Mr. Hughes coached for two decades in professional and intercollegiate football where he served under five Hall of Fame coaches: Bo Schembechler (Michigan), Chuck Noll (Pittsburgh Steelers), Bud Grant (Minnesota Vikings), John Ralston (Stanford) and Terry Donahue (UCLA).  Follow him on Facebook, Twitter @jedhughesKF.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitching staff has fallen on tough times recently. But there are reasons to believe that a turnaround is on the horizon, in spite of all that’s occurred over the past two weeks. In that time, the Dodgers have lost two of their most important pitchers to injury, possibly for the rest of the season.

RHP Chad Billingsley has been out indefinitely since leaving in the fourth inning of his August 24 start with discomfort in his pitching elbow. Although he received an injection of platelet-rich plasma last week in an attempt to salvage his season, his return is in serious doubt. Billingsley’s had won all six of his starts since the All-Star break and was easily the Dodgers’ best pitcher during that time. His loss is devastating to a starting rotation that has been without LHP Ted Lilly since early May.

Lilly’s return is also in question as he’s been slow to recover from soreness in his pitching shoulder.  

The injury news got worse for Los Angeles last week when closer Kenley Jansen was also shelved indefinitely with a recurring heart condition. He is scheduled to find out today if he can return to the Dodgers bullpen as soon as September 7 or if he’ll miss the rest of the 2012 season. 

The injuries alone are a big enough cause for concern, but the Dodgers also endured a 1-3 stretch last week during which they gave up a total of 34 runs. 

The combination of mounting injuries and poor pitching performances are enough to make a Dodgers fan cry. However, the darkest days are behind them, and the sun has already begun to shine on Los Angeles once again.

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