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The San Francisco Giants embark on the 2015 campaign with one goal in mind: They want to defend their World Series title and win it again.

The baseball season is a long, arduous process, which makes the Giants’ three world championships in the past five years a tremendous accomplishment.

On paper, there are teams that look better than the Giants, but that was also the case in 2010, 2012 and 2014, when the Giants won it all. Fortunately, the game is not played on paper, and there are injuries and other intangibles that factor into whether a team is ultimately successful.

Looking at the 2015 team, two key players, Pablo Sandoval and Michael Morse, have departed. The Giants have replaced Sandoval with Casey McGehee, who was acquired in a trade with the Miami Marlins. McGehee is a solid hitter and decent defensive player, so the loss of Sandoval is minimized.

McGehee does not have Sandoval’s power, as he hit only four home runs last season, compared to Sandoval’s 16. However, McGehee actually had more RBI, as he contributed 76, compared to 73 for Sandoval.

The Giants will miss Morse, however, as he carried the team early in the season and came up with some huge hits in the postseason. Morse hit 16 home runs and drove in 61 runs during the regular season.

Nori Aoki was signed as a free agent and will get the opportunity to replace Morse. He is a completely different type of player. Aoki has good speed, is a good contact hitter and gets on base. His OBP last year was .360. Although not great, Aoki is a better defensive player than Morse.

The Giants hope the assets that Aoki brings to San Francisco will offset his lack of power in comparison to Morse.

The key for the Giants, however, will come down to pitching. If the Giants pitch well and play good defense, they have shown an uncanny ability to win close games.

Let’s take a look at five key reasons to be optimistic heading into the 2015 season.

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After winning the NL West each of the last two seasons, the Los Angeles Dodgers head into 2015 as the clear favorites in the division. They are an excellent team—projected to win 91 games by FanGraphs—and are chock-full of exciting storylines and impact players who are fun to watch.

I have detailed the players and stories that I believe to be the most exciting. Whether it be the on-field product or the off-field decision-making, everything is working for the Dodgers right now. It is an exciting time to be a Dodgers fan.

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The San Francisco Giants have won the World Series in three of the past five years, and they are sitting at 20-1 to repeat that feat this season as one of 13 top contenders with odds that high or better at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.

San Francisco’s direct competition in the NL West will again come from the defending division champion Los Angeles Dodgers, who are at 17-2 on the odds to win the World Series, the second choice behind only the NL East’s Washington Nationals at 6-1.

The Dodgers disappointed in the playoffs last season by falling to the St. Louis Cardinals (12-1) for the second year in a row and lost several key players in the offseason, including outfielder Matt Kemp to the rival San Diego Padres (20-1).

The Kansas City Royals are sitting at 33-1 on the World Series odds and will be hard-pressed to get back to the postseason this year in a competitive AL Central. Last year, the Royals met the Giants in the World Series, with Kansas City also starting the 2014 season at 33-1 to claim the title. San Francisco was at 14-1 to win the World Series prior to last season.

The four-time defending AL Central division champion Detroit Tigers are at 16-1 to win the World Series and have been one of the top favorites in years past. However, they lost ace Max Scherzer to the Nationals via free agency and former Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander will start the season on the disabled list due to a triceps injury.

The Chicago White Sox are also at 16-1 and feature rising Cuban star Jose Abreu, who is one of the favorites to hit the most home runs (15-2) and win the AL MVP award (4-1) at the sportsbooks heading into the season.

The Boston Red Sox look like the team to beat in the American League, though, as they are at 10-1 to win the World Series after adding former Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez and former Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval to their lineup in the offseason.

However, the Red Sox still have some question marks in their rotation with last year’s Opening Day starter Jon Lester now a member of the upstart Chicago Cubs, who are set at 16-1 on the odds to win the World Series following his addition along with several promising young players and a new manager in Joe Maddon.

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As the San Francisco Giants embark on their quest to defend the 2014 World Series title, there are many questions that must be answered over a very long season.

The fact that the Giants have three world championships in five years is nothing short of amazing. Every season is a grueling marathon, both mentally and physically. 

Mental toughness, clutch execution and team chemistry are all critical factors behind the Giants’ success.

Manager Bruce Bochy has been the steady hand that guides the Giants and keeps the team focused and moving in the right direction. His leadership has paid huge dividends, as the Giants have championships in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

The question now is whether the Giants can win in an odd-numbered year. So much has to go right just to make the playoffs in the first place. Winning in 2015 will definitely not be an easy task.

Let’s review the outlook for 2015. Hopefully, we can provide a balanced view of the Giants’ chances this upcoming season.

All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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For as wonderful as the World Series was, the three-and-a-half months that immediately followed were just as mesmerizing. 

Armed with new front offices, and/or money and/or a directive to get instantly better before spring training, several clubs aggressively went about this last offseason with a makeover in mind.

The hot stove season was a blur of wheeling, dealing and one blockbuster acquisition after another. It started before the winter meetings, punched into overdrive once they started in San Diego in early December and finished off with a record-setting contract for the top free agent on the market, Max Scherzer, the completion of a stunning franchise transformation with James Shields’ signing with the Padres, and a record signing bonus for an international free agent, Yoan Moncada.

But for all the impressive moves that went down last offseason, there was one renovation that will produce the best results in 2015 and well beyond. The Los Angeles Dodgers not only made moves to get better on the field for this coming season, but the men in charge of making them—president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, senior vice president of baseball ops Josh Byrnes and general manager Farhan Zaidi—were also part of the franchise makeover that will pay dividends on and off the diamond.

“We obviously traded away some very good players tonight,” Friedman told reporters at a late-night press conference after trading Matt Kemp to San Diego at the winter meetings, part of his nine trades in his first 25 days at the helm. “But we feel with the totality of the moves, we made ourselves a better team.”

Not all the moves were met with complete praise. Dealing Kemp was a shock to the fanbase and what the Dodgers had become over the last six seasons, but it was a necessary move to clear the logjam in the outfield and, according to the front office, improve the clubhouse dynamic.

The overhaul was done decisively and with specific goals in mind. Friedman and Co. wanted to gain future payroll flexibility, which they did by moving Kemp’s expensive, long-term contract and acquiring expiring contracts in Jimmy Rollins and Howie Kendrick to go with the expiring contract of Juan Uribe. They also wanted to eliminate the elephant in the corner of the clubhouse, one that created tension at times and uneasiness at others.

Trading Kemp and allowing Hanley Ramirez to leave via free agency meant getting rid of two alpha male personalities, one who dominated one corner and another who dominated the complete opposite corner of the team’s recently remodeled clubhouse.

“That was the most eye-opening thing,” catcher A.J. Ellis told CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman a few weeks ago. “For people allegedly only concerned about computer printouts, they’re taking a serious look at the character of people and what kind of culture they’re creating here.”

There was an on-the-field mandate as well. The Kemp trade that brought in catcher Yasmani Grandal and made way for center field prospect Joc Pederson, along with the acquisitions of shortstop Rollins and second baseman Kendrick, was done with defense in mind, specifically improving it.

Those moves could give the Dodgers one of the best up-the-middle defenses in the National League, starting with Grandal, who is also a massive offensive upgrade from Ellis. Rollins and Kendrick are also significant defensive spikes in the middle infield over Ramirez and Dee Gordon, who the Dodgers traded to the Miami Marlins, which eventually turned into the deal for Kendrick. Pederson is regarded as the best defensive outfielder in the organization as well as being a 30-30 guy at Class AAA Albuquerque.

The front office also filled out the rotation with Brandon McCarthy, who they believe can be a premium No. 4 starter now that he is out of Arizona and using his entire repertoire of pitches, and they attempted to redo a bullpen that was the team’s Achilles’ heel last year.

Guggenheim Baseball Management, the ownership group that features president Stan Kasten and figurehead Magic Johnson, took the first sledgehammer swing this offseason, luring Friedman and removing former GM Ned Colletti. Friedman then brought in Byrnes and Zaidi, along with scouting director Billy Gasparino and farm director Gabe Kapler.

Those men then sledged their way into making a 94-win club and two-time defending division champion better. Between the foul lines and behind closed doors, the Dodgers found a way to improve themselves.

In a sport where there are guaranteed contracts and no salary cap, front offices matter to an infinite degree. And where they grab headlines from Oakland to San Diego to Chicago to Boston, the Dodgers might have assembled the best of the bunch.

Congrats to Andrew Friedman, Farhan Zaidi, Josh Byrnes, Gabe Kapler and Billy Gasparino #Dodgers #PowerHouseFrontOffice

— Jim Bowden (@JimBowden_ESPN) November 7, 2014

So when star players on the current roster exceed their prime and are no longer the best of the best, the Dodgers have positioned themselves for continued success. Wise, experienced, analytical and ridiculously aggressive, this front office has made the Dodgers’ overhaul the best in baseball.

And it will make it the best going beyond next October. 

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by the author. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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It’s not always easy to be optimistic for 2015 when your team finished the previous season with the worst record in MLB.

However, the Arizona Diamondbacks are not a typical last-place-caliber team. With most of the team returning strong, along with several key offseason acquisitions, anything less than an improvement from 2014 would be a disappointment.

Here are three reasons why the D-Backs should be optimistic as the 2015 season rapidly approaches.

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As spring training nears a close for MLB teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers can start to focus their attention on Opening Day.

Besides a completely new front office, half of the infield and about 40 percent of the starting rotation will feature new faces, ones the Dodgers have entrusted to carry the team back to the top of the National League West and beyond.

Fans heard about the metrics all winter, and now they have finally seen the players on the field instead of on a sheet of paper or computer screen. There have been relatively few disappointments at Camelback Ranch so far as the team molds itself into shape for the real deal.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Dodgers in advance of their first game of the season on April 6 against the San Diego Padres.

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Most people wouldn’t identify the San Diego Padres as a rival of the Los Angeles Dodgers, despite their proximity in Southern California.  

The Dodgers are the big bullies of the West Coast, free-spending Goliaths who look up to no one—except maybe their true rivals to the north, the San Francisco Giants and their trio of trophies. 

But the Padres? Please.

Hang on, though. It’s possible LA is finally hearing San Diego’s footsteps. The Padres, after all, had a busy offseason, upgrading an already-strong rotation by signing James Shields and completely overhauling a moribund offense.

On Tuesday, the Dodgers responded by signing Cuban import Hector Olivera to a six-year, $62.5 million deal, per Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com.

No, it isn’t a gargantuan contract by Los Angeles’ lofty standards, but it’s a sizable chunk of change to toss at a 29-year-old with health concerns, including possible damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing arm, per Yahoo Sports‘ Jeff Passan. (Olivera’s inner circle “vehemently denied” that report, per Baseball America‘s Ben Badler.)

Could the fact that the Friars were among Olivera’s rumored suitors, per CBS Sports‘ Jon Heyman, have forced the Dodgers’ hand?

They’d never admit it publicly, of course. And LA is the favorite in the National League West, with or without Olivera.

Still, it’s easy to imagine President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman looking down the freeway at the retooled Pads and wanting another weapon in his arsenal, just in case.

Olivera won’t make an immediate big-league impact. Passan guesses he’ll need at least a month in the minors to get ready, not to mention a lingering visa issue. 

Plus, the Dodgers are set at the moment in the infield, with Jimmy Rollins at short, Howie Kendrick at second and Juan Uribe at third. (Mark Uribe down as the most likely to be supplanted.)

When he does arrive at Dodger Stadium, Olivera will bring plenty of potential. In 133 games between 2011 and 2013, he hit 24 home runs to go along with 80 RBI for Santiago de Cuba of the Cuban National Series. In the 2011 campaign, arguably his best, he posted a gaudy .341/.462/.626 slash line.

More recently, Sanchez reports, Olivera “wowed scouts in open showcases and private workouts in the Dominican Republic last month, underscoring the notion that he can hit at least 15 to 20 home runs and drive in 75 runs from the middle of a lineup in what would be his rookie year.”

If that happens, Olivera would join countryman Yasiel Puig to form a legitimate Cuban power duo, elevating LA’s offense from great to next-level deadly.

We’re getting ahead of ourselves, though. Not every Cuban slugger takes the league by storm, something the Dodgers understand firsthand.

In 2013, LA inked infielder Alex Guerrero to a four-year, $28 million pact and watched him spend most of last season in Triple-A.

But there is an immediate benefit to this deal: The Dodgers kept Olivera away from the rival Padres. That’s right, we said it. 

Led by new general manager A.J. Preller, San Diego had by far the biggest offseason of any NL West club and arguably the busiest winter in baseball. 

“They’ve been aggressive,” Friedman told USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale in December. “When A.J. got hired, I think the expectation was they would get aggressive. And they have.”

As if to put a punctuation mark on it, the Padres acquired Matt Kemp from the Dodgers (which, admittedly, pokes a hole in the bitter-rivalry theory). Surely the hair-rending possibility of Kemp mashing in a new town has at least crossed the minds of the Dodgers’ brain trust.

Time will tell if Olivera is the next big thing, another over-hyped international flame-out or, more likely, somewhere in the middle.

For now, one thing is abundantly clear: The Dodgers hear the Padres coming, and they’re picking up the pace.

All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers have reportedly reached an agreement to sign Cuban second baseman Hector Olivera to a six-year, $62.5 million deal with a $28 million signing bonus.

Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com first reported Tuesday morning that a deal was in place:

Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times confirmed the report. 

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported the contract includes a clause that would give the Dodgers a seventh season at $1 million, should Olivera need Tommy John surgery. Sanchez reported on a the potential reason this cause was included: 

Olivera, who will turn 30 on April 5, has long been a standout in Cuba’s Serie Nacional. He has displayed good power for a middle infielder to go along with solid speed and defense. He’s a well-rounded player capable of making an instant impact at the MLB level.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports discussed the team’s plans for Olivera:

There have been lingering questions about his health, though.

In February, Ben Badler of Baseball America reported on why Olivera missed an entire season of action in Cuba. He noted a blood clot in Olivera’s left biceps was the likely cause, with the second baseman saying he always gets asked about it.

“Everybody asks,” Olivera said, per Badler. “It’s the same things they ask.”

Then in early March, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported there was concern among interested teams that the free agent had injured the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing arm:

Serious concern exists that Cuban infielder Hector Olivera has a damaged ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing arm, potentially hindering the market for a free agent who many expected to contribute in the major leagues this season, sources told Yahoo Sports.

Assuming he receives a clean bill of health, the process of getting Olivera ready for regular-season action should begin immediately. Since he’s getting a late start, it’s unknown exactly when he’ll be deemed ready to make his debut.

The outlook from a pure baseball perspective is promising. Obviously, he’s already in his peak years. As opposed to some younger players, who arrive raw but full of potential, Olivera is far more polished and ready to play.

There will likely be a transition period at the outset. But once he gets settled in, he can provide some nice pop while probably hitting somewhere between the fifth and seventh spots in the lineup.

Given the question marks surrounding his health, it’s a signing that does come with risk. It could pay off quite nicely if the issues don’t impact him moving forward, though.

Olivera is a mystery, but one the Dodgers were willing to take a chance on.

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Suddenly, a prominent Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander is dealing with a shoulder injury that won’t be going away for a while.

But don’t worry. It’s not that prominent Dodgers lefty. For that matter, this is a situation hardly worth worrying about at all.

The lefty in question is Hyun-Jin Ryu. As reported by Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, the stiffness that the 27-year-old first felt in his left shoulder last Wednesday seemed to be cleared up by an anti-inflammatory injection, but resurfaced when he resumed throwing on Sunday.

With only two weeks now to go until Opening Day, that makes Ryu a no-go for the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster. And on the surface, it’s definitely a bad look.

This means the Dodgers are going to be without a pitcher who owns a 3.17 ERA and a 3.8 strikeout-to-walk ratio in two seasons. He’s no Clayton Kershaw, but Ryu has quietly been one of the National League‘s better left-handers.

Also, there’s the state of the Dodgers staff beyond Ryu.

Neither Brandon McCarthy nor Brett Anderson has been particularly impressive this spring, and both have had their own issues with injuries in the past. After them, the Dodgers’ top in-house options are guys like Joe Wieland, Mike Bolsinger, Carlos Frias and Zach Lee. Meanwhile, closer/cutter magician Kenley Jansen isn’t due back from foot surgery for another month or so.

So, it’s no wonder there’s been some chatter about the Dodgers possibly making a move for a starting pitcher. More specifically, Philadelphia Phillies ace left-hander Cole Hamels. Hey, it’s a possibility that even Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times couldn’t avoid addressing.

But this is as far as we’re going to go with the reactionary doom talk. Because as far as injury scares go, Ryu’s isn’t bad.

As a general rule, shoulder injuries are about as scary as your first viewing of The Exorcist. Their healing can become unpredictable, and it’s often that pitchers aren’t truly fixed even when they do heal.

But Ryu should be OK. Per Gurnick’s report, the stiffness he’s experiencing is the same stiffness that he dealt with on two occasions in 2014, and both times he only needed to be sidelined for three weeks.

If what Ryu is experiencing now is deja vu all over again, there’s a chance that a season-opening stint on the disabled list will be very short-lived. And even if he were to be sidelined for, say, the first month of the season, the Dodgers would still be in good shape.

Though the Dodgers don’t have the most impressive list of spot starter candidates, that’s OK. As Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles pointed out, the frequency of early off days means the Dodgers will only need a spot starter for three games between April 6 and May 5.

Even better, the Dodgers’ schedule in that span could be worse.

For starters, there’s the quality of the opposition. The Dodgers will play the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants twice apiece, with a series against the Seattle Mariners on the side. But they’ll also play nine games against the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies, and another three against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Here’s how it breaks down, with projected records courtesy of Baseball Prospectus: 

Yes, the majority of the Dodgers’ early games will be against good teams. But the Dodgers, who are projected as a 98-win team, will hardly be out of their depth against them. Against the other three teams on their early-season schedule, they most certainly won’t be out of their depth.

And with Kershaw, Zack Greinke, McCarthy and Anderson set to take on the bulk of the pitching duty, what might help even further is that they’re ground-ball pitchers who will be going up mainly against teams that struggled against such pitchers in 2014. Per Baseball-Reference, only the Rockies and Giants did better than a .700 OPS against ground-ballers.

Lastly, there’s how most of the Dodgers’ early action will take place at home. Of the 27 games they’ll play in that April 6-May 5 span, 15 will be at Dodger Stadium. That’s a good place to be during a pitching crisis, as ESPN.com pegged it as a better park for pitchers in 2014 than all but three others.

In all, the Dodgers aren’t headed for a challenge that they can’t handle without Ryu. If he’s only gone for the first month of the season, they should be able to handle themselves.

Hence the Orange County Register‘s Bill Plunkett’s thoughts on any and all Hamels speculation:

Indeed. That would be an especially overkill-y reaction to Ryu’s bum shoulder. If they’re going to make a deal, it will likely be for an excess starter rather than an ace.

And even in that neighborhood, Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi hinted that pickings are slim.

“This is just a hard time to go out there and acquire starting pitching depth,” Zaidi told Saxon. “We’re fielding calls from teams that are asking us about our starting pitching depth, so there aren’t a lot of starting pitching sellers right now.”

All the more reason for the Dodgers to tough out Ryu’s absence with what they already have and see what happens.

And if the situation changes, so be it. If it turns out that Ryu’s injury is a lot worse than expected and a trade for a legit starter actually becomes necessary, the Dodgers will be able to open plenty of doors.

Their farm system is arguably one of the five best in baseball, and their pockets are deeper than the Krubera cave. They could easily trade for Hamels if they wanted to. And if they can trade for him, they can trade for anybody.

For now, the Ryu situation is worth monitoring. That’s the least you can say about a quality pitcher who’s dealing with a shoulder injury.

But nobody should be freaking out. The Dodgers can cover for themselves if he has to miss the early portion of the season, and they’ll be able to find someone else to cover for them if he’s out longer than that.

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference unless otherwise noted/linked.

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