2005 NL West cont.

Los Angeles(93-69)
Acquired: OF-JD Drew, 2b-Jeff Kent, SP-Derek Lowe, 3b-John Valentin
Departed: 3b-Adrian Beltre, 2b-Alex Cora, OF-Shawn Green, OF-Steve Finley

The Dodgers certainly spent some money this winter, acquiring three big name free agents, while letting MVP candidate Beltre walk. Lowe/Kent/Drew will earn roughly 40mil a year, and along with Valentin(3.5mil), and resigned Odalis Perez(8mil) means the Dodgers have committed over 50 million to just five players, only two of which are under 31. Drew is the big question mark this season, as the injury plagued 5-tooler finally compiled a 500AB season last year. When healthy, he's always put up stellar numbers. Kent is 36, and may find Dodger Stadium very unfriendly to his hitting stats. Valentin is 35, and doesn't produce much outside of some HR pop. Offensively they will need a healthy Drew, anti-aging from Valentin & Kent, and continued improvement from young guns like Bradley, Werth, and Choi to keep pace. Their staff may be the best in the division, with Lowe, Penny, Perez, and Weaver all capable of winning 15+ games. Overall this is a team perfectly capable of repeating as division champs but health & defense will be big question marks going into the season.