[cknox0723]

How many teams have ever won a World Series with a 22-year-old catcher? The answer is two. The 1964 Cardinals and the 1981 Dodgers. 26 years later, dem bums are looking to turn the same trick even though the evil statheadzz haven't descended into this universe to trade off the team's heart & soul, Paul LoDuca. One year removed from being taken #7 overall, Herbert Mitchell is poised to storm straight from AA, where he put up a .375 OBP and not much else (if that makes any sense), to the bigs, and apparently take LoDuca's job right from him. Likely Mitchell won't win Rookie of the Year honors, but the most encouraging sign for the 2007 Bums to become the third team to win a World Series with a 22 year old catcher is that their success this year won't be at all dependent on said 22 year old rookie catcher.

A near $15 million increase in payroll allowed a Dodger offense that placed 7th in the league in run scoring last year to beef up even more with beefy left fielder Cliff Floyd and the decline phase of the long unappreciated Mike Cameron. Come to think of it, Floyd's in his age 34 season, too, but his OBP was 70 points higher last season. However, little does that matter now, as they're both at zero; either could fall apart this year, but the same is technically true for any baseball player anywhere, no? Uh, anyway, the point I was going to make was that adding those two pushed incumbent left fielder Frank "Catalanotto Dressing", a fine hitter in his own right, to...second base. Shades of the 1968 Tigers there. With Mark Grudzielanek still around and guzzling from the fountain of youth, it's too bad that F-Cat can't slot in at short or third, but Shawn Green and Co. will still score loads o' runs. They may not hit .271 as a team again, even with Floyd, but there are too many solid bats lying around for the offense to struggle. Too many 34 year old bats to have any success in 2009, though.

But couple a year's worth of a solid offense with some fantastic pitching, and this team, complete with 22 year old catcher, should give the Mets a run for their money, all one hundred million of it. Randy "Transmission" Wolf was the big addition to a rotation that was just mediocre last year; he'll replace the stunningly, fantastically mediocre Mike Maroth, which is Welsh for (get this!) "stunningly medicore." But the real key is the middling group in front of Eric "Ice" Gagne, as it's an incredibly poor consortium outside of young Oscar Villareal, who was superb in front of the 43 save man last year. Their likelihood for success is dubious, but the trade market brims with possibilities. Like super-LOOGY Mike Gallo!

If 23 year old Ed Jackson takes a step forward, the rotation could rival the Mets, which, if you've forgotten, is a damned fine compliment. Like most young pitchers, Jackson, an All-Star and 17 game winner in 2006, is an enigma. His numbers were gaudy, particularly his tasty 9.8 per 9 strikeout rate, but his ERA was an unsightly 4.84. That's Esteban territory. Still, he pitched well enough to win (what does that even mean?)...and, more importantly, he's got 43 big-league wins at the age of twenty-three. And that strikeout rate! He'll be a star; one that walks a few too many, but a star nonetheless.

But what if he gets hurt? Sure, there's young Hong-Chih Kuo, who went 9-3 in 18 starts, but he's wild as an uncaged gorilla, too. The club's trio of 30 year olds, Wolf, Sid Ponson, and Jeff Weaver, has a more stable, less mercurial track record, but, that ain't necessarily such a compliment. Weaver gave up 264 hits last year, and Wolf's ERA in Philly was right around 4.00, league average. They won't get much help from the defense, either, -- Cameron may be a world-class center fielder, but Cliff Floyd is a blinking frog on a lilypad in left, and Frank Catalanotto's an outfielder playing second base. On the farm, there's no moundsmen above A-ball worth mentioning, and this bullpen is still making me want to rip out my hair. Guillermo Mota's earned run average hasn't dipped below four the last three years. In Dodger Stadium. I could pitch that "well." Chad Bradford could be the key to the team's fate. His ERA's risen four straight years, culminating in an unsightly 4.76 last year, but his peripherals remained average enough, and he's pitching in Dodger Stadium. If he can provide another chain-link to Gagne, that could allow this club to hold down a lead or two.

Negativity aside, this club ostensibly improved their offense this offseason. They could score 800 runs. In Dodger Stadium. And the pitching staff doesn't contain anyone named Loaiza. That's got to be enough to make them the favorite...right?