ARTICLE: 10 questions for Dodgers

meh, gurnick article so fwiw...

With ultimate goal in reach, 10 questions for Dodgers
Busy offseason demonstrates club's desire to end World Series drought in 2015
By Ken Gurnick | MLB.com -- 15 hours ago

LOS ANGELES -- A stunning $2 billion purchase. A shocking spending spree for a record-high payroll. A new front office.

And after a wild Winter Meetings, the Dodgers have turned over their roster to make the three-year Guggenheim Partners takeover complete.

Buying a bankrupt franchise, the owners spent to contend immediately, swung a windfall TV deal and head into 2015 with a scholarly front office and a potentially more balanced roster with one eye on today and the other on tomorrow.

But will they finally end the 26-year World Series drought? That depends on how the Dodgers answer these questions:

10. How does Clayton Kershaw follow that?
National League MVP, NL Cy Young Award and another postseason meltdown set up a real tough encore. But it's not much different than a year ago, when Kershaw's second Cy Young Award-winning season also ended in defeat in St. Louis. If anybody has the mental toughness to rebound, it's Kershaw, although it's hard to imagine a regular season any better than the one he just had. And don't forget, it came in the first year of his $215 million contract. No resting on laurels for him.

9. Will the offense founder without Matt Kemp and Hanley Ramirez?
Andrew Friedman said he's willing to give up offense to tighten the defense, and he's sure accomplished the former, leaving the unpredictable Yasiel Puig (career-high 69 RBIs) as the key right-handed bat in the lineup. Management is counting on the new middle infield of Jimmy Rollins and Howie Kendrick, as well as switch-hitting catcher Yasmani Grandal, to pick up the slack in aggregate.

8. Can anybody pitch the eighth inning?
Joel Peralta, Chris Hatcher and Juan Nicasio aren't exactly David Robertson, Andrew Miller or Francisco Rodriguez. But last season's collection of former All-Star closers (Brian Wilson, Brandon League, Chris Perez) wasn't the setup answer, so new management apparently is fine with putting together a bullpen of cheaper, healthy right-handed arms to join reliable lefty J.P. Howell as the bridge to closer Kenley Jansen.

7. Can Don Mattingly become Joe Maddon?
Owners replaced the inherited management, so it's only natural to wonder what new management will do with the inherited manager. Mattingly has hit all the right talking points with the radical roster moves so far, but how will he react if or when the metricians upstairs start suggesting lineups? Not even back-to-back division titles provide job security when the owners expect a World Series. Critics claim Mattingly falls short on game decisions, but they don't see how deftly he contains the clubhouse madness. Cue the Gabe Kapler rumors.

6. Will Puig grow up -- Take 3?
Fans don't want to hear this, because he's a rare and dynamic talent. But Puig is also immature, undisciplined, disrespectful and divisive. That said, he's also the marketing face of the club, if not the game. As Mattingly said in Puig's rookie year, you take the bad with the good. There's plenty of both. The good is so spectacular that most people overlook his mega-slumps and disregard for fundamentals. Without Kemp and Ramirez, Puig will have greater responsibility and less protection.

5. Is Joc Pederson the real deal?
Nothing like the pressure of your presence leading to the trade of Kemp, but that's how management made room for one of the system's three untouchables. Pederson went 30/30 at Triple-A -- a rarity, because anybody else on that track would have been promoted before reaching it. Only the surplus of veterans kept Pederson on the farm last season, and new management was determined to clear a path and see what he's got. He's a true center fielder with power and speed, but the strikeouts are a little concerning.

4. Will Brandon McCarthy and Brett Anderson stay healthy?
Four years, $48 million and 10 stints on the disabled list with shoulder problems for McCarthy. One year and $10 million for Anderson, whose 2014 season was interrupted by a broken finger and cut short by back surgery after making only eight starts three years after Tommy John surgery. Of course, they are only being asked to fill the back of the rotation -- but that's what the Dodgers asked of Josh Beckett and Paul Maholm last season, and neither finished the year in one piece.

3. What can the Dodgers get for Andre Ethier?
Even when it happened, it was hard to understand what the Dodgers were thinking when they gave Ethier an $85 million contract extension as his production had already begun to dive. Now Ethier has said he won't accept a reserve role quietly and his trade value is negligible. If the Dodgers had to eat $30 million of $107 million from Kemp's deal, no telling how much of Ethier's remaining $56 million they will swallow.

2. Are infielders Alex Guerrero and Erisbel Arruebarrena salvageable?
Trades for veteran infielders Rollins and Kendrick are all you need to know about the $53 million overspent on the Cuban pair. Guerrero's contract almost assures him of a big league spot, but he's destined for the bench because his glove is not big league worthy. Arruebarrena is the opposite, a slick fielder with an uncertain bat. Neither played winter ball, so they've done nothing since the season ended to improve their standing.

1. When do Corey Seager and Julio Urias arrive?
The flurry of offseason deals that didn't include these two top prospects were made with the goal of filling holes, so they get necessary seasoning in the Minor Leagues and aren't rushed. Nonetheless, if they continue their Minor League success, the temptation to make them Major Leaguers will be hard to resist, even though Seager is 20 and Urias is 18.​

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i thought so to