Welcome to the 15th of 30 "2008 Team Previews", where I'm - you guessed it! - offering up a little preview of the 2008 season for each of the teams. Nothing super fancy, (I'm not writing books here munecas), just a few notes on what major moves the teams made over the winter and a thought or two on their upcoming season. I'm going in reverse order of 2007 standings, so next up is....

Los Angeles Dodgers

2007 Record: .506 (82-80), 4^th place in NL West

2006 Record: .543 (88-74), 1st place in NL West

Who’s Out: Manager Grady Little

Who’s In: Manager Joe Torre, Andruw Jones (OF), Gary Bennett (C)

Notes: The biggest move the Dodgers made was obviously signing Torre, and not just because they didn't do much else. Ushering in a new manager is always exciting; it brings about the possibility of a new era - preferably one of success, obviously. It goes without saying that the Dodgers are counting on Torre to bring his winning ways out west with him, and he's actually got a good team to work with. If he's smart he'll bench the guys that were essentially wasting at-bats - Juan Pierre and Nomaaaaaaah, for example, should have been rotting on the bench in favor of youngsters like Ethier, Kemp, and Loney. The Andruw Jones signing was one of the best of the off-season, as they got a good deal on him and he'll add some power to the line-up.

Just like the D-Backs, Padres, and Rocks, though, their biggest hill to climb is the division. There's more competition in the NL West than any other division, and just being good isn't enough.

Labels: 2008 team previews, other teams