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Good moves by the Dodgers picking up Loretta and Blake. If they pull off a deal for Cano, or somehow work out a deal for Michael Young, their infiled will be set. They can pat themselves on the back all they want, but it ignores the 160 million pound elephant.

No doubt Blake helped them in their divisonal run, and for a starting thied baseman, he is relatively cheap. He has some decent power, and had some big hits toward the end of the year Loretta will be a great role player- has a nice bat, and can play any infield position. However, they are both complimentary players. Good, solid veteran guys to have around a still-young team, but not a whole lot more.

Now come the big elephants- A healthy Rafael Furcal would complete a nice infield of James Loney, Blake DeWitt (perhaps), and Blake. However, his fielding can be brutal, and he was injured almost all of last year. Great leadoff hitter, though. Chances are looking good, it seems. Having Loretta around would be a great insurance policy in casr Furcal gets injured or De Witt or one of the other kids falters.

Starting pitching- They are okay here considering they are in a weak division, but come September or October, they will need a big dog. Looks like the biggest dog sniffed his way to the Bronx, so that leaves Burnett, who they should stay away from, or Lowe, who they should try to sign despite his East Coast preferences. Billingsley, Kuroda, Kershaw and perhaps a contract-year Jason Schmidt may be enough, but we shall see see.

The biggest elephant is the power hitter in the outfield. The circus that is Manny is quiet for now, and that may bode well for the Dodgers chances. If manny finds bigger bucks, Bobby Abreu or Adam Dunn wouldn't be bad alternatives, but they need to get one of these guys. Trotting out Juan Pierre or Andruw Jones as our starting centerfielder is a signal that mediocrity is okay, and knowing the Mc Courts and Colletti, that may be okay with them. They may be happy to be the one-eyed man in the land of the blind, weasaling their way into playoff contention like they usually do, unlike the true statement they made last year.

So it's great that the Dodgers solidified their infield with some higher- tiered journeymen, and they may, with a little more help, have enough to win their weak diviision, but hopefully that is not satisfactory for the Mc Courts and Colletti, but until they bring us a Manny or a Lowe, or perhaps trade for a Michael Young, that unfortunately may be the case.

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