Kuzul

Yesterday, I wrote about the disappointing starts of the Angels (12-22, 9 games back in the AL West) and Dodgers (13-20, 6 games back in the NL West), and why ESPN.com’s Jim Bowden’s ideas on how to fix them probably weren’t realistic due to the lack of impact prospects and overall depth in each team’s farm system. The best bet at this point is for each team to hang on long enough until they’re back to full health and then make a late-season run. In case you haven’t been paying attention, both teams have lost key players to injuries and haven’t been able to replace them adequately because of the aforementioned lack of depth.By the end of this month, though, the Angels should have ace Jered Weaver, out since the sixth game of the season with a fractured elbow, back in the rotation. Dodgers right-hander Zack Greinke, also out since ...

As the 2013 Major League Baseball season race reaches the quarter pole, it becomes time to take stock of where teams and players are in terms of production. In the American League West, the Texas Rangers have taken their customary position of being the front runner, largely due to tremendous pitching and consistent power in the lineup. The A's and Mariners have both been largely inconsistent, with the A's scuffling back to .500 since starting the year 12-4. However, the biggest story has been the lack of success in Anaheim as the Los Angeles Angels are not fighting for an expected spot at the top, but trying to keep clear of division newcomers the Houston Astros. In the basement.There have been solid performances from individuals on all five teams. But sometimes, overlapping positions keep deserving players from receiving deserved accolades. This will likely be no exception. So instead of lamenting who is not, ...

Mothers are always right.Fighting solves nothing and unfortunately for the Los Angeles Dodgers, they are learning that the hard way. Although Carlos Quentin is already slated to return to the San Diego Padres lineup following his suspension for charging Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke, the Dodgers are still reeling from the affects.  Greinke broke his collarbone in a collision with Quentin and is currently on the 15-day disabled list.As if the loss of Greinke wasn't bad enough, fellow starter Chris Capuano was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday, and Major League Baseball reported that his injuries were also a result of the bench-clearing brawl with the Dads.Apparently things really do happen in threes...hours ago, news broke that Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley will require Tommy John surgery and miss the rest of the season.However, Dodgers fans should not be cancelling October quite yet.  Although it is true that April has been ...

After a dominant 10-0 victory on Saturday, for the first time this season, the Los Angeles Angels bats and pitching came together for their most complete win of the season, bringing them to 6-10. Not that their bats haven't been hitting well (with the exception of a horrifically slow start for newly acquired Josh Hamilton), but it's been the Angels pitching that has faltered in this early part of the season.  Saturday, however, they looked great as a team.  And two players, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, hit the ball like the players everyone expects them to be.So who will have the better season of the two this year?  Reigning National League Rookie of the Year Mike Trout went 2-for-5 with a home run, four RBI and two runs scored.  Though he got off to a relatively slow start this season, he now has a slash line of .304/.347/.522 with two home runs, ...

The Los Angeles Angels fit one of my favorite, classic plot lines in the MLB. With 162 games, stretching over six months, even the greatest, talent-rich teams will hit a bump in the road now and again. There are the foreseen and the unpredictable, the sore arms, backaches…and all the other ailments so eloquently listed by coach Lou Brown in "Major League". And while the Angels certainly are not having any issues with owner Arte Moreno turning on the water heater for the jacuzzi or forcing the team to travel via a rundown prop plane on road trips—like Rachel Phelps did to those lovable, fake Charlie Sheen-led Cleveland Indians—they have seen their share of obstacles thus far. This early? Sure, foreshadowing possible roadblocks over 162 games with only a six-game sample size, to any certainty (and with a straight face), is like claiming you can reconstruct the Great Barrier Reef ...

The Los Angeles Dodgers' record-breaking annual payroll of approximately $223 million shows how much the Guggenheim Partners group desires to resurrect the franchise. However, the product that appears on the field on Opening Day will be less than stellar.New season. New players. New enthusiasm. A beautifully renovated stadium. For the first time in four years, hearts are thumping in anticipation amongst Dodgers' fans everywhere.The problem is, those fans may be dealt a heavy dose of disappointment, at least in the early stages of the season.A great place to begin the analysis is in the outfield, which potentially could be the finest baseball has seen in years.A healthy and productive Matt Kemp will be the backbone of the Dodgers' run production in 2013. And a resurgent Andre Ethier will complement the offensive output. If Kemp can come anywhere close to his .324 average, 39 home runs and 126 RBI from 2011, ...

On paper, the Los Angeles Dodgers look great.  When you look at their current roster, it looks menacing and capable of winning the National League West.  But let's be honest: The team has plenty of question marks going into the 2013 season, and player injuries are at the top of that list.Outfielder Carl Crawford has yet to take a spring training at-bat. He will most likely start the season on the DL with continual setbacks to his reconstructed elbow.Now, to make matters worse, newly acquired starting pitcher Zack Greinke has become unable to pitch due to elbow inflammation.  And no one yet knows how he will respond to a platelet-rich plasma shot he received to hopefully settle the issue down.  You also have to factor in that Matt Kemp, Chad Billingsley, Andre Ethier, Jerry Hairston Jr., Javy Guerra, Dee Gordon, Mark Ellis and Juan Uribe all spent time on the ...

With Adrian Gonzalez entering his first full season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a lot is expected out of the first baseman going into 2013.Gonzalez came over to the Dodgers last year in a massive blockbuster trade with the Boston Red Sox that sent him, along with pitcher Josh Beckett, injured outfielder Carl Crawford and utilityman Nick Punto to Los Angeles in exchange for first baseman James Loney and four prospects.Gonzalez played well in 36 games with the Dodgers last season (.297/.344/.441, three home runs, 10 doubles, 22 RBI and 12 runs scored in 145 at-bats), but has clearly been missing his power stroke ever since being dealt from the Padres to the Red Sox in 2011.  Now back in the National League, I expect to see huge things out of Gonzalez's bat this season and am confident that he will find his power stroke once again.Not that he wasn't ...

Matt Kemp is set to make his first start of the spring today in Glendale, Arizona.  And though he's already had five spring at-bats with no hits, Kemp is focused on having a monster year in 2013 for the Dodgers.  In an injury shortened 2012 season, Kemp still put up great numbers for the Dodgers, hitting .303/.367/.538 with 23 home runs, 69 RBI, nine stolen bases and 74 runs scored in 403 at-bats.Not quite on pace for record breaking numbers, but a great shortened season nonetheless.But this also brings up a question that many asked before the start of the 2012 season: Does Matt Kemp have what it takes to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season?Health will be the first factor in his quest, and according to an interview with Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, Kemp is healthy and ready to play everyday:   Um, me, ...

According to ESPN's Buster Olney and the Los Angeles Times' Dylan Hernandez, the Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to sign left-handed free-agent pitcher J.P. Howell to a reported one-year deal.Howell, who turns 30 in April, had 3.04 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 50.1 innings pitched for the Tampa Bay Rays last season.  Howell missed the entire 2010 season and part of 2011 due to shoulder surgery, but had two solid seasons with the Rays in 2008 (2.22 ERA with 92 strikeouts in 89.1 innings pitched) and 2009 (2.84 ERA with 79 strikeouts in 66.2 innings pitched).The former 2004 first-round pick (31st overall) is also a native Californian and a former USC Trojan.  He will join a Dodgers team that has not been afraid to spend this offseason and looks to be taking the place of the departed Randy Choate, who signed a three-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals this offseason.Will ...