The Los Angeles Dodgers have truly moved on from the Frank McCourt era.
The Dodgers have become the biggest spenders in all of baseball since being bought by Magic Johnson and his Guggenheim Baseball Management group.
During the season, the Dodgers traded for over $200 million in future contracts by acquiring first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, outfielder Carl Crawford, and pitcher Josh Beckett from the Boston Red Sox and they have not slowed down in the offseason. The team made a huge splash this week with the signing of free agent Zack Greinke to a six-year, $147 million contract.
The team also acquired Skip Schumaker from the St. Louis Cardinals and signed Korean left-hander Hyun-in Ryu to a six-year, $36 million contract. Last season the team also acquired superstar shortstop Hanley Ramirez from the Miami Marlins.
Greinke is the most important signing for the Dodgers and gives them one of the strongest pitching staffs in the National League. He spent part of last season pitching in Los Angeles and enjoyed the city and the atmosphere.
Greinke and Ryu join a rotation that includes 2011 NL Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw, while the lineup will get a full year of work from Gonzalez and Crawford, who should be healthy after having elbow surgery this past season.
The San Francisco Giants won the World Series last season, but they may not even be the favorites in their own division after all the moves the Dodgers have made. The team already has Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier and now has depth in the rotation and on the bench.
Kemp was an MVP candidate at the beginning of last season, but ended up playing in only 106 games. He hit .303 with 23 home runs and 69 RBIs and posted a .367 on-base percentage. In 2011, Kemp was the runner-up for the MVP award to Ryan Braun, hitting .324, with 39 home runs and 126 RBIs while playing in 161 games.
According to Yahoo Sports, the payroll for the Dodgers will be $230 million next year, the highest ever in baseball history, beating out the 2008 Yankees total of $209 million.
The team has taken on over $600 million in payroll over the past year and is also working on a $100 million upgrade to Dodgers Stadium. The Dodgers will also get a boost from a $6 billion TV deal that the team is negotiating.
The Dodgers also added Mark McGuire as hitting coach one season after he helped the Cardinals win the World Series.
Last year the team finished 86-76, eight games behind the Giants in the division and two games behind in the Wild Card standings. The Dodgers were ranked 26th in runs last season and only hit .252 as a team while posting a .317 on-base percentage. The team was also ranked 28th in slugging and scored 637 runs, the lowest total in the National League West division.
Los Angeles was 45-36 at home, but went just 41-40 on the road last season. The team posted a plus-40 run differential and finished the season winning eight of their last 10 games.
The offense will be helped this year by a deeper lineup and a full season from Gonzalez, but it is the rotation that will help the Dodgers make the next step to the playoffs and possibly a championship.
After adding Greinke, the team now has pitchers that can matchup with the Giants' Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum. Los Angeles now has two Cy Young winners in their rotation, something not too many other teams in baseball can say.
Last season Greinke was 15-5 with a 3.48 ERA and 200 strikeouts in 212 innings with the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Angels. He won the Cy Young in 2010 with the Royals after going 16-8 with a 2.16 ERA and has pitched at least 200 innings in four of the last five seasons.
Manager Don Mattingly will be under pressure to lead the team to a successful year next season after spending so much money, but has proven over the past two years that he can handle the spotlight.
"None of (the money) really matters," Mattingly said to Yahoo Sports. "The expectation is you have to win. That's just the way it is. You could fight it. You could try to defuse it. But I don't think there's any defusing this bomb, no matter what we do. We just might as well look at that and take it head on right away. We're supposed to win. There it is. If we lose, we're failures."
The Giants are not a team to be underestimated after winning their second championship in three seasons, but it is very hard to repeat in baseball. With all the additions and new talent, the Dodgers are clearly the team to beat the NL West in 2013 and should be the favorites for the World Series in the National League.