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To make matters worse, the Angels — tepid rivals on the field, but serious ones in the marketing world — are running away with the AL West and have the best record in the majors at 62-39. And Torii Hunter, their big free-agent signing last offseason, is hitting .272 with 44 RBIs and 13 homers, comparable with his career numbers at this point in the season.
The Angels paid for Hunter based on a reasonable expectation that he would continue producing at the rate that he had been — and he has done that. Conversely, the Dodgers blew $36 million on a guy who hit .222 last year, although he did have 26 homers and 94 RBIs.
The Dodgers made a half-hearted attempt to get CC Sabathia before he went to Milwaukee. They need a shortstop to replace Furcal and a third baseman. Rumors continue to circulate that they have interest in Pittsburgh shortstop Jack Wilson, but that deal is unlikely to happen if the asking price continues to be Matt Kemp. It also appears unlikely the Dodgers will acquire Baltimore closer George Sherrill to fill in for the injured Takashi Saito.
What is likely to happen is that the Dodgers will do nothing. They’ll battle in the remaining weeks with the Diamondbacks for the division title. They’ll probably come up short, but even if they prevail, they’ll make merely a token appearance. They haven’t won a playoff series since they won the World Series in 1988, and there is nothing about their starting rotation or their lineup to suggest that trend will end.
That means the Dodgers will look to retool for 2009. Whether Colletti is involved in that process is an issue that looms larger than Andruw Jones’ waistline.
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