Developed Teams 2011: Los Angeles Dodgers

It's not every day that a Major League team declares bankruptcy. The news of Frank McCourt's latest sleazy and foolish dealings has dominated the headlines, with the prospect of MLB taking over the team looming like a stormcloud over the fair city of Los Angeles. In honor of their tarnished image being all over the news, let's give a shout out to the Los Angeles Dodgers and a team made up of all the players they've developed.

Their lineup contains only two players (if you count Loney as the AL-only DH) who have stuck around since being developed, which points to a very aggressive style of general manager. Of the stars who have since left the team, only Adrian Beltre and Russell Martin put up significant numbers while with the Dodgers. (Remember Beltre's career 2004 and Martin's breakout 2007?) Paul Konerko was traded after just 55 games with the boys in blue, before becoming a star in Chicago. And Victorino, Gutierrez, and Santana never saw major league time with the Dodgers, traded away while still in the prospect stage. The one notable stickaround is legitimate first-half MVP candidate Matt Kemp, who may not even be voted into the All-Star Game (travesty of travesties!).

I won't even mention the suspect middle infield or extremely questionable bench in the interest of shortening these articles (I've done seven in roughly a month, so with half the season left to go, I'll have to average more than two a week to finish this project by the playoffs) and in favor of spending more time talking about the awesome homegrown pitching staff! Kershaw and Billingsley are set to become a lefty-righty combo for the ages. Kuroda is a Japanese import, so technically he was developed by his home country, but technically he did start his major league career with LA. Lilly took a roundabout path to get back to his hometown(ish) team, but now he's back where he started, in more ways than one!

With the exception of Joel Hanrahan (also traded away before pitching for the Dodgers' big club), the bullpen is in even worse shape than the bench. Broxton and Kuo are injured (injured bad). Saito has pitched all of 2.0 innings in '11 and Feliciano (an off-season pickup by the Yankees) hasn't played at all. And Kenley Jansen is proving that he more accurately profiles as the closer of tomorrow than the closer of today.

To recap:

The Strengths: 
- A potent middle-of-the-order attack running four-deep on a good day.
- Outfield defense, as all 3 spots are manned by career centerfielders (two of them above-average defensively).
- A legitimate ace pitcher backed by a good mix of crafty veterans and solid performers with some upside left.

The Weaknesses:
- A bench that doesn't include any real power threats or late-inning defensive whizzes.
- A bullpen filled with a lot of potential, but few legitimate performers.