The Dodgers' bench is going to be an issue this season

The most underrated part of a Major League Baseball team is the bench. Contending teams tend to have strong benches while mediocre teams tend to have, well, mediocre benches.

This applies to the Dodgers, a team with a mediocre bench for years. This season, though, could possibly be the worst in recent years.

This post was inspired by this tweet from Dodger fan Andrew Grant of Minor League Central:

"There's a non zero chance Matt Treanor will be the best hitter on the Dodgers bench."

That really makes one think. If Treanor is the Dodgers' best bat off the bench, this is going to be a long season.

The following players are locks for the Dodgers' five-man bench, assuming they carry seven pitchers:

Tony Gwynn
Jerry Hairston
Adam Kennedy
Matt Treanor

That leaves one spot and a few possibilities.

Josh Fields is hitting well this spring and would provide the only power potential off the bench -- and that's nowhere near a sure thing as he's struggled to stay in the majors since his debut.

Justin Sellers possesses decent on-base skills, but not much power. The fact he can play shortstop at least adequately has to be a plus in his column. Hairston is penciled in right now as Dee Gordon's backup.

Jerry Sands is the best young hitter closest to the majors the Dodgers have, but he'd be better off playing everyday in Triple-A.

Other guys in the mix include Ivan De Jesus, Trent Oeltjen and Cory Sullivan, but they are longshots to make the 25-man out of Spring Training.

Even in the best-case scenario, the Dodgers' bench is going to be bad. A way to remedy that is to not sign mediocre (at best) Major Leaguers to fill these roles. Another way is to sign superstar players, forcing borderline everyday players to the bench (I'm looking at you, James Loney). Alas, that won't happen until next winter.

Don't expect any heroics from this group. It has to rate as one of the worst in the majors. It just puts extra pressure on the starters to play well and not get hurt (like they can avoid that) so the Dodgers don't have to rely on the bench.

Notes from today's game against the Indians

Clayton Kershaw had a nice outing, and I got to see it on MLB Network. His line for the day is as follows: 5 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K. He seems ready to start the season right now.

Kenley Jansen pitched an inning and struck out two. Business as usual for him.

Andre Ethier hit a triple, but it was a generous one. He hit a flyball to left field that should have been caught. Instead, the left fielder slid and kicked the ball away, allowing Ethier to get to third. Regardless, it was Ethier's ninth extra-base hit in 10 Spring Training games. If numbers mean anything in March (which they don't), Ethier could be primed for a big season.

The aforementioned Sellers had three hits, including an RBI double, in his quest to be the Dodgers' fifth man off the bench.

Photo credits: SD Dirk on Flickr

Slow Day 2 at Winter Meetings for Dodgers

Compared with Day 1, the Dodgers' second day at the Winter Meetings was slow.

News (a term I use loosely here) just broke the Dodgers are close to signing catcher Josh Bard. Jon Heyman first reported it as a 1-year, $750,000 deal.

Bard is a catcher and the Dodgers had seemingly filled the need by signing Matt Treanor last month.

But here comes Dylan Hernandez to save us all from throwing objects at the wall:

"#Dodgers nearing minor-league deal with Josh Bard."

It's just a minor-league deal, which is just fine in this case. I assume the $750,000 would be if Bard makes the club out of Spring Training.

Bard hit .210/.256/.333 with 2 home runs in 26 games for the Mariners in 2011. He's probably a better option as the backup catcher, but Treanor has that locked up.

This still means A.J. Ellis is the teams' starter -- and rightfully so.

General Manager Ned Colletti also said today he's working on trying to improve the offense via the trade market.

"...(Colletti) is pursuing a trade that would potentially improve the team's offense, specifically against left-handed pitching, adding that after talking to four or five clubs he has zeroed in on a particular player who would fit the club's needs."

It seems the Dodgers already have that guy in Juan Rivera. It also seems like they have a youngster capable of filling that role -- Jerry Sands.

We'll see what happens. It seems like it'd be a minor move, but a move that will be scrutinized (rightfully so) by Dodger bloggers everywhere.

Dodgers looking to pickup Matt Treanor, plus other tidbits

Well, we knew Ned Colletti wouldn't go into the season with A.J. Ellis and Tim Federowicz as the team's only catchers, so he's decided to pursue veteran Matt Treanor.

Yet, I can't understand why.

The guy is the textbook definition of an all-glove, no-bat catcher, and I'm not sure his glove is even that good.

Treanor is a career .225/.315/.307 hitter. He's never had more than 237 at-bats in a season, so he's clearly going to be the backup.

At least the Dodgers are looking at Ellis as the team's starting catcher (one can assume).

He'll likely get about a million bucks -- the same million bucks the Dodgers gave Dioner Navarro last season (by comparison).

Update (Nov. 15, 4:20 p.m.): The L.A. Times' Dylan Hernandez tweeted Treanor is getting $850,000. The Dodgers' official Twitter tweeted Treanor will get a 2013 option.

I'm not in favor of this signing, but at least it lets Federowicz and Gorman Erickson do a little more marinating in the minors. For $1 million, it's hard to be too upset about it.

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Any hope you had left of the Dodgers pursuing Prince Fielder or Albert Pujols should be just about gone with this article by Dylan Hernandez.

"Asked Tuesday of the possibility of adding a big bat this winter, General Manager Ned Colletti said, 'As of today, it looks less realistic.'

Fielder was at the top of the Dodgers’ wish list at the start of the winter, but Colletti said he has no meetings scheduled with Fielder’s agent, Scott Boras, at the general managers meetings in Milwaukee this week."

Now, that doesn't mean the Dodgers couldn't have a change of heart, but it's highly unlikely.

Too bad. Fielder would have looked awfully nice in Dodger Blue protecting Matt Kemp.

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The Dodgers still want to bring back Hiroki Kuroda, reports Ken Gurnick of Dodgers.com. However, if Kuroda leaves, guys like Jeff Francis, Chris Capuano and Aaron Harang could interest the Dodgers.

If I can't have Kuroda, I'd rank the trio like this:

1. Harang
2. Capuano
3. Francis

Harang is the best of the bunch -- by far. Capuano is a better version of Francis. He had a couple of solid seasons with the Brewers in 2005 and 2006, but that was a long time ago. Francis has been bad for three consecutive seasons. I'd pass on him.

Harang would cost the most, but would also be the best pitcher. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Capuano is the pick -- with or without Kuroda returning. Hell, if Kuroda doesn't return, maybe the Dodgers can grab both to limit Nathan Eovaldi's workload.

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Kenley Jansen got two points in National League Rookie of Year voting yesterday. Craig Kimbrel won the award unanimously. My pick, Freddie Freeman, finished second. Brandon Beachy amazingly got zero votes. Hard to wrap my head around that one.