The NL West

Well, if nothing else, no one will be calling the NL West the NL Worst again anytime soon. The DBacks and Rockies play in the NLCS. The Padres have one of the best pitching staffs in all of baseball. And now the Dodgers... well, the Dodgers are making some noise.

Grady Little has resigned as manager of the Dodgers. His replacement? None other than ex-Yankees skipper Joe Torre, if you believe Tim Kurkjian of the Worldwide Leader. Kurkjian reported today that an announcement of Torre as Dodgers manager is imminent, and could come as soon as the next couple of days.

Oh, and just in case that isn't enough, there is another hot rumor about the Dodgers. LA is rumored to be one of only a few teams in the running to sign one Mr. Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod likes Torre, and the Dodgers are one of the teams that could afford to sign him. One of the weirder reasons i've heard for this signing is that Scott Boras, uber-agent, is based in Newport. A-Rod did not have a father figure growing up, and it's been speculated that Boras has become that for A-Rod.

It is strange, and a bit of a stretch, but is plausible if you think about it. A-Rod has made some strange career choices (Texas, and now opting out of the rest of his contract), and it could be due to Boras speaking in his ear. Boras is (naturally) looking out for himself, trying to make as much money as possible for his clients so he himself gets paid. This ploy of opting out of his contract, especially considering the timing of the announcement (during the 8th inning of Game 4 of the World Series), is a curious one, but figures to make A-Rod max money (somewhere in the 10 year, $30 million range supposedly). Understandably, Boras may want to be close to his best and highest paid client. Similarly, A-Rod may want to be close to someone he considers a confidant and somewhat of a father-figure.

Personally, i think the Torre rumor has legs. It was no secret they were after Joe Girardi, but he was signed as the new Yankees manager. So they went after the next best option, who is obviously Torre. As for the A-Rod thing... hard to say. The only teams i think could even afford to sign him are the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Cubs, possibly the White Sox, Dodgers, Angels, and maybe the Giants. The Yankees and Red Sox have both said they will not go after him, and i believe that. The Cubs are out because of their messy ownership situation (don't get me started on that either. MLB would be crazy not to allow Mark Cuban to buy this team, but they are too short-sighted and stupid to allow this to ever happen). White Sox won't do it because they can't really afford him, even though they think they can. A-Rod doesn't want to go to the Mets because he doesn't like the NY media.

That leaves the California teams, the Angels, Giants, and Dodgers. I just don't think the Angels will do it, it seems to go against their idea of building a 'team', as A-Rod is notorious for polarizing not just fan bases, but players as well. The Giants are a possibility, as no team in baseball understands the effect a superstar chasing a record can have on a fanbase. Make no mistake, A-Rod will be chasing records in the next 5-7 years, and will most likely break a lot of them.

And then there's the Dodgers. This team has the fanbase, tradition, now the manager, and the money to open the bank. The Dodgers have not spent mega-money on a player in many years, and with new manager Joe Torre, the Dodgers could be looking to make a splash.

If you are the Dodgers, you just sat through a season in which you were picked to finish first in the division, but in which the Padres showed off their amazing starting rotation and lost a one game playoff to win the Wildcard, the Rockie's showed off their great young talent and finished 14 of 15 in the regular season to win the Wildcard, and the Dbacks won 90 games and the division.

It will probably be a while before A-Rod makes a decision, but don't be surprised if A-Rod re-unites with Joe Torre and signs with LA. And when it happens, the NL West may be the most talked about division in baseball next year...