Perhaps no team has been as busy as the Dodgers this offseason as Los Angeles has gone through several changes that has seen several key players leave and new pieces fall into place, but that is fine with skipper Don Mattingly.
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Though they were coming off of a 94-win season, CEO Stan Kasten and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman still felt that some changes needed to be made and Mattingly is on-board with them.
Los Angeles dealt long-time centerfielder Matt Kemp to the division rival San Diego Padres to clear up its outfield glut.
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Elsewhere, second baseman Howie Kendrick and shortstop Jimmy Rollins were brought in to replace the departed Dee Gordon (Miami Marlins) and Hanley Ramirez (Boston Red Sox) at their respective positions.
Mattingly believes his club will function as "more of a team" heading into 2015.
"I just feel it's more of a team," Mattingly told MLB.com. "The club last year won 94 games. We were a little crazy, but that's who we were. Nothing wrong with that. But I think the pieces will fit together better [in 2015]."
While there were reports of turmoil between Kemp and Mattingly over the manager wanting to give Yasiel Puig more playing time in center field last season, Mattingly harbors no ill-will towards the departed slugger.
"The Matt thing is a tough one, because it looks like the old Matt is back," Mattingly, who added he texted Kemp to thank him for everything, said of the trade. "But you know with our outfield situation, something had to happen. We had to do something. I texted Matt, thanked him for everything he's done for me and our time together since '08. I hope I was able to help his career. At first, the move [out of center] was rough. The time I made the decision, it was never personal. I like Matt, it was just something I had to do for the best of the club.'
While Mattingly said Gordon and Ramirez will also be missed, he's happy with the way his infield defense looks on paper.
"We're going to be a little different style club as far as how we score runs," he said. "But putting the defense and offense together, we won't need to score as many runs if we aren't giving up as many runs. Dee improved a lot during the year, but you can't deny how good Howie is up the middle and how good Jimmy is up the middle. We've added consistency day in and day out, and with Juan [Uribe] at third and Adrian [Gonzalez] at first, we definitely have tightened up the infield defense. We're going to catch the baseball. "
Los Angeles also has one of the best rotations in the MLB, which is anchored by reigning NL MVP and Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw.
The Dodgers are coming off of a season where they finished 94-68 and won the NL West for the second straight year, however they lost the NLDS to the St. Louis Cardinals in four games.
Los Angeles hopes its myriad changes heading into 2015 will bring it to its first World Series since it won it all in 1988.
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