[PilotMan]

LA Dodgers 1992 Year in Review

LA improved on last year's 100 loss season with a 68-94 record. Good enough for 5th place in the NL West, and 27 games behind the Astros, who won the division. It's hard to believe that there were any bright spots this year. The only thing this team did great was fielding. They lead the NL in Zone Rating, tied for second in Errors, and was 3rd in Defensive Efficiency. That fielding saved many games.

The LA Times Dodger Player of the Year was Rickey Henderson. Henderson played in 160 games, batted .272 (lead team) with 117 walks (lead team), a .399 OPB, and .794 OPS. Henderson lead the team in HR's with 15 and SB with 62. He was caught stealing 30 times though, posted a negative Zone Rating in LF, and had 4 errors. He was the runaway leader in WAR with a 4.6, double that of the next best player. Congrats to Dodger MVP, Rickey Henderson!

Here's the quick lowdown on how everyone else did this year.

Pitching

Starters

The best story was that of young rookie Andy Pettitte. He split time this year between the Show and AAA, with the bulk coming with the main club. He struggled getting any run support, getting 1.71 R/G while posting a 3.94 ERA, a 5-13 record, and OAVG of .227. He's clearly got talent for big things, even in some bad games, he was in control many times. Even at 20, he was the top pitcher for the team.

The rest of the starters were rounded out by Arthur Rhodes (8-12, 3.88, 145K's, 171 IP, only starter with more than 50% quality starts); Peter Chapin (10-9, 3.75, 185 IP); Pat Rapp (10-11, 4.85, 178 IP, only player with any awards, won Rookie of the Month in September); and Rene Arocha (9-16, 4.92, 179 IP, he started strong, but got weaker as the season went on). Don Robinson (very same one) was added mid season for two minor prospects, and he started 14, went 3-6 with a 4.96 ERA.

Bullpen

We should name this all about Bob Patterson. Patterson kept his job as closer and turned in the best season on the mound for any Dodger pitcher, before seeeing his season end prematurely. He posted a 1.83 ERA in 54 games, 22/25 in saves and lead the team with 7 holds. He was the only, only, only pitcher out of the pen with any success this year. The pen was crushed with injuries, and the starters made sure everyone got plenty of work. One of the best moves the team made was a mid June trade with the Rangers that send Inky away in return for another former Dodger farmhand in Jose Cleto and Gary Gaetti. Cleto is young at 23, and shows big promise with a 2.86 ERA in 20 games, bu only 8 for LA. He can hit triple digits on the gun. By the end LA had brought on 3-time All Star Jim Clancy, who had been released by the Phillies, and already announced his intent to retire after this year. Clancy actually shut opponents down in his 10 games. The rest were pretty awful. At one point, Scott Coolbaugh came on to pitch in a game. He got his inning, took a loss, and gave up 3 hits and 2 runs.

Batters

Speaking of Scott Coolbaugh, and this will be the last time you hear about him, but he came to bat 36 times this year, garnered a whopping 7 hits (.194) and 4 of them flew out of the park. He made the most of it I guess. Aside from Henderson playing in almost every game, we also had Lee Stevens (.251/.293/.387) and Ken Caminiti (.250/.306/.341) who saw lots of game time. Stevens played first and right, whilc Caminiti played mostly at 3rd, until injuries saw him move to cover second, while Gaetti moved to third. Speaking of Gaetti (.232/.273/342) he came over from Texas (still sucked, but did get his 1500th career hit with LA), we also were reunited with SS Ozzie Smith (.227/.307/.293) after he was placed on waivers by the Mets (he couldn't his for anything, but only committed 4 errors at short).

Darren Lewis (.266/.325/.334, 40 SB) was a nice addition and in spite of just how bad that line looks. He was the 2nd best weapon on the team. He started in CF, lost his job, got it back, then moved to RF for the end of the year.

Rookie Catcher, Rick Wilkins (.221/.286/.356, 14 HR's) found a home behind the plate. He's good defensively, but his offense wasn't amazing. The other big rookie was OF Carl Everett. Everett is the #2 prospect in the Dodger organization and he was called up, won the job in CF and then got hurt. So that's pretty much how things went this year. Everett did hit though (.326/.379/.403, 11 SB, 39 G). CF will be his to lose next year, and he looks very promising and exciting.

Geronimo Pena had been good at 2nd, but he was injured a lot and missed over 50 games. In spite of that he still stole 30 bases, and had over 100 hits.

Prospects

Richard Hildago (17) played rookie ball all year, didn't impress.

Carl Everett (21) you know how it went.

Andy Pettitte (20) you know.

Bobby Abreu (18) started in Low A, and moved up to high A and only got better. Was moved up to AA by the end of the year.

Ismael Valdez (19) played rookie and short A this year, looked good, but was lost in August to a shoulder injury.

Shawn Estes (19) started in Low A, but was demoted to rookie halfway though.