Near the end of every offseason, as the snow melts and the Super Bowl hangovers subside, baseball fans around the country eagerly look forward to the beginning of Spring Training, and the four words that officially mark the end of the six month wait; "pitchers and catchers report." For the reigning National League West Division Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, that was two Saturdays ago, February 8th.

The next day, while bullpen sessions were occuring and mechanics were being tweaked, something else was happening. Position players were not required to report to camp until February 13th. But if you looked around Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig, and within two days, Carl Crawford, Juan Uribe, Hanley Ramirez and many others were in plain sight. That’s not a sign of a bunch of big-contract, complacent players who lack the drive to win, as some media members love to say. That is the sign of a team not even remotely satisfied with their most successful win-for-win season since 1988, and eager to take their team back to the promised land. 

It is with that that I welcome you to Neon Tommy’s brand-new Dodgers beat for the 2014 season. The one and only place where you can find coverage, opinion and the more-than-occasional dated, self-deprecating, Dodger Blues-esque references of a sophomore college student who spent way too much time in middle school, high school and now college watching this franchise’s every move.

On the subject of dated references, I ask that you indulge me for a paragraph or two as I spill out years of what I haven’t been writing in an attempt to preface what’s to come this season.

Continuity hasn’t been a common feature of the Dodgers of our generation (this is a college publication; so when I say “our generation,” well, yeah). The Dodgers of late have been known to mix it up during the best of times and the worst of times. Within a few months of winning the West in 2004, which was the first time achieving that feat since 1995, then-general manager Paul DePodesta blew up what had become a solid roster, replacing Dodger stalwarts such as Shawn Green, Adrian Beltre, Paul Lo Duca and company with the likes of Jeff Kent, J.D. Drew, Jose Valentin, Hee-Seop Choi, Brad Penny, Jason Phillips and others who make you think “who?”

After a 71-win disaster of a season, then-Dodgers owner Frank McCourt fired DePodesta (still regarded as Dodger fans’ favorite McCourt moment), brought on Giants longtime assistant GM Ned Colletti, who over the next three years put together the pieces for a roster that in 2008 won its first playoff series in 20 years. These Dodgers had a repeat performance in 2009, rematching in the NLCS with the Phillies. But what would a successful Dodger season be without an ill-timed plot twist? On the eve of the NLCS, Frank and Jamie McCourt filed for divorce. I would write about the rest of that, but I don’t have the time, and I doubt you have the patience. I know I don’t.

Fast forward to 2014. Dodger fans have had a full year to experience the big-spending, stadium-upgrading Guggenheim Baseball Management. A full season of Magic Johnson literally towering over the rest of the Dugout Club and entertaining the Twitter-verse with his “Dodger Nation” tweets. For the first time in as long as “our generation” can remember, there is little turnover in personnel, and even fewer turnover in optimism.

These Dodgers return a core of high-caliber, experienced talent, headlined by a rotation featuring two-time Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw, ace 2.0 Zack Greinke and top Korean import Hyun-Jin Ryu. If there is a rotation that warrants only half-hearted interest in talent like Japanese star Masahiro Tanaka, it is this one.

The lineup from 2013 remains almost entirely intact, missing only second baseman and veteran clubhouse presence Mark Ellis, who left for St. Louis via free agency.

This uncharacteristic continuity doesn’t leave us without uncertainty, however. We’ll cover these issues more in depth over the course of Spring Training, but for now, a few questions to ponder:

Who will fill out the back end of the rotation?

Will Matt Kemp fully recover and return to form?

Which Juan Uribe shows up this year, the sub-.200 batting average guy or the productive hitting, slick fielding, fan favorite and clubhouse anchor (contract year) guy?

Should we expect sophomore slumps from Ryu and Yaisel Puig?

As for Puig, should fans expect throws into the stands, baserunning blunders and speeding tickets, or a maturing adult and talent who is as eager as he says he is to become baseball’s next greatest player?

Who exactly is Alex Guerrero?

The answers to these questions will play out here, all season long.

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