Furcal, Rafael

Furcal played 150 games last season for the dodgers in his most durable season since changing his address to Chavez Ravine. It was a forgettable season and a poor return on investment for those who bumped him up the charts based on his fragmentary 2008 (.357 and Five homes runs in 143 BA) No such luck.

Furcal switch hits, but is much better against lefties than righties which isn't the way you would prefer it. He's also much more consistent against lefties so while it's always true that how a hitter fares against righties will largely dictate the quality of their season. It is particularly true for the strong-armed shortstop who didn't throw out his absolute worst season against righties, but it was not good, only a .679OPS and .091 ISO.

Still, Furcal gave us plenty of reason to hope for this season, in his final 80 games of the season Furcal batted .295 with six home runs and 57 runs scored. Although leg issues mean he'll never be stealing 40 again, he managed seven steals over the same period. If that seems...familiar, well it should because as a full timer with the Braves he averaged 13 home runs and 108 runs. It's also approximately equivalent to what he did in his first season with the Dodgers with 6 home runs and 87 runs over 138 games.

Although there are reasons - Russell Martin - to doubt - starting pitching - the Dodgers - Russell Martin - this - starting pitching - season, Furcal has opportunity to score a ton of runs batting forward of Matt Kemp and Manny Ramirez. Don't go crazy of course - he's unlikely to hit for a plus average and no longer will get a lot of steals (you'd have to be happy with 20). But if he garnered 110 runs it wouldn't be a surprise. .285-110-10-60-20.650 ABs