Dodgers sign Kuroda

Tony Jackson is reporting that Hiroki Kuroda has officially agreed to a 3 year 36-40 million dollar deal. It's a lot to give up for a middle of the rotation guy, but as Jackson says, Colletti has filled 2 holes (CF & SP) and hasn't given up one of the young players. Kuroda slots in probably to the 3 or 4 spot in the rotation & most likely moves Loaiza into a long relief role.

HIroki Kuroda news

Tony Jackson from the L.A. Daily News is reporting that Hiroki Kuroda is "leaning strongly" towards signing with the Dodgers & canceled his trip to the U.S. this week and would make a decision between Seattle and L.A. soon, VERY soon. Arizona is reportedly out of the running.

If this is true then this would give the Dodgers quite the starting rotation. If it happens the team would look something like this:

Starting Rotation

Brad Penny
Derek Lowe
Chad Billingsley
Hiroki Kuroda
Jason Schmidt (injured)/Esteban Loaiza

Bullpen

Joe Beimel
Jonathan Broxton
Scott Proctor (candidate to have his arm fall off with Joe Torre as manager)
Eric Stults
DJ Houlton
Hong Chi Kuo
Takashi Saito
Yhency Brazoban (injured)
Mark Hendrickson (Likely Non-tender candidate)

PROJECTED LINEUP

Rafael Furcal -SS
Russell Martin - C
Jeff Kent - 2b
Andruw Jones - CF
Matt Kemp - RF
James Loney - 1b
Andy La Roche/Nomar Garciaparra - 3b
Juan Pierre/Andre Ethier- LF

Bench

Tony Abreu
Jason Repko
Nomar Garciaparra/Andy La Roche
Juan Pierre/Andre Ethier
Chin Ling Hu

The Bullpen looks a little light. I could see the Dodgers moving one of their excess outfielders (Juan Pierre, Andre Ethier, Delwyn Young) for a reliever & maybe even one of their starters (Schmidt, Loaiza) though that seems unlikely.