It’s hard to believe its already been 54 games! Its been a long couple months without Manny’s hilarious attempts at defensive mediocrity, his bizarre on and off the field antics, and his constant refusal to cut the shit on his head he calls hair. But he was mostly missed for his offensive prowess that made him the most loved and hated players in the MLB. Manny returns to the Dodgers, who without their best player managed to do okay, well, if you consider 49 wins and an NL best 86 run differential okay. So now that Manny is back, how much will the Dodgers improve?

1) Rafael Furcal’s return to the lead off spot in the lineup: With the return of Manny, Juan Pierre will likely get the boot from the Dodgers starting lineup, so Furcal will return to the lead off spot. In the 130 PA that Furcal has had at the #2 spot on the lineup he has struggled, batting .208 with a .565 OPS. On the other hand, in the #1 spot Furcal has been much better batting .250 with a .630 OPS. With Furcal on base more often and the added power of Manny’s bat, the Dodgers run output should increase greatly.

2) The O-dogs return to the #2 spot: My biggest regret in the last few years as a Blue Jays fan was when the front office let Orlando Hudson walk. I understand that they wanted to give Hill consistent minutes, but move Hudson to SS! Anyways enough about that, Hudson has been great in Manny’s old spot batting .283 with an OPS at .700 and for a stretch was the major reason the Dodgers were winning games. But Hudson was even better at the start of the season in the #2 spot. He batted .324, which would be good for 10th in the NL now, and his OPS was .922. His .324 average is the 4th best average for all batters in the league at the #2 spot and his .922 OPS is good for 2nd best in the league at the #2 slot. So its pretty obvious that Hudson’s return to his normal spot will greatly improve the Dodgers lineup.

3) The effect of Manny’s return on pitchers strategy: The person most affected by Manny’s return will be the men who hit directly before and after him. We have already discussed Hudson, but Andre Ethier will also see alot more strikes with the return of Manny. When Ramirez was suspended he was getting on base nearly 50% of the time (.492 OBP). What happened was pitchers would pitch around the strike zone against Ramirez because they feared he would make them pay for throwing it in the strike zone, hence an OPS 144 points higher than his batting average. With Ramirez on base the pitchers were force to pitch strikes to Ethier. The result was Ethier’s batting .306 with a .976 OPS in the month of April, which if he was batting now would be good for 5th and 4th respectively for all #4 batters in the MLB.

4) Well, is it too obvious to say Ramirez himself being back?: When Manny left he was batting .348 with an OPS of 1.133. That’s good for #1 and #2 respectively in the #3 slot. In Ramirez’s absence, Pujols mania has taken over. Pujols is easily the favorite for NL MVP and has a good shot winning the triple crown in the NL (the only category he doesn’t lead is BA but is close with .328). However, Ramirez only trails Pujols in OPS by .047 and would likely be battling with Pujols for the MVP if he didn’t miss 55 games.

5) Manny Ramirez is a badass: No explanation needed.

I understand that Ramirez won’t return from a 55 game suspension and be at the same level as when he left but in time he will return to form. When he does he will greatly improve the Dodgers lineup for all of the reasons above.

Don’t look now people, but the best team in baseball just got A LOT better.

-KC Roberts