Thinking inside the box, this could have been the 2012 opening day roster for the Los Angeles Dodgers:

Starting Rotation: Kershaw, Kuroda, Billingsley, Lilly, Eveland

Bullpen: Jansen, Guerra, Lindblom, Elbert, Tolleson, Guerrier (ugh), St. Clair

Catchers: Ellis, Treanor

Infield: Loney, Hairston, Gordon, Uribe (ugh), Sellers, DeWitt (Hawksworth traded to Cubs)

Outfield: Kemp, Ethier, Sands, Rivera, Gwynn

This roster would have kept the payroll low, with no major risks taken. Bringing Kuroda back for one more season is not a long-term risk. How much better would Capuano be than Dana Eveland and his minimum salary for the first half of the 2012 season, until Eovaldi or Webster might be ready? Eight or nine times better? Wouldn't Kuroda + Eveland be better and more flexible in the future than Capuano + Harang? What about the four-man rotation at 2B and 3B of Uribe, Hairston, Sellers, and DeWitt? Wouldn't it perform similarly to Uribe, Hairston, Ellis, and Kennedy, but at a much lower cost? With the amount of money invested in Rivera, is he going to be the primary starter in LF instead of Sands? This is a guy who doesn't hit righties all that well, and doesn't cover much ground in the outfield. It was stunning to me that Ned set the market this off-season by throwing $4.5 million at Rivera at the very beginning of the free agent signing period. Here is what the opening day lineup could have been:

Gordon (SS) Hairston (2B) Kemp (CF) Ethier (RF) Sands (LF) Loney (1B) Ellis (C) Uribe (3B) Kershaw (P)

After the jump, my thoughts on what Ned could have done if he had been thinking outside the box.

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