If the season started today...

Here is my early look at what I believe the 25-man roster will be come March 22 in Australia.

Rotation:
Clayton Kershaw
Zack Greinke
Hyun-Jin Ryu
Dan Haren
Josh Beckett

Bullpen:
Kenley Jansen
Brian Wilson
J.P. Howell
Paco Rodriguez
Chris Perez
Brandon League
Jamey Wright
Paul Maholm

Starters:
A.J. Ellis
Adrian Gonzalez
Alexander Guerrero
Hanley Ramirez
Juan Uribe
Yasiel Puig
Andre Ethier
Carl Crawford

Bench:
Tim Federowicz
Dee Gordon
Scott Van Slyke
Justin Turner

DL:
Matt Kemp
Chad Billingsley

Missing Out:
Chris Withrow
Jose Dominguez
Chone Figgins
Miguel Rojas
Justin Sellers
Drew Butera

Analysis:
I'll go with Kemp on the DL for now, as he's all but said to cross him off the active list for the two games in Australia against the Diamondbacks.  That will leave room for Van Slyke to be the primary sub.

I think Gordon's versatility and speed, along with recent reports of bulking up a bit, make him the ultimate utility man right now.  I think that's a role he can thrive in, as long as he doesn't throw the ball all over the place.  I'll give a slight edge to Turner over Figgins for that other utility role, if for no other reason than Turner has youth, which is something Ned Colletti said he wanted to focus on off the bench for this season.

As usual, the back end of the rotation is a question mark for now.  But as we all remember from last year, that can and probably will quickly change.  I'll go with Haren and Beckett as the 4-5 starters, with Maholm biding his time in the bullpen.  The only tricky thing is that Wright is the clear-cut long reliever, so they really don't need two.  We'll have to keep an eye on Beckett's health, because if he can't go or needs more time, that's an easy DL decision.

I have to begrudgingly list League as part of the 'pen, only because of that damn contract.  It would be nice to see someone like Withrow or Dominguez get the nod if one of them clearly outperforms League, and for the Dodgers to cut their ties.  We'll see.

This will be something I'll take another look at at least one more time before the games start in March, so stay tuned.