Having problems with message search?
December 25, 2005
On Baseball
Late Start Doesn't Stop the Dodgers' Rebuilding
By MURRAY CHASS
THE Los Angeles Dodgers' new general manager, Ned Colletti, put the team's
bizarre off-season into perspective. "It's never a good sign when you're
interviewing managerial candidates and you're running from airport to
airport, the music is Christmas carols," he said. "It's the wrong time to
be looking for a manager."
Colletti was not complaining. He said he loved his new job and would not
have it under different circumstances. "A position like this rarely comes
open when it's an easy situation," he said. "I'm tremendously grateful for
the opportunity."
Once a sportswriter who entered baseball via public relations with the
Chicago Cubs nearly a quarter of a century ago, Colletti was given the
responsibility of cleaning up the Dodgers' mess - and what a mess it was.
The Dodgers captured the National League West in 2004 with a record of
93-69. But they imploded last season, going 71-91, after Paul DePodesta, in
his second year as the general manager, made a series of puzzling player
moves. Frank McCourt, in his second year as the club owner, made his own
bizarre moves, hiring and firing executives, discarding them as if they
were broken bats.
But McCourt's most confusing move came when he fired DePodesta four weeks
after the season. Usually, if an owner is going to fire a general manager,
he acts immediately after the season. But with McCourt giving no indication
of DePodesta's impending dismissal, Manager Jim Tracy quit by mutual
agreement with DePodesta even though he had a year left on his contract.
"We obviously came to a point where there was a difference of opinion
between Paul and I as far as how players are evaluated," Tracy said. "It
was basically how you look at and evaluate players, the process in which
you go about determining how they fit in. When you get to that point,
you're at an impasse."
Tracy, now the Pittsburgh Pirates' manager, declined to go into details.
"Going back into the dugout as a lame-duck manager didn't appeal to me," he
said. "I know the market and the expectation level. I didn't think it was a
healthy situation to be sitting in the dugout as a lame-duck manager, not
for me, not for the ball club."
Tracy resigned the day after the season. McCourt did not fire DePodesta for
another 26 days. He hired Colletti 18 days after that, Nov. 16, and
Colletti hired a manager, Grady Little, on Dec. 6.
Hiring a manager, though, was not the only thing Colletti had to do. He had
to restock the dugout with players he thought could make the team a
contender again. In rapid-fire order, in less than three weeks, Colletti
signed six free agents: the shortstop and leadoff batter Rafael Furcal, the
backup catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., third baseman Bill Mueller, the
shortstop-turned-first baseman Nomar Garciaparra, center fielder Kenny
Lofton and starter Brett Tomko.
"I was used to the pace," Colletti said, alluding to his nine years as an
assistant to General Manager Brian Sabean in San Francisco. "I'm used to
working fast, thinking things through. Brian and I were together 11 years.
It seemed like one long season. We were always retooling and rebuilding and
reloading. One of the greatest things we accomplished was playing only 14
games in 9 years where we were out of the race."
Speaking the day before he signed Tomko, Colletti said he was not finished
with his restocking plan.
"I feel if I can add a couple more starters, guys who can throw 180 to 200
innings, it will help preserve the bullpen, which is a strength," he said.
Tomko, whom he knew from San Francisco, was one of those pitchers. Also on
Colletti's list of possible pitchers were Shawn Estes, Jeff Weaver, Jason
Johnson and Kevin Millwood, though Scott Boras's asking price for Millwood,
$48 million for four years, is far more than the Dodgers want to spend.
Including Tomko, they have committed $67.7 million to the six free agents.
Although anyone who is an assistant general manager wants to take the next
step, Colletti said he was prepared to pass up the Dodgers' opportunity.
"People in San Francisco had treated me really well," he said. "I was not
looking to move. I was able to ask a lot of questions and get answers I was
comfortable with. I would never take a job just for the title. Having the
opportunity to win is the most important thing. Having people with
integrity is equally important. I was more than satisfied. Everything I was
told has come to be."
Although it is early, Colletti said he liked what he has seen in a front
office that seems to be stabilizing.
"I was told that they knew there needed to be some changes on the club and
I was free to do what I thought we needed to do; just let them know," he
said. "That's exactly what we've done."
Now he will see how fans in the northern half of the heated West Coast
rivalry treat him.
"Luckily, I didn't grow up in San Francisco, so I don't have any relatives
to disown me," he said.
A Little Traveling Music
Kenny Lofton has not played for the same team for a second year in a row
since 2001, Rudy Seanez since 2000 and Chris Hammond since 1996.
Lofton, Seanez and Hammond chose the same day last week to extend their
streaks. Free agents all, they signed with new teams once again: Lofton
with the Dodgers, Seanez with Boston and Hammond with Cincinnati.
The Dodgers will be the eighth team for Lofton in six seasons. Seanez
pitched for the Red Sox once before. But in seven successive seasons,
counting 2006, he will have played for nine teams, three twice each, but
none two seasons in a row.
The Reds will be Hammond's eighth team in 11 seasons. He missed two of
those other three seasons with injuries and played in the minors the third.
The Karsay Conundrum
With all of the inflated contracts being tossed at relief pitchers this
off-season, Steve Karsay did not get one of them. But Karsay started it all
four years ago when the Yankees signed him to a four-year, $22 million
contract, a huge package for a relief pitcher who was not a closer.
But injury and ineffectiveness made the contract a warning sign for teams
seeking relievers. While many clubs have ignored the warning, Karsay has
been a victim of his economic success. Cleveland signed him last week to a
minor league contract that provides a $600,000 salary if he gets a spot
with the Indians.
A Tribute to Hendricks
No records exist to prove this statement, but it is likely that Elrod
Hendricks caught more 20-game winners than any other catcher. Hendricks
caught six Baltimore pitchers who won 20 games a total of 18 times, and he
briefly caught Ferguson Jenkins when he and Jenkins were Cubs teammates in
1972.
Hendricks was the Orioles' primary catcher in 1971 when Dave McNally, Mike
Cuellar, Jim Palmer and Pat Dobson gave the team four 20-game winners, the
first time that had happened in the major leagues since 1920.
Hendricks, a native of the Virgin Islands, was not the best of the 10
players the Yankees and the Orioles swapped at the trading deadline (then
June 15) in 1976, but he was one of only two who continued working in
baseball. Rick Dempsey, the catcher who went to the Orioles, was the other.
Unfortunately, Hendricks's 46-year baseball career ended last Wednesday
when he had a heart attack and died one day short of his 65th birthday.
Hendricks was immensely popular among teammates, coaching colleagues, fans
and reporters, including this one. At least once a year, we compared the
number of grandchildren we each had. He was ahead by one. His 12
grandchildren, among many others, will miss him.
Yahoo! Photos
Ring in the New Year with Photo Calendars. Add photos, events, holidays, whatever.
Offline 
Send Email