Yeager Is Traded to Mariners : Vande Berg a Dodger; Maldonado Is Dealt to Giants for Trevino

Filling what Manager Tom Lasorda called a dire need, the Dodgers acquired left-handed relief pitcher Ed Vande Berg from the Seattle Mariners Wednesday night.

The price was a page out of their record book, a chapter out of their recent history.

They ended a 13-year relationship by trading Steve Yeager, who caught more games (1,181) than any L.A. Dodger catcher except John Roseboro (1,199).

The workhorse Vande Berg, who once attended Redlands High School and San Bernardino Valley College, has appeared in more games in the last four years (237) than any pitcher in baseball.

He will provide Lasorda with the luxury of two left-handed relievers but is expected to replace Carlos Diaz as the southpaw specialist in the late innings.

Yeager, 37, was wracked by injuries in recent years. He played in 74 games in 1984, when he suffered a broken left leg in September, and appeared as Mike Scioscia’s understudy in only 53 games last season.

The Mariners, while hoping that Yeager can catch between 80 and 100 games as he shares the position with Bob Kearney, are counting more on his ability to serve as a coach without portfolio, a leader and teacher for one of baseball’s most promising young pitching staffs.

“Our guys have no confidence in Kearney,” a Seattle scout who requested anonymity said. “We need leadership.

“Just having Yeager in the clubhouse should help our kids.”

The Yeager trade was accompanied by a later announcement that the Dodgers were trading Candy Maldonado, once considered their center fielder of the future, to the San Francisco Giants for Alex Trevino, who will replace Yeager as the backup catcher.

The Dodgers are expected to make yet another trade today, acquiring Henry Cotto from the New York Yankees as the right-handed hitter who will platoon with center fielder Ken Landreaux.

Cotto, who turns 25 next month, hit .304 in 34 games with the Yankees after batting .257 in 75 games at Columbus. In exchange, the Dodgers will part with a minor league player, thus satisfying their most pressing needs--a left-handed relief pitcher and a right-handed hitting center fielder--at a modest cost.

“We’ve accomplished what we set out to do,” Vice President Al Campanis said.

The key, of course, is Vande Berg, who has appeared in 50 or more games in each of his four major league seasons, registering 20 saves with a 21-21 record and a 3.75 earned-run average.

The acquisition of the 27-year-old left-hander, Campanis said, will allow Lasorda to use Diaz in a middle-inning emergency, saving Vande Berg for the eighth and ninth, a late-inning complement to Ken Howell and Tom Niedenfuer.

“We had a dire need for a pitcher of Vande Berg’s capability,” Lasorda said. “All of our reports indicate he was among the best southpaws available.”

Reached at his Mesa, Ariz., home, Vande Berg said he didn’t know how to feel.

“The Mariners told me at the end of the season that I might be traded,” he said, “so it’s not really a surprise.

“But Los Angeles . . . wow. That’s big time. That’s a team that’s in the playoffs all the time. I just hope I can help the Dodgers. I’m confident I can.”

Vande Berg paused, then added: “Hey, this also means Dodgertown and free golf. I like that.”

The Dodgers were unable to reach Yeager, but he had approved a trade to all but three teams (the Dodgers would not identify them) when he recently signed a one-year contract for $500,000. Yeager also received an option year, now at the Mariners’ discretion.

He leaves the Dodgers with a career average of .228, a defensive specialist who enjoyed his best season in 1977, batting .256 with 16 homers, and who hit .316 in four World Series.

Lasorda said he felt much as he did when Steve Garvey and Ron Cey and Davey Lopes departed.

“I told the Seattle people,” he said, “that Yeager had been with me in the Rookie League, in Triple-A, in the Puerto Rico Winter League and in the major leagues, and every time he put the uniform on, he played with all the drive and the determination you would want in a player.

“I’m proud of what he accomplished with us, and I’m positive he’ll show the Mariners what it takes to win, what determination is all about.”

In acquiring Trevino, a 28-year-old veteran of seven major league seasons, Campanis said that the Dodgers remain confident in Gilberto Reyes’ ability to develop into a big league catcher but thought that they need experienced protection behind Scioscia.

Trevino has three years remaining on a four-year, $2,150,000 contract he received from Atlanta owner Ted Turner last winter, but the Braves are believed to remain responsible for the contract’s $1 million in deferred payments.

“Our obligation is three years of salary,” Campanis said.

Of Maldonado, now 25, Campanis said: “He’s got power, he’s got speed and he may develop, but he hasn’t done it for us. We feel he’s a better player than he’s shown. He may benefit from the change. It can work that way.”

Peter Rose, one of the agents for relief pitcher Donnie Moore, followed Tuesday’s face-to-face meeting with Angel General Manager Mike Port with a phone conversation Wednesday and indicated that further communication would be postponed until next week.

“Mike said he would have something for us by the first of the week,” Rose said. “He said he needed to talk to Mr. Autry (owner Gene Autry) and formulate a response.”

Moore’s agents are asking for a five-year contract worth $7 million. The Angels recently withdrew an offer of three years for $2.6 million and have yet to submit another.