Dodger Notebook : Gonzalez Optioned to Minors; Brock, Pena Pass Scrutiny

Two weeks before opening day, and the Dodgers have determined this much:

--This spring’s phenom, Jose Gonzalez, is at best next year’s center fielder.

Gonzalez, who has an .059 average and 7 strikeouts in 17 exhibition at-bats, was one of 10 players optioned to the minors by the Dodgers on Sunday.

“He was set back by his thumb injury and didn’t get to play as much as we would have liked,” Manager Tom Lasorda said. “We think the best thing for him is to play Triple A.”

--This spring’s hot spot, first base, still belongs to Greg Brock, who once again has convinced a skeptical Dodger Vice President Al Campanis, at least for the time being, that he is better suited than Franklin Stubbs for the position.

“I’d say he has got to get the call, sure,” Campanis said of Brock, whose 12 RBIs lead the team this spring. “He’s been going pretty steady. He’s done a good job.”

--This spring’s biggest mystery, whether Alejandro Pena would pitch again for the Dodgers, apparently has been answered in the affirmative, although questions remain: namely, when, how long and how effectively can Pena be expected to pitch.

“Overall, I’m more optimistic about him than ever,” Campanis said after Pena pitched two innings in the Dodgers’ 7-5 loss to Cincinnati here Sunday.

“Three things can happen:

“One, he can start the season with us. Two, he can be placed on the disabled list. Or three, he could be sent out (to the minors) for rehabilitation.

“But right now, it looks like he might make our club. I think he’s going to come to L.A. with us, and I think he’s ready to be a regular on our club.”

--Finally, this spring’s most replaceable player, center fielder Ken Landreaux, doesn’t appreciate the way that (a) his position was dangled before Gonzalez for the taking and (b) the Dodgers apparently project him as no more than a platoon player.

“Maybe they (the Dodgers) will wake up someday, I don’t know,” Landreaux said Sunday. “I guess I’ll be patient--that’s supposed to be a virtue, isn’t it?

“But I have been patient. It’s about time something good happens to me.”

What is good for Landreaux isn’t necessarily good for the Dodgers. At least that was the team’s thinking when they decided to give Gonzalez a chance to demonstrate that--like Mariano Duncan a year ago--he was ready to make the jump from Class AA to the majors.

It became evident pretty early that wasn’t going to happen.

“Phenom, bleep,” Landreaux said with a snort. “He’s got a long way to go.

“No, I didn’t take it personally,” Landreaux said of the Gonzalez challenge. “But if they want to throw competition in my face, I can judge the person up against me, I ain’t worried about that.”

Gonzalez, just 21, has raw skills that have led batting coach Manny Mota to liken him to Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, with whom Mota played for six seasons. But Gonzalez has yet to prove he can hit a big league curve ball, even though Mota spent 20 minutes every day throwing nothing but curves to Gonzalez.

The Dodgers can wait. Mota said another Dominican, Pedro Guerrero, once had trouble with the curve, too.

“I think Gonzalez tried overly hard,” Campanis said. “He’s not quite ready. He’s got so much talent, but he’s got to get confidence in it.”

Landreaux, who has been bothered by sore ribs, hasn’t had much of a spring himself--he’s batting .147 (5 for 34). And he’s normally a slow starter, though last season was one of his worst ever: a .215 average, 3 home runs and 9 RBIs for the first two months of the season.

So far this spring, the Dodgers have been platooning Landreaux with Reggie Williams, who is batting .344.

“That’s out,” Landreaux said. “I don’t like platooning.”

But doesn’t Landreaux believe that the Dodgers have already made that decision to platoon.

“Damn right they will,” he said. “Do you see it happening? You don’t even have to ask me.”

Lasorda said he hasn’t made up his mind yet. Campanis?

“If Landreaux plays like he can play, he can play every day,” he said.

Landreaux was asked what he had to do to make the Dodgers happy.

“They need to make me happy,” he said. “Just let me hit. Everything else will be automatic and fall into place.”

It’s unclear what set off Landreaux, but he unloaded first to John Nadel of the Associated Press Sunday morning and was still at it with other reporters late that afternoon.

“Maybe this will make me look like the villain again,” he said. “I don’t know, maybe they’ll sit my butt on the bench.”

Pena, who has done little but sit since undergoing shoulder surgery a year ago last February, got mixed reviews in his first appearance in a regularly scheduled exhibition game. He gave up four runs and four hits in the first inning he pitched, the sixth, though two of the runs were unearned because of two Dodger errors.

In the seventh, he faced just three batters, striking out Reds rookie Kal Daniels and inducing Tony Perez to ground into a double play.

Dodger Notes

Alejandro Pena said Sunday’s cool, breezy conditions did not bother him. “I feel good, and that’s the most important thing, to feel good,” he said. Pena said he did not experience any pain since his last outing four days earlier, when he went three inings against Houston in a “B” squad game. . . . Catcher Mike Scioscia on Pena: “The second inning I thought he threw well, the first he didn’t have his rhythm, he wasn’t quite as loose. I don’t think he’s a long way off. Obviously, he’s not ready to jump into the rotation. But if he can throw for seven innings the way he threw in the second inning, then he’ll be ready. That still isn’t proven, though. That’s the big question mark.” . . . Pena’s velocity averaged in the mid-80s, though scout Ralph Avila said the radar gun registered 90 m.p.h. twice. . . . Bill Russell, who played at third with Bill Madlock sitting out with a sore right elbow, made two errors at the unfamiliar position. “It’s tough playing third when you’ve played shortstop all along,” Russell said. “It takes a while. I just don’t know how long a while.” . . . Madlock had X-rays of his elbow taken Sunday; they were negative, and he worked out on his own. . . . Orel Hershiser, who came into the game with a 7.81 ERA, shut out the Reds on four hits through five innings. He also struck out four and did not walk a batter. . . . Reds catcher Dave Van Gorder suffered a hairline fracture of his left wrist in a home-plate tag play involving Greg Brock. Reds third baseman Buddy Bell also left the game when he was hit in the left elbow by a pitch by Hershiser. The Dodger pitcher called Bell afterward and apologized. . . . The crowd of 8,103 was the second largest in the history of Holman Stadium.