Gibson, Six Others Are Free for the Taking, So to Speak : For Dodgers, a Little Advice: Don’t Let That Tiger Get Away

Now, the Dodgers can have their Kirk, and eat it, too. They can have Pedro Guerrero and Kirk Gibson, instead of giving up one to get the other, and, with Guerrero, Gibson and Mike Marshall, they can have a Murderers’ Row, although the man Guerrero has come closest to murdering is Marshall.

Gibson became anybody’s for the taking Friday, when a sympathetic arbitrator sprang open the Detroit Tiger’s cage and set him free. Of course, this free agent will be anything but free. His price tag will be absolutely staggering--in which case, he should fit in very nicely out here in the Hills of Beverly.

Maybe he would cost the Dodgers an arm and a leg, but at least they would not be the arms and legs of Guerrero. Gibson now has a “For Sale” sign hanging from his neck, and speaking on behalf of those of us who were mortified when the Dodgers took a pass on Tim Raines, our advice is this:

Make the buy.

Go out and get the mighty Gibson. Make him an offer he can’t refuse. Sure, Peter O’Malley and Fred Claire, we appreciate the fact that it will cost you a lot, and we wince at the thought that the “ballpark figure” of a ballplayer’s yearly salary should be as high as it once cost to build a whole ballpark.

Yet, this purchase should be worth it. By buying Gibson, the Dodgers will be making an investment no less risky than the ones they considered recently involving the Italian stallions, Dave Righetti and Gary Gaetti. As for Mike Davis, on whom the Dodgers dropped a mint, he is certainly a good bet, but a better bet than Gibson? Hardly.

OK, you say, so the Dodgers make up for their E-8 involving Raines, and give Gibson whatever he wants. You want to know: Where does everybody play? Who stays and who goes? Who’s--sorry Bud, sorry Lou--on first? How can a team with no third baseman carry about 23 outfielders?

Relax.

May we humbly present, for your hot-stove league amusement, some options and solutions for the Los Angeles National League Baseball Club, Inc., to consider, while its executives are cracking open the wall safe behind the portrait of Branch Rickey?

--1. Guerrero in left field, Gibson back at his original position of center field, Davis in right field and Marshall at first base. With these guys, plus Steve Sax at third base instead of second, the Dodgers will average about an error an inning, but they will win most of their games by scores such as 13-9 and 17-12.

--2. Gibson in left, John Shelby in center, Davis in right, Guerrero at first, and Marshall at Toronto or Chicago or Baltimore. The Dodgers lower their demands for Marshall, and settle for a halfway decent pitcher and a big pouch of money, to help pay Gibson and Davis.

--3. Guerrero gets traded for a couple of all-the-way decent pitchers. Or, one super pitcher plus one third baseman plus one big pouch of money. Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser thereby get some help, Davis and Shelby get to play every day, and Marshall gets to stop pretending that Pedro is his amigo.

Donald Fehr, mouthpiece of the players’ union, was way ahead of us on this one. He speculated Friday in Los Angeles: “If the Dodgers were willing to trade for him (Gibson), I don’t know why they wouldn’t want to sign him as a free agent and then trade Guerrero for a couple of good young pitchers.” Sounds fair, Mr. Fehr, especially since there are people who think the Dodgers’ biggest need, before they go to Vero Beach, is finding someone to replace the artful ex-Dodger, Bob Welch.

As for Franklin Stubbs and the Dodgerettes--Ralph Bryant, Mike Deveraux, Jose Gonzalez, Chris Gwynn, Mike Ramsey and Reggie Williams--the club could keep a couple to provide backup, keep a couple in the minors just in case, and ship a couple to the Pirates, who will take anybody.

Gibson is sitting by the phone right now--1-800-976-KIRK. It’s better than one of those party lines for singles. This one is a party line for homers and doubles.

“If the phone rings, I’ll answer it,” the Tiger said just a few weeks ago, when the Guerrero-for-Gibson trade iron was hot.

On Friday, Gibson emphasized that there will really be something funny going on if nobody, not even Cleveland, gives him a call. Well, the Dodgers have his number. It has seven digits in it--and we don’t mean his telephone number.