Other Teams Make Moves, but Dodgers Are Found Wanting : Baseball: The failure to trade for a center fielder at the winter meetings leaves Lasorda at a loss for words.

He had spent most of the week stalking the long hallways of the Opryland Hotel, searching underneath poinsettias and behind giant pieces of plastic candy and all through the house for a center fielder. It had been frustrating, but Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda had hidden his feelings until Wednesday, when somebody finally asked him the question:

“What if you leave here without making a trade?”

“I don’t even want to refer to that question,” Lasorda said.

Now he has no choice. After a week at baseball’s annual trade fair, Dodger bosses are back in Los Angeles without so much as a single check mark on their shopping list.

No center fielder, no leadoff hitter, no left-handed reliever, no Fernando Valenzuela, nothing but platitudes and promises.

“It’s not fair to judge this team in December,” Executive Vice President Fred Claire said. “I am confident this will not be the same team that we’ll have in April.”

He should hope.

This Dodger team includes a fifth starting pitcher, Mike Morgan, who was pulled from the rotation last July 27 and didn’t start again.

This team has an outfield of Kirk Gibson, Kal Daniels and Mike Marshall, all of whom ended last season physically unable to play. That outfield last season accounted for 25 homers, 87 RBIs and 23 stolen bases-- combined . Currently scheduled to roam the expansive center fields of the National League is their one outfielder coming off major leg surgery, Gibson.

This team’s only left-handed relief pitcher, Ray Searage, tied for the league low in saves--with zero. The top left-handed relief prospect, Mike Munoz, had a 16.88 ERA in three games and was recently sent home after struggling in the Dominican Republic winter league.

Claire has publicly acknowledged each of these problems. He and his crew arrived in Nashville last Saturday aiming to fix them. And how they tried.

“We’ve been in more meetings here then they have at the United Nations,” Lasorda said of sessions with other clubs. “Every time I turned around, there was a meeting. It is crazy.”

Dodger scouts may still be roaming the Opryland’s lobbies, since Claire left them behind to stand vigil awhile longer.

“As long as anybody in baseball is here and wants to talk, we are here to listen,” said Mel Didier in an empty hallway late Thursday.

Even so, Claire had to admit, “I can’t say I would consider us close to doing anything.”

Shortly after his plane arrived in Dallas for a connecting flight to Los Angeles, Claire did announce the signing of right-handed reliever Jim Gott, a former Pittsburgh stopper who missed all but one game last year with a torn elbow ligament that required surgery. Gott may help but, that is speculative at the moment.

How did the Dodgers’ plans fall through? Call it a chain reaction, starting with last week’s failure to sign free agent Mark Langston, partially because of the club’s refusal to put a no-trade clause into an expensive contract that probably couldn’t have been traded anyway.

After finishing a close second to the Angels for Langston, the Dodgers began the week suddenly needing to sign Valenzuela. But at the time, they had only a token offer on the table and negotiations were limping.

A later, better, offer brought no immediate response from Valenzuela, so they couldn’t afford to trade young starters John Wetteland or Ramon Martinez. And few teams would settle for less.

So, the Dodgers could not trade for the center fielder or left-handed reliever, and neither was available, to them at least, on the free-agent market. Claire deemed left-handers Craig Lefferts and Mark Davis too expensive, and the only quality free-agent center fielder, Milwaukee’s Robin Yount, had already told friends that he would not play for the Dodgers, despite an offer of more than $9 million over three years.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ rivals in the National League West were making hay.

On April 2, the Dodgers will open in Dodger Stadium against San Diego. The Padres, in 12 furious hours between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, added a center fielder, Cleveland’s Joe Carter; a left fielder, Detroit’s Fred Lynn, and a left-handed relief pitcher, Lefferts. The loss of Cy Young Award winner Mark Davis to free agency will hurt them, but not enough to keep them from being the division favorites.

“I’ve never had a week like this one . . . man, oh man,” Padre Manager Jack McKeon said. “I’ll tell you what. Even though we don’t have Mark Davis, I like this team a lot better than when we came in. Sure, losing Mark Davis hurts . . . but we’ll win without him.”

Following the Padres into Dodger Stadium next April will be the San Francisco Giants, who added an outfielder, Houston’s Kevin Bass, and a utility infielder, Dodger Dave Anderson.

Shortly thereafter, the Dodgers will play Houston, which has added pitcher Bill Gullickson, who played last season in Japan, and veteran bench help, San Francisco infielder Ken Oberkfell.

Then there’s Cincinnati, which replaced reliever John Franco with young New York Met star Randy Myers.

The only division rival to leave empty-handed was Atlanta, which finished last in 1989. But at least the Braves had earlier signed Boston free-agent first baseman Nick Esasky, and the club’s talent is young. The Dodgers may open the season without a rookie on the roster and, apparently, lots of improved competition.

“That’s exactly why we are trying to do something,” Lasorda said. “Without a ball ever being thrown, the West Division is greatly improved.”

Said Claire: “Yes, we have noticed everyone else.”

So how do they stay in step? Some possible solutions:

--Sign Valenzuela.

The Dodgers’ new offer, a two-year guaranteed deal worth about $1.7 million a year, is still far below Valenzuela’s demand of $6 million over three years. But it represents an effort to change with the economic tide, and should indicate good faith to the proud Valenzuela.

And let’s face it. What other team is seriously pursuing the local hero? Whoever they are, they must talk in whispers. Could it be that Valenzuela is more important to the Dodgers than to anyone else?

Give Valenzuela one more raise, so he is making the $1.85 million he made last year, then throw him a signing party.

--Trade John Wetteland, who scouts say has less poise than Martinez, and outfielder Mike Marshall to Boston for Ellis Burks.

A deal for Burks died early last week because the Dodgers offered just Alejandro Pena, Franklin Stubbs and Chris Gwynn. The Red Sox want Wetteland and Marshall and, for Burks, they should get them. At 25, Burks could be an All-Star for the next five years.

If the Red Sox still won’t part with Burks, the Dodgers ought to chase down St. Louis’ Vince Coleman or Philadelphia’s Len Dykstra, if you can. They will be the best players available without giving up pitcher Tim Belcher, who is only wanted by about 25 other teams.

--Give Munoz a chance this spring to become the top left-handed middle reliever. Yes, his first major league pitch last fall was hit over the left-field fence by Cincinnati’s Jeff Richardson. And no, he didn’t make Dodger officials happy by being too weary to compete in the Dominican winter league, where he was to have learned to become a complete pitcher.

But you don’t strike out 81 in 79 innings of triple-A ball if you can’t throw hard. Give this 24-year-old arm a chance.