Hubie Brooks Joins the Crowd in L.A. Outfield : Baseball: Free agent leaves the Montreal Expos and signs a $6-million, three-year contract with Dodgers.

Once again demonstrating an apparent belief that the best defense against criticism is confusion, the Dodgers continued their unusual reshaping of a fourth-place team Thursday with the signing of Hubie Brooks, Montreal’s free-agent outfielder.

Brooks, 33, was immediately anointed the right fielder, which is fine, except that just Wednesday, Kirk Gibson had been anointed the right fielder.

“C’mon,” Dodger Vice President Fred Claire said with some astonishment. “If Kirk Gibson is healthy, he will be in the lineup.”

That means Gibson, recovering from knee surgery, will play left field. That should be interesting news for Kal Daniels, who is reportedly rehabilitating his left knee so he can be the Dodgers’ left fielder.

“Nobody, but nobody, can say if both Kal and Kirk are going to be 100% by the start of the season,” Claire said. “If they are, a lot of good things will happen to this team. But if they aren’t, well, we have to take that into consideration.”

Considering that Brooks will make $6 million over three years, it figures that he will play somewhere.

What about the former shortstop moving to, say, third base?

“Don’t the Dodgers already have a third baseman?” Brooks asked.

“Yes,” Claire confirmed. “Jeff Hamilton is our third baseman. Hubie is our right fielder.”

“Hey,” Brooks said, “if need be, we’ll find out about third base.”

“Right fielder,” Claire repeated. “He came here to play every day in right field.”

Pause.

“For now.”

Whatever the position, Brooks is pleased to be leaving Canada and returning to where he once starred for Dominguez High in Compton. He left here 12 years ago as a first-round pick of the New York Mets from Arizona State. He returns as one of baseball’s top RBI men who, like other recent Dodger acquisitions, is recovering from a stumble.

Last season he was sporadically platooned in right field and wound up hitting .268 with 14 home runs and 70 runs batted in in 148 games. That RBI total was his second lowest in six seasons, and his homer total matched his second lowest during that time. It left him longing for home.

“I’m glad to be getting back to Los Angeles,” Brooks said. “I could not ask for much more.”

And like many, he was surprised that the Dodgers had called.

“I didn’t think this club had much room for me,” he said. “I thought the Dodgers were done doing things.”

After Wednesday’s trade that brought center fielder Juan Samuel from the New York Mets for outfielder Mike Marshall and reliever Alejandro Pena, most everybody thought that. At the time, even Claire had said, “All we will probably do now is work on refining what we have.”

But Claire had been eyeing Brooks for Marshall’s potentially vacant spot since the winter meetings.

Once Marshall was traded, Claire contacted Brooks’ agent, Richie Bry, on Wednesday night. And things happened fast.

“Real fast,” Brooks said. “My agent called and said that Fred Claire had contacted him. Then my agent called back and said I had signed.”

The Dodgers were competing with Atlanta, Boston and Toronto. That was the reason for the three-year deal and at least the promise to start Brooks in right field.

Said Claire: “We had to give him that length of a deal to get him.”

Said Brooks, who was moved to the outfield from the infield two years ago: “And the Dodgers told me I could play right field, where some other teams maybe were talking about moving me. I would like to stay in right field. You don’t know how hard it is to change positions in the major leagues. Believe me, I know, and I’m not ready to change again.”

One team conspicuously absent from the bidding was the Expos. Manager Buck Rodgers said it was because the Expos believed Brooks did not want to return.

Brooks agreed, but said it was only because the Expos had not shown much confidence in him during last season’s slump. He said they should have stuck longer with a player who as recently as 1988 hit .279 with 20 homers and 90 RBIs.

“I felt after last year, they didn’t have a whole lot of confidence in what I could do,” Brooks said. “I like to go somewhere that they will show me a little confidence, even when I reach a low point. Some place where they know what I am capable of.”

Yet Rodgers, when contacted at his home in Orange County, had nothing but praise for Brooks.

“You’ve got a good man,” he said. “I always thought he was one of the better hitters in the league, and I still feel that way.

“Yeah, I benched him for five or six games last year, but it really got him going, and he finished the year strong. Sure, he was mad when I benched him, but anybody would be mad. I didn’t lose confidence in him.”

Now for the big question. Where can Brooks play.

“He has aged a little, but I see him still playing well in the outfield for the next two or three years,” Rodgers said.

Third base?

“Sure, he can still play third base,” Rodgers said. “I don’t see why not.”

Said Brooks: “I took grounders at third base last spring . . . but let’s just wait and see what happens.”

Brooks’ contract calls for a $950,000 signing bonus, $1.05 million next season and $2 million in each of the following years.

There is also a no-trade clause that prevents the Dodgers from sending Brooks back to Montreal or to any American League team other than the Angels.

He is the fourth free agent to leave the Expos in the off-season. Earlier, pitchers Mark Langston, Bryn Smith and Pascual Perez chose not to re-sign with Montreal.

The Dodgers made another strange addition late Thursday, signing injured Philadelphia free-agent pitcher Mike Maddux to a non-guaranteed contract.

Maddux, who underwent surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow in September, was 1-3 with a 5.15 earned-run average in 16 games in 1989. That was his first full season in the major leagues, and featured two complete games, including a two-hit, 8-0 shutout over Cincinnati April 29. Maddux, 28, is not expected to compete for a spot in the Dodgers’ league-best rotation.

The Dodgers originally attempted to sign him to a minor league contract and send him to triple-A Albuquerque but, because of competition from other teams, they were forced to give him a contract with split salaries for time spent in the major and minor leagues.

Mike Maddux is the older brother of Chicago Cubs pitcher Greg Maddux.