Ojeda Can, Will Force a Trade

The disintegration of the Dodgers continues.

Bob Ojeda, their most consistent pitcher in the final two months, will file papers with the National League office Monday that will force the Dodgers to trade him.

And the Dodgers will not do anything to prevent it.

“We are very disappointed, but we are going to leave the Dodgers,” Tom Selakovich, Ojeda’s agent, said Thursday from his Chicago offices. “This is not a threat. This is a move we have already made.”

Ojeda can force a trade because he was traded to the Dodgers by the New York Mets last season amid a multiyear deal. The Basic Agreement stipulates that such players can demand a trade or become a free agent on March 15 if a trade is not completed.

The demand is being made only after repeated attempts by Ojeda and Selakovich to discuss extending Ojeda’s contract--which expires at the end of next season--after the Dodgers renewed an option year Wednesday.

Despite threats of a trade demand, the Dodgers have refused to discuss an extension.

“Anything beyond 1992, we have no interest in discussing right now,” said Fred Claire, Dodger vice president. “I recognize Bob has certain rights, and we have no problem with that. But we have other considerations to make.”

Earlier this week, Claire sent coach Bill Russell to triple-A Albuquerque as the new manager, then told veterans Juan Samuel, Alfredo Griffin and Gary Carter that the Dodgers would not try to keep them.

One league source said Claire is not fighting to keep Ojeda because he is going to trade him anyway. As one of the league’s top left-handed pitchers, with a relatively small $1.6-million salary next year--most top left-handers earn more than $2.5 million--Ojeda is one of the Dodgers’ most marketable players.

Selakovich said Ojeda is upset because the Dodgers told him last spring they would evaluate his 1991 season before making a decision about his future.

But after Ojeda went 12-9 with a 3.18 earned-run average, including 4-1 and 2.30 in his last 11 starts, Selakovich said the Dodgers did not live up to their word.

“After telling us to wait until after the 1991 season, now the Dodgers have told us that they will not discuss any more years until next spring training, which is not good enough for us,” Selakovich said. “I don’t believe their comments any more.”

Reached at his Los Angeles area home Thursday, Ojeda already sounded resigned to playing elsewhere, even if it means giving up five years of free agency rights, one of the strings attached to the trade demand.

“From the sounds of things, the Dodgers are making a lot of changes anyway,” he said. “Three guys are already gone, and I heard they offered Eddie (Murray) a one-year deal, which I know he won’t take.

“I really like it (in Los Angeles), but like anybody else, I just want security. I would be stupid not to use my right to demand a trade if it didn’t look like they had plans for me.”

Ojeda said he figured this might happen after the pitching rotation was juggled late in the season, and he missed starts in favor of other pitchers, even though nobody was hotter.

“I know a lot of people would like a veteran left-hander who has always played with a winner,” Ojeda said. “I wonder what happened?”