BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Mere Improvement Probably Isn’t Enough

Have the Dodgers made improvements since emerging from the nightmare that was last season? No question about it.

They have strengthened the bullpen with the acquisition of closer Todd Worrell, stabilized second base to a degree with Jody Reed and deepened their third base and outfield options with Cory Snyder.

But while narrowing his wish list to a regular third baseman and left-handed relief pitcher, Fred Claire, executive vice president, has seen another problem develop.

Mere improvement might not be enough to lift the last-place Dodgers very high in the National League West standings.

Amid what Claire called “dramatic and incredible” changes in the division since the end of the season, the Dodgers will have to do more than improve.

As Houston Astro General Manager Bill Woods noted at the winter meetings, “You’ve got to improve just to stay even.”

Said Claire, forcing a smile, “I’m getting a little tired of looking at the transactions (list) and seeing the West dominate.

“It’s time to say, ‘Go east, young man.’ ”

Consider:

--Not satisfied with baseball’s best rotation, the Atlanta Braves made it even stronger by acquiring the National League’s Cy Young Award winner, Greg Maddux.

The new combination of Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Steve Avery, Pete Smith and Maddux had a record of 73-42 last season.

How good and young do you have to be in Atlanta? Fifteen victories got 36-year-old Charlie Leibrandt traded to Texas for a minor league third baseman.

--Disregarding the Marge Schott controversy, Cincinnati General Manager Jim Bowden, baseball’s youngest at 31, has aggressively increased the potential of a team that won 90 games.

He traded Paul O’Neill to the New York Yankees for the multitalented Roberto Kelly. He broke up Norm Charlton and Rob Dibble by trading Charlton to the Seattle Mariners for Kevin Mitchell. That gives him a left-to-right outfield of Mitchell, Kelly and Reggie Sanders, and puts the fleet Bip Roberts at second base full time.

Bowden signed free agent John Smiley to replace departing free agent Greg Swindell and signed free agents Cecil Espy and Gary Varsho to strengthen the bench.

--The San Francisco Giants, whose 90-defeat, Florida-or-bust season was exactly that, a bust, have been replenished by the new leadership of Safeway Chairman Peter Magowan.

The supermarket magnate has given division rivals food for thought with his $43.75-million signing of Barry Bonds, who joins Will Clark and Matt Williams in the middle of the order. A $2.2-million signing of Dave Martinez will also add depth to what had been the league’s weakest outfield.

--The revitalized young Astros, coming off the optimism of an 81-81 record, encountered some fresh money at the right time. New owner Drayton McLane signed Doug Drabek for $19.5 million and Swindell for $17 million to provide veteran leadership for the rotation and an important message to a blossoming team about to become a contender: The owner will do what it takes.

“When we broke the club up in ’90 (by moving every high-salaried veterans), we thought we had a nucleus of young players who could make a rapid climb,” General Manager Woods said.

“The sale (by John McMullen to McLane) came at the right time. You can’t build only one way anymore. You have to supplement with trades and free agents. It’s a comfortable feeling to know we can improve by using all avenues now.”

Comfortable?

Watching from the other division, a shocked Dan Duquette, general manager of the Montreal Expos, offered another view of the spending spree by M&M--new; owners Magowan and McLane.

“Those guys are making the same mistakes rookie ballplayers make,” he said. “You would think they’d know better.”

Said Claire: “It really is amazing, particularly when you start projecting those figures into ’94 (and the uncertainty over the new television contract).

“You’re really into the unknown then, but it’s the competitive fire. I mean, baseball gets banged pretty hard about the money spent on free agency, but it’s the competitiveness that drives it. It’s not stupidity.”

Would he say otherwise, considering his $42-million payroll of last season produced 99 defeats, 174 errors and a hospital bill that is still being paid?

Claire believes the Dodgers can escape that morass, but will it show in the standings of a division in which the competition has become even tougher through changes that seem bolder than those of the Dodgers?

“I think we’ve improved appreciably, but we’ll eventually have to prove it,” he said. “It won’t be easy to jump over Atlanta, Cincinnati and the others, because we’re starting from the bottom and they keep getting better.”

Having finished last in the league in runs, errors and saves, the Dodgers need to go beyond good and take some giant steps.

They need Eric Davis and Darryl Strawberry to come back and stay back. They need Jose Offerman to play 162 games with complete concentration and Ramon Martinez to find his groove. They need Pedro Astacio to prove he can be as consistent as he was spectacular at times last season, and Carlos Hernandez and Mike Piazza to prove they can handle a pitching staff as well as Mike Scioscia did.

They also need Worrell’s rebuilt and rehabilitated arm to hold up for 60 or more appearances. They need Reed to prove that his .247 of last season was an aberration. They need a spot left-hander in the bullpen to face Clark and Bonds in critical situations.

They need a regular at third base, and there aren’t many options aside from Wade Boggs, a high-salaried risk coming off a .259 season at 34 and defensively vulnerable on artificial surfaces, of which there are six in the National League.

And if all the needs are satisfied? Even then it might not be enough, based on the changes elsewhere--although those teams have questions as well.

Bonds, for example, can’t play all three outfield positions at the same time or pitch for the Giants, whose rotation has no real No. 1 starter and had no one with more than John Burkett’s 13 victories last season.

Do the Reds really know what to expect from Mitchell, whose production totals keep falling as his weight keeps rising? Can Dibble handle the closer role alone? Can Tom Browning bounce back? Who starts after Jose Rijo, Tim Belcher and Smiley?

The Astros must wonder if comeback-of-the-year pitcher Doug Jones can save another 38 games. Who fills the gaping hole at shortstop? Can young outfielders Eric Anthony and Luis Gonzalez improve on .239 and .243, and can catcher Eddie Taubensee do anything about .222?

The Braves still do not have a closer, but they can operate with a committee of Mark Wohlers, Mike Stanton and Kent Mercker, if need be. Besides, how much stress will there be on the bullpen with the caliber of that rotation?

“With those five, you have a chance to win every night,” Dodger scout Mel Didier said.

The decimation of the San Diego Padres by owner Tom Werner has reduced that team to the level of the Colorado Rockies, who might win fewer than 50 games.