As a General Manager, Plaschke Is a Washout

It’s official. Bill Plaschke is the inventor of the emotional roller coaster.

He stated in a column last year that the Padres would never beat the Dodgers in a down-to-the-wire race. Guess who wins the division by one game?

He then remarks in a column last week that Hideo Nomo should be traded, stating that, “The whole league knows him better than his own team.”

Tell that to the 14 teams he beat and the 233 batters he struck out this year.

MIKE BENTON, Azusa

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Bill Plaschke thinks Fred Claire should trade Eric Karros for a shortstop. True, the Dodgers need a shortstop, but that doesn’t justify giving up Karros. Karros consistently hits 30 homers, drives in 100 runs and is a great defensive first baseman. And he’s a genuinely nice guy who donates time and money to the community.

Plaschke thinks that it will be “fun” to watch Paul Konerko play even if he’s “as bad as Wilton Guerrero.” For more of this type of “fun,” does he think that the shortstop Karros should be traded for is Jose Offerman?

DARA LEVY, Westchester

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I am writing in response to Bill Plaschke’s Sunday Scene, in which he reprimands the drug policy of UCLA athletics. Plaschke mentions that no parent would “give their children three chances to screw up with something that could wreck their lives before disciplining them,” as UCLA reportedly gave to Kris Johnson and Jelani McCoy.

UCLA is not, and should never, be the surrogate parents of these student-athletes. The purpose of a university or college is to allow children to become independent in the hope that they have been raised to make responsible decisions. This may not always happen, but it sure isn’t the job of UCLA to send those kids to their rooms without dinner and television.

SHYAM KRISHNA, Anaheim Hills