Lasorda Hopes He Can Deal a Wild Card

Mark Grudzielanek has had his name, and what a name it is, mentioned in connection with the Dodgers before.

Last winter, after Greg Gagne retired and before Jose Vizcaino was acquired as a free agent, the Dodgers’ then-executive vice president, Fred Claire, talked to the Montreal Expos about a trade that would have brought the G-man to Los Angeles.

Tom Lasorda was asked Friday night if he recalled the reason that trade never happened.

“No,” he said curtly. “I don’t know.”

The question was a reminder to Lasorda of how little about the Dodgers he knew until a few weeks ago. Although he had an important title, vice president, and a job description that included advising Claire, Lasorda had about as much influence at Dodger Stadium as organist Nancy Bea Hefley. She is heard, not seen. He was seen, not heard.

But now that he is the Dodgers’ interim general manager, replacing Claire as the man in charge of player personnel, Lasorda is making the most of it.

After guaranteeing this week that the Dodgers will be a playoff team, he made the deal within hours of Friday’s trading deadline to acquire shortstop Grudzielanek and left-handed starting pitcher Carlos Perez from Montreal.

The Chicago Cubs, looking like a team of destiny with Kerry Wood and Sammy Sosa, might no longer feel so confident about their chances in the National League Central after Houston traded for Randy Johnson. But the Cubs still are leading a six-team race for a wild-card berth.

The Dodgers, however, established themselves as the best of the rest with one of the day’s most significant trades.

Unfortunately for the Angels, a couple of trades that could have even more impact on the regular season brought Todd Stottlemyre, Todd Zeile and Royce Clayton to the Texas Rangers, now solid favorites in the AL West.

You were expecting maybe a Freeway Series?

Wait until next year.

The goal for the Dodgers this season, Lasorda said Friday, is merely to reach the playoffs.

“You hate to give up young players,” Lasorda said, referring to infielder Wilton Guerrero and three minor leaguers. “But we had to do everything we could to improve this ballclub. We had to do everything we could to get this club in the playoffs.”

It didn’t appear five weeks ago as if the Dodgers would be involved in a race this season, not even for a wild card. Even with their trade of the century, the one that shipped Mike Piazza and Zeile out in exchange for Gary Sheffield, Charles Johnson, Bobby Bonilla and Jim Eisenreich, they were standing still.

They didn’t begin to move until Lasorda acquired the closer that the Dodgers under Claire, whether for baseball or budgetary reasons, didn’t consider a priority during the off-season.

In case you’re counting, Jeff Shaw had his ninth save in nine chances for the Dodgers in Friday night’s 4-3 victory over the New York Mets.

Lasorda, correctly, has been criticized because he didn’t know Shaw had a clause in his contract allowing him to demand a trade before next season if he was traded from Cincinnati.

So Lasorda isn’t a detail man. The Dodgers knew that when they gave him an assistant to read fine print, which, apparently, was too fine in Shaw’s contract.

Lasorda is where he is now because he’s a baseball man.

He proved it again Friday night. This deal should help the Dodgers even more than those made by Claire last August that brought Eric Young and Otis Nixon for a late-season, although ultimately unsuccessful, charge in the NL West at the San Francisco Giants.

One reason that trade helped the Dodgers was because Young’s acquisition enabled them to send second baseman Wilton Guerrero to the bench during his disappointing rookie season.

This trade was even better because it sent Guerrero out of the country.

If Lasorda was being honest, and it’s not always easy to tell when he’s discussing players with the media, he believes Guerrero is a great talent.

“I like him very, very much,” said Lasorda, who added that he rejected numerous offers for Guerrero before taking the one from the Expos. “I think he has a chance to be a star.”

He might be some day in Montreal, where he will be reunited with brother Vladimir.

But as capable as Guerrero is with a bat, he also is capable of turning routine popups into doubles and running his team out of rallies with mistakes on the basepaths.

His defenders point out that he’s only 23. But you either have an aptitude for baseball or you don’t. He doesn’t.

Trading him and three minor leaguers wasn’t too much to pay if the Dodgers can contend for a playoff berth this season.

They entered Friday with two major needs. They needed a hitter to fill the void left by Bobby Bonilla, who has an injured wrist and isn’t eager to test it again this season. They needed a starting pitcher to fill the void left by Ismael Valdes, who is on the 15-day disabled list and might not regain his sharpness for twice that long.

Now they have Grudzielanek, who, because of his hitting, could be their shortstop even after Vizcaino returns from the disabled list, and Perez, the fifth starter they’ve needed since trading Pedro Astacio to Colorado last season and the left-handed starter they’ve needed for years.

A bonus for the Dodgers is that both players are signed through next season.

More good news from the Dodgers on Friday was that they withdrew from discussions with Seattle about Johnson, who, considering his age, bad back and free-agent status at the end of the season, would have cost too much. According to one report in New York, the Mariners wanted Guerrero, Antonio Osuna and Chan Ho Park.

“Chan Ho?” Lasorda said, practically yelping. “What are you talking about? Are you serious? I’d trade my wife before I’d trade Chan Ho Park.”

Everyone knows how much Lasorda loves his wife. He wouldn’t trade her unless he thought it guaranteed a World Series.

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Crossing the Border

Players acquired from Montreal in Friday’s trade of Wilton Guerrero, who is batting .283 in 180 at-bats:

MARK GRUDZIELANEK

* BACKGROUND: Born June 30, 1970. Right-handed hitter. Led National League with 54 doubles in 1997. Led NL shortstops in total chances (715) and double plays (99) and errors (32) in 1997. Career fielding percentage: .959

CAREER STATISTICS (all with Montreal)

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Year AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG BB SO SB 1995 269 27 66 12 2 1 20 .245 14 47 8 1996 657 99 201 34 4 6 49 .306 26 83 33 1997 649 76 177 54 3 4 51 .273 23 76 26 1998 395 51 109 15 1 8 41 .276 21 49 11 Total 1970 253 553 115 10 19 161 .281 84 255 78

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CARLOS PEREZ

* BACKGROUND: Born Jan. 14, 1971. Left-handed pitcher. Led National League with five shutouts in 1997.

CAREER STATISTICS (all with Montreal)

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Year IP H R ER BB SO W-L ERA 1995 141 1/3 142 61 58 28 106 10-8 3.69 1996 Injured, did not play 1997 206 2/3 206 109 89 48 110 12-13 3.88 1998 163 1/3 177 79 68 33 82 7-10 3.75 Total 511 1/3 525 249 215 109 298 29-31 3.79

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