Dodgers Haven’t Been All They’re Cracked Up to Be

They have yet to play a quarter of the new season, but there is a growing and gnawing suspicion that we may have had it wrong about the Dodgers.

Maybe they haven’t underachieved.

Maybe the ongoing inconsistency and inefficiency of recent years is as good as this incomplete team can produce.

Maybe it should be said now, before Bill Russell is buried in speculation about his status, that management has again handcuffed the manager by failing to address serious shortcomings, lingering deficiencies.

A rush to judgment?

A premature evaluation after only 37 games?

Perhaps.

The point here isn’t to say that the Dodgers are without a chance in the National League West.

The point here is to say they are traveling an uphill road--plagued by familiar personnel problems and an assortment of new concerns.

Starting pitching, the Dodger strength, is riddled by unfulfilled potential, questions of physical and mental health. An overworked bullpen, including several released and recycled arms, has begun to show obvious flaws. A lineup retaining the fatal holes of recent years still must depend largely on the three-run homer and too often doesn’t get it.

The Dodgers (18-19) have returned to their home turf for seven games with Philadelphia and Montreal, teams they should hammer, but it is impossible to predict anymore how they will perform--as evidenced by Monday’s 5-2 loss to the Phillies.

On their recent trip, they were 5-3 against two other teams they should dominate, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Florida Marlins, and 0-3 against a team they will have to beat if they are still playing in October--the Atlanta Braves.

In the executive suite, Bob Graziano, the new owner’s new president, was saying Monday that he still perceived it as underachievement.

“No one is sitting back and saying they are happy with the way the team is playing,” he said. “There is a unanimous feeling that the team has not played up to its ability and is capable of playing much, much better.

“Are there fundamental problems or is it just a poor start from which they’ll come back strong again? That’s a question we need to answer.”

Most players, put to a polygraph, would likely come down on the side of fundamental problems.

Consider:

* The Dodgers are still without left-handed power and left-handed consistency. Jim Eisenrech would help. Bobby Bonilla would be better.

* Left field remains a void, with Russell juggling three players--Todd Hollandsworth, Matt Luke and Trenidad Hubbard--which spawns a Catch-22: None of the three gets enough playing time to produce and none produces enough to justify more time.

* The absence of dependability in left complicates the pressure on Roger Cedeno’s attempt to take command in center--and the No. 2 slot in the batting order. The Dodgers needed--still need--a proven player in either left or center.

* Raul Mondesi, in his sixth season, still lacks the discipline to bat third. If he had it, that would enable Russell to put three potential burners, Eric Young, Cedeno and Mondesi, ahead of three potential boppers, Mike Piazza, Eric Karros and Todd Zeile. It would put Piazza in the cleanup role, where his statistics are staggering, and extend the overall strength of the lineup, giving Russell more options at the top. But that’s wishful thinking until Mondesi finally gets a grip on the strike zone--if he ever does.

* The Dodgers have two starting pitchers, Ismael Valdes and Darren Dreifort, struggling to fulfill potential and another, Chan Ho Park, with a lingering physical concern--not to mention Hideo Nomo’s surgically repaired elbow and acrylic fingernail. Park’s ailing back and Valdes’ timidity and self-absorption are ongoing issues, as is the question of Dreifort’s role. Many in the organization think he is better suited to be the closer, since he continues to court trouble on his second trip through the lineup. But Dreifort and agent Scott Boras are hesitant because of potential strain on his reconstructed elbow.

* It isn’t clear yet how the Dodgers’ refusal to pursue Robb Nen, Rod Beck or Randy Myers will affect that closer role over a 162-game season, but the question whether Scott Radinsky or Antonio Osuna should get the call, and the mystery of what to expect in the crunch time of a ninth inning, creates an unsettling uncertainty. A bullpen in which Radinsky and Osuna would be the left-right set-up men for a Nen or Beck is far different from a depth and talent viewpoint than what the Dodgers currently feature, which includes one pitcher claimed on waivers, Jim Bruske; one obtained in the Rule 5 draft, Frank Lankford, and one signed as a released free agent, Brad Clontz.

No team, in an era of expansion-diluted talent, is without a recycled pitcher or two. No team is without flaws. Only Atlanta has a better record in the National League since 1994, but the Dodgers have not won a playoff game since 1988 and have reached the playoffs only twice since then--once as a wild-card team.

The clock is ticking for this group, as Karros and Piazza have noted, but management seems reluctant to move.

Vice president Fred Claire, awaiting the ownership change last winter, was paralyzed by the bottom line.

He improved the bench with the low-budget Hubbard, Luke and Thomas Howard, but a left fielder, center fielder, closer or a left-handed slugger was beyond reach of a big-market team suddenly strapped by small-market thinking. The Dodgers have a $47-million payroll, 12th-highest among the 30 teams, but the results of recent Octobers have proven that a payroll in the top five or six is almost a requisite.

It is early in 1998 but late in a frustrating decade.

The clubhouse feeling seems to be that they are short a player or two, the same player or two they were short when the 1997 season ended.

Asked if the club is prepared to deal, to take on a salary if the opportunity arises, Graziano said it’s a case-by-case situation and the Dodgers would have to weigh the long- and short-term impact--financial and otherwise.

“It’s never too early to evaluate ways of improving the team,” he said. “Fred does that on an ongoing basis, but I also don’t want to overreact [at this point in the season].”

With all of that, there are even larger issues pervading the Dodger season, potential distractions to an often mechanical team:

* Can Piazza remain focused despite his unresolved contract situation? Would the Dodgers consider trading him if they’re still on a .500 treadmill in July, rather than risk getting only compensatory draft choices if he leaves as a free agent? Does he even want to return if the Dodgers aren’t going to spend for other needed players?

* Does Russell have to win to save his job? Can a relatively low-key manager light enough of a fire to overcome the shortage in personnel and the ongoing absence of a player willing to step up and put a stranglehold on a struggling team? Can he remain loose despite the pressure, or will his team read the strain?

“It’s too early to evaluate individual performance,” Graziano said when asked about Russell.

Then again, if the Dodgers aren’t playing to their capability, as he indicated, what more does he need to say about the manager?

Rupert Murdoch and staff may view it as underachieving, but the feeling after several similar seasons is that this may be as good as it gets.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Coming Up Short

One problem the Dodgers have is their failure to get on base consistently. A look at how the Dodger batting order compares to the league average in on-base percentage in that batting position. *--*

NL Avg. Pos. Dodgers .343 #1 .343 .352 #2 .304 .371 #3 .317 .368 #4 .348 .311 #5 .325 .336 #6 .329 .306 #7 .282 .314 #8 .292

*--*

Where the Dodgers have finished since winning the World Series in 1988: 1989: 77-83, .481, fourth

1990: 86-76, .531, second

1991: 93-69, .574, second

1992: 63-99, .389, sixth

1993: 81-81, .500, fourth

1994: 58-56, .509, first

1995: 78-66, .542, first

1996: 90-72, .556, second

1997: 88-74, .543, second

Overall: 714-676, .514*

* Third-best record in National League, behind Atlanta and Montreal.