Dodgers Will Hear D.J. Spinning a New Tune

At his introductory news conference Friday, new Dodger Manager Davey Johnson insisted that his team has “plenty of talent to win” and doesn’t expect much activity on the trade or free agency fronts this winter.

The confident and strong-willed Johnson may not always be thought of as a diplomat, but he clearly can be if the situation demands it.

The truth is, the team he has inherited is a mess, seemingly a long way from being a winner, and Johnson, who hopes to provide the “immediate impact” that he did with the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles, will work with General Manager Kevin Malone this winter in trying to rebuild it as quickly as finances and the market allow.

“We’re exploring ways of moving money to create money,” Malone acknowledged.

He referred to the difficult task of dumping salaries so that the savings can be applied to a major free agent and/or trade acquisition.

A mess? Consider:

* The Dodgers do not have a No. 1 caliber pitcher, reliable middle relief man or the certainty that closer Jeff Shaw will be back.

* They still do not have a left-handed power hitter or a clear-cut left fielder, center fielder or third baseman.

* They have a bench that lacks balance and depth, a potential powder keg in the deployment of those unselfish outfielders, Gary Sheffield and Raul Mondesi, and another in the tenuous relationship between Johnson and Bobby Bonilla, who is almost certain to be traded.

Johnson said he intends to enforce rigid standards in Dodger appearance--standards that he and Malone said have long been part of the club’s commandments but were compromised by recent managements.

He will not permit beards, jeans on the road or jewelry such as earrings, believing that a clean-cut look leads to professionalism and a sense of unity.

The ultimate alteration, however, concerns roster appearance.

With a winner at the helm, a manager prepared to rouse a dozing team, the question becomes: What do the Dodgers need to do next?

Here is a six-pack of thoughts based in part on what they would like or hope to do:

1. The closer situation has to be resolved. The Dodgers have to find a way to keep Shaw, who can demand a trade as a player traded with a multiyear contract. Shaw’s ultimate hope would be to end up in the Midwest, so that his family could continue to live in the Cincinnati area, but he has no guarantee of that if traded.

The 15-day period in which Shaw has to deliver his demand began Thursday. Malone is trying to keep his 48-save closer by renegotiating the $2.8 million per year that Shaw is guaranteed over the next three years.

The only proven closer eligible for free agency is Jeff Montgomery, 36, and no one is eager to trade a closer unless it’s the San Diego Padres, who will be looking to unload Randy Myers. He saved 45 games for Johnson and Malone in Baltimore in 1997, but he is more a left-handed spot specialist now, a $6-million-a-year set-up man who has lost about 10 mph since ’97.

2. They must add left-handed power. The goal is first baseman Mo Vaughn, who represents proven power and clubhouse leadership. Vaughn is the No. 1 position player available in free agency and will demand more than $10 million a year for at least five years. His acquisition would require that Eric Karros be traded, which may not be an easy parlay, but as Malone said Friday, “We need left-handed bats. We’re right-hand dominant. We do not have a balanced lineup.”

3. The center-field hole has to be filled. The ultimate plan is to return Mondesi to right and move Sheffield to left. The Dodgers privately believe that Roger Cedeno is not the answer. Bernie Williams, a switch-hitter, is available as a free agent, but whether the Dodgers could afford both Williams and Vaughn is doubtful.

Free agent Steve Finley, a left-handed hitter, would be less expensive, as would the switch-hitting Devon White, another free agent. Another possibility: Sending Karros and Ismael Valdes to the Angels for left-handed hitting Jim Edmonds.

4. A rotation without a No. 1 pitcher needs help. However, Kevin Brown and Randy Johnson seem to be out of the financial picture, and Malone seems to believe that the acquisition of a left-handed hitter or hitters is more critical. The free-agent market features a variety of No. 2 or 3 caliber pitchers--Al Leiter and Todd Stottlemyre among them--and the Dodgers figure to be shopping.

5. The middle infield situation has to be addressed. Mark Grudzielanek is a liability, particularly next to Eric Young. Jose Vizcaino, the better defensive shortstop, is still on crutches, the result of his second-half ankle injury. Combined with the uncertainty at third base, where the Dodgers would prefer to have a left-handed hitter if they can’t fill that need at either first base or center field, there is no easy answer.

6. The bench and bullpen have to be improved.

“I still believe that the [overall] nucleus is pretty good, but the periphery players last year weren’t championship caliber,” Malone said. “You look at the Yankees and they’re a complete team. Glenn Hoffman did a great job [after replacing Bill Russell as manager], but he didn’t have the weapons. We have to diversify, balance out. Davey is a master strategist, but he has to be able to match up in the late innings. He can’t be limited by the bench or bullpen.”

The Yankees have a payroll of more than $70 million, with a significant part of that budgeted for those periphery players. The Dodger payroll is headed over $60 million, but none of the needs and plans matter much unless the new management team can defuse the combustible outfield situation in which Sheffield, who is guaranteed $50 million over the next five years, agrees to move to left so that Mondesi, who will be in the second year of a four-year, $36-million contract and doesn’t want to play center again, can return to right, where he figures that he is more apt to win a Gold Glove.

Sheffield, however, has indicated that he doesn’t want to play left and may not have the same desire to stay if Bonilla goes.

Can he be benched at $10 million a year? Traded? Can Bonilla?

Speaking generally Friday, Malone said, “The inmates will not run this asylum.”

The Dodgers have a tough new custodian in Davey Johnson, who understands that it will take more than diplomacy.