Lasorda’s Moves in ’98 Make More Sense Now

You knew that someone eventually would ask Tom Lasorda what he thought of the Dodgers’ performance.

Although his response to Times baseball writer Jason Reid’s question included less profanity than Lasorda’s famous one a few years ago regarding Dave Kingman, it was no less explosive. He spared no feelings except for those of Bob Graziano and Kevin Malone, his bosses.

All evidence to the contrary, Lasorda credited Graziano and Malone for putting together a team that should be a contender. It’s possible they agree because they made no moves before the trading deadline, although it’s more likely that, except for a couple of pitchers, there was no market for their overpriced, underachieving players.

Lasorda’s outburst leads to two questions.

What took so long for someone in Dodger management--Lasorda is the senior vice president--to call an embarrassment an embarrassment?

How might it have been different if he had remained as general manager after his short tenure as the interim last season?

The only thing we know for sure is that the Dodgers couldn’t have been worse under Lasorda than they have been under Malone.

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Whether they would have been better is anyone’s guess.

Glenn Hoffman might have remained as manager. That might have been an unpopular decision at the time, but the Dodgers played harder for him than they have for Johnson.

Lasorda, like Malone, would have done whatever it took to sign Jeff Shaw. The Dodgers couldn’t afford to lose him after giving up Paul Konerko and Dennys Reyes. Unlike Malone, Lasorda might not have done whatever it took to sign Kevin Brown.

Roger Cedeno, not Devon White, would be the center fielder. I’m not sure who would be catching. It probably wouldn’t be Charles Johnson, who was not impressive as a Dodger. It definitely wouldn’t be Todd Hundley, who was no friend of Lasorda’s friend, Bobby Valentine. Maybe Mike Piazza would have come back if Lasorda had asked him.

We’ll never know. Even if Lasorda had wanted to return as general manager, which he says he didn’t because of increasing age, 71, and decreasing energy, Graziano probably wouldn’t have given him the job after the Dodgers failed to make the playoffs.

In retrospect, though, Lasorda did pretty well as a general manager.

The Dodgers certainly wouldn’t undo the Shaw deal today.

Lasorda’s other trade is more controversial. Hours before the trading deadline, he sent Wilton Guerrero and two prospects, outfielder Peter Bergeron and left-handed pitcher Ted Lilly, to Montreal for left-handed starter Carlos Perez, shortstop Mark Grudzielanek and infield prospect Hiram Bocachica.

The trade for Perez doesn’t look so good a year later, a mistake that was compounded when Malone gave him a three-year deal. Perez is now the richest pitcher in Albuquerque.

At the time, however, Lasorda had little choice.

The Dodgers were 4 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs in the wild-card race and were without starting pitcher Ismael Valdes and shortstop Jose Vizcaino, who were on the disabled list. The trade enabled the Dodgers to fill both voids as well as add a left-handed starter to the rotation.

It didn’t work out.

But if Lasorda hadn’t made a move, he would have been skewered as was his counterpart in Anaheim, Bill Bavasi, who allowed the trading deadline to pass without trading and lost the American League West title.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

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Lasorda’s critics now say that he depleted the Dodger farm system. If all it took to do that was trade three players, Reyes, Bergeron and Lilly, I would argue that the farm system was already depleted.

Of the three, Bergeron appears to be the most promising. He is hitting .285 for Montreal’s triple-A team in Ottawa and started in right field for the U.S. team in the Pan American Games.

As for Guerrero, the Expos have discovered the same thing about him that the Dodgers did. For all his athletic ability, he has little agility in the field. Manager Felipe Alou is working on that by having him jump rope.

That reminds me of stories Ray Meyer tells about turning George Mikan into a basketball player by enrolling him in dancing lessons. Guerrero might never learn to turn a double play, but watch out for his hook shot.

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Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com.