Costs Prompt Trade Deficit

At a time when pitching is harder to find than the Mars lander, the Dodgers gave away Ismael Valdes.

In the spirit of the season they made a gift of a still maturing, 26-year-old right-hander who was their No. 2 pitcher, consistently flirted with 90 mph on the speed gun and four times in five full seasons threw more than 196 innings, twice eclipsing 200, which is the new standard for durability in a pitching-diluted market and which only Kevin Brown, in addition to Valdes among Dodger starters, surpassed in 1999.

The Dodgers will say that there was ongoing concern about Valdes’ fortitude under pressure, that he tended to be too absorbed in his own statistics and frustrations and that there was a limited market because of his free-agent eligibility after the 2000 season, but this was a pure and simple salary dump--and a steal for the Chicago Cubs, who heisted Valdes and second baseman Eric Young for relief pitcher Terry Adams and two young players who have yet to break into the Baseball Register.

Put another way: The Dodgers obtained a setup man for, arguably, the best young pitcher on the market and a second baseman with limited defensive ability but who stole 51 bases (the Cubs stole 60) despite injuries.

Young’s departure--encouraged by Manager Davey Johnson, who tended to make Young a scapegoat for his team’s miserable season--leaves the Dodgers without a leadoff man or any appreciable speed.

Were the Dodgers bowled over by the offer of Adams? Make no mistake, the Cubs were the fit only because they were willing to pick up all of the $9 million Young is guaranteed over the next two years and were willing to take on the arbitration-eligible Valdes even though he had rejected Dodger attempts to sign him to a multiyear contract and could leave as a free agent after one season.

Valdes made $4.275 million last year and could go to $6 million or more in arbitration. Combined with the $4.5 million Young is owed in 2000, the Dodgers are knocking about $10 million off a payroll that was headed to $96 million, which at those numbers, seems a little bit like being penny safe and pound foolish.

“You can talk to every team at these [winter baseball] meetings,” Dodger General Manager Kevin Malone said, “and they’ll tell you that every decision now is based on dollars.

“We’re not meeting to discuss and trade talent any more as much as we’re meeting to discuss and move dollars. I’m a baseball man who has had to become an economist. It’s an industrywide problem, and we want to be part of the solution, not the problem.”

Say what?

Aren’t these the same Dodgers who have been feeding the industry escalation and who painted themselves into an economic corner with a series of costly and debatable transactions that started when Fox executive Chase Carey traded Mike Piazza?

Didn’t the acquisition of Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla and Charles Johnson in that deal immediately raise the payroll by more than $10 million without comparable on-field results and set off a chain reaction designed to rectify the Piazza trade and win back fans?

Of course.

Last winter, the Dodgers went on a $130-million spree with the signings of Brown, Carlos Perez and Devon White, and it was only a month ago that they signed Shawn Green for six years at $84 million, meaning they have the two highest-salaried players based on annual average value.

“A lot of things contributed to the situation we’re in and I accept responsibility for some of that but there were factors pushing the payroll in that direction [already],” said Malone, referring to the inevitable salary evolution of young players like Raul Mondesi, Darren Dreifort and Valdes, the $18-million signing of Young by previous general manager Fred Claire and the financial fallout from the Piazza trade--also consummated before his hiring last winter.

Now, Malone said, the goal in a market that demands a certain number of marquee players is to develop a team of greater hunger and cost efficiency. In that regard, he added, “if you’re going to pay a guy $6 million, he has to win more than nine games.”

That, of course, was a nice shot at Valdes, who was 9-14 during a season in which the Dodgers lost 13 of his 15 starts decided by one run and a 3.98 earned-run average seemed more indicative of his work than the record. He also has a career ERA of 3.38 that ranks 10th among active pitchers.

“I hate to lose Valdes and I hate to lose Eric Young, but if we had stayed with the status quo,” Chairman Robert Daly said, “our payroll is going to be too high and I don’t know if we’ll be any better. Now we have the [financial] flexibility that will permit us to continue to improve the bullpen and bench. In the long term, the only way we’re going to be successful and do it with a payroll we can live with is by feeding in some of the young players from our system.”

The reference was to Eric Gagne, Mike Judd and Jeff Williams, who will compete for the Valdes vacancy. If none of the three step up and Perez, owed another $12.5 million over the next two years, doesn’t rebound from 2-10, the Dodgers are in trouble regardless of . . .

1) Who bats leadoff, 2) How they juggle Mark Grudzielanek, Jose Vizcaino and Alex Cora in the middle of the infield, 3) Whether Todd Hundley improves behind the plate, 4) Whether White, guaranteed $9.9 million over the next two years, takes to heart a recent talk with Malone in which the general manager told him that a more aggressive and determined effort was needed, and 5) Whether Adrian Beltre is back at third base.

Terry Adams may help the bullpen but isn’t going to resolve all those other issues and isn’t going to replace Valdes.

“Kevin talked to a lot of clubs about Ismael but there were surprisingly few offers, and I have to assume that was because he can be a free agent after next season,” Daly said.

Well, said Malone, maybe they could have made a deal that would have brought more talent but it would have hinged on the Dodgers carrying some of Young’s salary or inheriting considerably more in the acquired player than the $736,000 that Adams was paid in 1999.

It was clearly all about dollars, but giving away a quality young pitcher doesn’t add up to much sense.