It Appears to Be a ‘Hole’ New Ballgame for Dodgers

Wasn’t it only a couple of years ago that the Dodgers boasted of the greatest hitting catcher of all time, five rookies of the year and a United Nations pitching staff?

Now, with Mike Piazza, Raul Mondesi and Hideo Nomo gone, only Eric Karros and Todd Hollandsworth remain from among five consecutive rookie-award winners, and it’s possible that the Dodgers’ only starting pitcher who doesn’t speak English as his native language will be Chan Ho Park.

Eric Gagne, a Montreal native whose first language is French, and Carlos Perez, from the Dominican Republic, are other possibilities, although not particularly encouraging ones--Gagne because he is young and inexperienced, Perez because he is, well, Carlos Perez.

You have to wonder how different it might have been if the Dodgers had been able to retain pitching coach Dave Wallace after the 1997 season.

Friends of his suggest that he would have stayed for a pay raise, although I’ve never heard him say that. He says he went to the New York Mets for a front-office position, a promotion, and because he wanted to be close to his home on the East Coast.

It’s doubtful he could have saved Piazza. But Wallace had great rapport with his young pitching staff, considered among the best at the time, and, even though he didn’t coach him directly, with Mondesi.

Maybe he could have prevented Mondesi from melting down last season.

As for his pitchers, Ismael Valdes, Pedro Astacio, Darren Dreifort and Park all stalled after Wallace left, and now Valdes and Astacio are gone too.

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Considering the exorbitant value placed on pitching, the Dodgers don’t appear at this point to have gotten much for either Valdes or Astacio. . . .

Eric Young came from Colorado for Astacio and is leaving with Valdes. . . .

I’m sure these weren’t the exact words used, but, basically, the Dodgers told the Cubs they would give them Valdes if they would also take Young. . . .

That’s not entirely fair to E.Y. It’s not his fault that he was overpaid. . . .

Young played hard when he played, which, unfortunately, wasn’t often enough in the last two seasons because of injuries. . . .

Dodger Manager Davey Johnson, presumably a good judge of second basemen, also disliked him defensively, an opinion that must be shared by the Cubs because they’re talking about moving him out of the infield. . . .

The Dodgers will have their seventh starting second baseman on opening day in the last 11 years. . . .

Valdes, who needs pampering--or at least understanding--might get it with the Cubs, whose pitching coach, Oscar Acosta, is, like Valdes, from Mexico. . . .

One knock against Terry Adams, who came to the Dodgers in the trade, is that he gets nervous when asked to pitch. That tends to be a liability for a pitcher, especially a reliever. But perhaps he’ll be less jumpy as a set-up man instead of the closer. . . .

If you believe gifted people are drawn to each other, one recommendation for Adams is that his closest friend on the Cubs was Kerry Wood. . . .

I don’t know how much Adrian Beltre would be worth on the open market, but the Texas Rangers have $16 million they were willing to give Todd Zeile over the next three seasons. . . .

With the winter meetings closing today, the Dodgers have question marks only at catcher, second base, third base, center field, two slots in the starting pitching rotation and in the bullpen. . . .

But you at least have a feeling they’re trying to find the answers. . . .

I’m confident that the Angels will do something some day. Meantime, I guess those deals for Valdes and Rolando Arrojo are off.

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Things change fast in the NFL. A couple of weeks ago, I was ready to name Mike Holmgren the reigning genius. . . .

Maybe the guard is changing. Jeff Fisher versus Tony Dungy in the Super Bowl? . . .

Who would bet against anything anymore? The way Jake Plummer and the Washington defense have been playing, would you have guessed that the Redskins would hold the Cardinals to three points Sunday? . . .

Let’s see if I’ve got this straight: The Redskins lead the NFC East by a game and Norv Turner reportedly is out; the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys are a game behind, and their coaches, Jim Fassel and Chan Gailey, reportedly have saved their jobs. . . .

Even if you don’t think much of the Cowboys, you have to give them an edge based on their remaining schedule--at home against the Jets and Giants and on the road against the Saints. . . .

Brett Favre had proved he could overcome just about anything at Lambeau Field, until he ran up against Ray Rhodes’ clock management.

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