With Core in Place, Dodgers to Assess Product

A laptop computer sits near the desk of the Dodger manager, who understands the value of the technology.

“I am not a nerd, but I have nerd tendencies,” Davey Johnson says with a smile.

He alludes to his having been both a programmer and teacher, but now, in his first spring with this touted and high tariffed team, he is eager to take more than a byte out of the Dodgers.

“I’ve been looking at reports about guys I’ve never seen,” Johnson says. “I’d like to draw my own conclusions.”

The process begins in earnest today with the first full-squad workout.

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“In a lot of ways,” said Kevin Malone, the new general manager, “this is really the beginning of 1999. We’ve been through the transition, turned the page on ’98. We’ll always be looking to fine-tune and adjust, but most of our major moves have been made.

“The way I look at it, we start to lay the foundation of the future [today]. . . . The pieces are in place. We’ve positioned ourselves to win. We have the potential to win. It’s up to [the players].”

Malone said he planned to deliver that same message when he and Johnson speak to the team before today’s workout.

If the pieces are in place, questions remain. Some will be answered in the five weeks before opening day. Some will take longer. Some are obvious, some subtle.

In an inflated industry, not even $80 million buys perfection.

The New York Yankees came close last year, but the ’99 Dodgers don’t appear to be the ’98 Yankees. And not even Dodger players, while generally optimistic, are certain what they have here.

“Should be exciting,” one of them said Tuesday, adding that he wasn’t sure whether that excitement would translate to a championship or soap opera. “We have the ingredients to produce either.”

The answers aren’t clear, but here are the questions that go with this Dodger team:

* Will a basically veteran group accept Johnson’s disciplinary edicts--which he is likely to reinforce in today’s meeting-- regarding curfew, dress and facial hair?

* Will the manager and general manager, both opinionated and strong-willed, work well together, agreeing on roster composition and player moves during the crunch of late March and mid-July?

* Can Kevin Brown, with all his intensity and focus, handle the scrutiny certain to accompany every start--spring and summer--stemming from his $105-million contract?

* Can the Dodgers, having engendered widespread anger over the generous spending by the new ownership and the brash comments of the new management, recapture a long lost swagger and sneer in the face of teams that will be coming hard at them?

* Can Todd Hundley--the pivotal player, perhaps--convince the Dodgers that he is capable of catching 120 games? Or will his reconstructed elbow force the club to turn to the highly regarded but unproven Angel Pena, who has yet to play in triple A?

* Is Adrian Beltre ready at third, where the only option is Dave Hansen, returning after a year in Japan and another with the Chicago Cubs?

* Will Gary Sheffield, appropriately shorn of goatee when he reported Tuesday, find health and happiness in left field, or will that walking time bomb detonate, considering that Devon White is set in center and Raul Mondesi in right, where Sheffield would prefer to play?

* Is Mondesi, who reported at a reasonably svelte 234 pounds, prepared to maintain his focus--on and off the field?

* Do the Dodgers, hopeful that their infield defense won’t betray a rotation that could be one of baseball’s best, go with the better hitter, Mark Grudzielanek, or fielder, Jose Vizcaino, at shortstop? And will they be able to trade one rather than putting the unhappy also-ran on the bench?

* Is the nomadic Greg Cadaret the left-handed answer in the bullpen, or will the Dodgers be able to trade Dave Mlicki or a shortstop for a proven lefty?

Championship, soap or something in between?

The beat starts today, prompting an excited Johnson to say, “I’m looking forward to seeing the whole infield together and the whole outfield together. That’s when my blood starts bubbling.”

Bubbling or curdling? One more question to be answered in time.