Poor Play Could Lead to Trades

Dodger President Bob Graziano and General Manager Kevin Malone will meet early next week to decide whether to make major changes before next Saturday’s non-waiver trade deadline.

Graziano and Malone have said they would prefer to keep the team intact this season, but the Dodgers’ disappointing play against the Colorado Rockies may have changed things. Graziano and Malone hoped the team had turned a corner after winning eight of 10, but then the Rockies swept the Dodgers in the three-game series that preceded the trip to Arizona.

Graziano said Friday that the ballclub’s performance during the next six days will be the key factor in determining what happens before the deadline.

“We have to look at where we are approaching the deadline,” Graziano said. “We’ve said all along that we entered the season with a group of players we feel confident in, and the team has played the way we hoped it would right before the All-Star break and [immediately] after.

“But we have to be realistic about it. What I’ve told Kevin is that we have to sit down next week, see how far we are out of first place [in the National League West] and review what our options are.”

Their options appear to be limited.

According to industry sources, Malone is trying to trade struggling second baseman Eric Young because, among other reasons, Young has two years and $9 million remaining on his contract. Moving Young could help on two fronts: reducing the organization’s payroll tax and providing flexibility to pursue free agents in the off-season.

Malone has tried to package Young in deals with other Dodger players teams want, but his overtures repeatedly have been rejected. As for first baseman Eric Karros, seemingly always on the trading block, several teams have expressed interest in him.

But team sources said Graziano is extremely reluctant to trade Karros, under contract next season for $5 million, because he has a strong link to fans, has represented the organization well and is the team’s hottest hitter. Beginning play Friday, Karros was batting .295 with a team-leading 62 runs batted in. He was tied with Raul Mondesi for the team lead with 22 home runs.

Malone has received several inquiries about starting pitchers Darren Dreifort, Chan Ho Park and Ismael Valdes. But Graziano and Malone would have to be overwhelmed by a deal to trade any of them.

*

The Fort McDowell Indian Community made its best offer to the Dodgers on July 1, and tribal leaders want a decision about the organization’s spring training plans.

Officials have given the Dodgers two weeks to accept their $40-million proposal to build a 12,000-seat stadium, six practice fields and offices on a 76-acre site, with the Dodgers signing a 25-year lease. Fort McDowell is prepared to negotiate with other teams if the Dodgers do not accept the proposal for a new spring training complex on the Phoenix-area reservation.

“We’re in the process of doing our final evaluation of their proposal,” Graziano said of Fort McDowell. “We understand their situation.”

TONIGHT

DODGERS’ DARREN DREIFORT (8-8, 5.74 ERA)

vs.

DIAMONDBACKS’ BRIAN ANDERSON (2-2, 7.03 ERA)

Bank One Ballpark, Phoenix, 7 PDT

TV--Channel 5 Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330)

* Update--Dreifort has won his last two starts. The right-hander worked 6 2/3 innings Monday in a 12-7 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Dreifort had a season-high eight strikeouts in matching the number of games he won last season during his first season in the rotation.