DODGERS REPORT

The Fort McDowell, Ariz., Indian Community does not plan to include housing in its next proposal to the Dodgers, and the club official coordinating the bidding for spring training sites said the absence of housing could sway the team toward staying at its longtime Florida home.

“If we’ve got housing in Vero Beach right now, it would be difficult to justify moving to a location where we don’t have it,” said Fred Coons, the Dodgers’ director of business development.

Officials at Fort McDowell and Vero Beach are preparing new proposals for the Dodgers, scaling back in each case because expected tax revenues failed to materialize. Vero Beach could offer to buy Dodgertown and lease it back to the team now, with the promise of renovations later. That would immediately relieve the Dodgers of the burden of paying property taxes, but Coons said the club would be hesitant to sign a long-term lease without a guarantee of future funding for renovations.

The Fort McDowell offer, which must first be approved by the tribal council, could invite the team to contribute to the construction of a training complex and make its money back by developing adjacent land.

“We’re a baseball team. We’re not developers,” Coons said.

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After the Dodgers fired pitching coach Charlie Hough on May 26, critics pointed out that the difference between the end of last season and the start of this season was not Hough but catcher Charles Johnson.

Hough and Johnson were here last summer, when Park, Darren Dreifort and Carlos Perez pitched better. Johnson, who won his fourth Gold Glove award last season, was traded for the supposedly better offense of catcher Todd Hundley.

So far, Johnson is better on offense and defense.

Johnson is batting .265 with 11 home runs for the Baltimore Orioles, and he had thrown out 33% of opposing baserunners. Hundley is batting .226 with seven homers. He has thrown out 14% of opposing runners.

But wait, says Dodger Manager Davey Johnson. The Dodgers have rookie Angel Pena, whom Johnson says can be a better catcher than the departed Johnson.

“That’s one of the reasons we traded Charles Johnson,” the Dodger manager said. “We felt this guy has a chance to be every bit as good defensively as Charles Johnson and has a higher ceiling offensively.”