Former Dodger Zeile Wants to Come Home

Free-agent third baseman Todd Zeile said Saturday he wants to rejoin the Dodgers if they lose Adrian Beltre.

“I know how crazy this game is, and I don’t want to get my hopes up to a point that I would then be disappointed, but the idea is something very intriguing to me,” said Zeile, contacted at his family’s new year-round home in Thousand Oaks. “I didn’t think this possibility would open back up again for me, and having this whole thing thrown at me in this sort of fashion has got my head spinning a little bit.

“Like I said, I don’t want to get my hopes up and then it doesn’t happen, but I’m certainly excited about the possibility. I would at least love to have the chance to look at it very, very seriously.”

Zeile--traded during the 1998 season in the controversial Mike Piazza deal--expressed his desire to return to the organization after learning Friday that Beltre might be declared a free agent because the Dodgers allegedly signed him before he had reached the legal minimum of 16. The commissioner’s office will resume its investigation Monday.

Zeile, 34, declined comment regarding whether his agent, Seth Levinson, has contacted Dodger General Manager Kevin Malone, but a team source said Malone and Levinson have discussed the situation.

Malone is interested in signing the Southland native if the commissioner’s office prohibits the Dodgers from retaining Beltre, sources said, but new Dodger chairman Robert Daly must determine whether to increase the payroll to accommodate an unexpected free-agent acquisition.

Time is working against the Dodgers because the Texas Rangers are trying to re-sign Zeile, other teams are preparing offers and the Beltre situation might not be resolved soon.

None of that matters to Zeile at the moment because a window appears to have opened for him to return to the Dodgers.

“I don’t think it’s a secret that I did not want to be part of that [seven-player trade with the Florida Marlins on May 15, 1998] to leave the Dodgers,” said Zeile, married to Olympic gold-medal gymnast Julianne McNamara. “I made a substantial financial sacrifice to try to make sure I stayed with the Dodgers at the time I did sign [a free-agent contract] with them in ’96.

“The Dodgers were a perfect fit for me because I’ve always loved the organization and I grew up a Dodger fan. The ’97 season was a great year for me baseball-wise and a really fun year for me personally. I was able to finally live at home, take my son to school in the morning and be home in my own house, and have familiar surroundings around me, the whole season.

“Although I was very disappointed about the way things turned out for me there, I really held no animosity toward the organization. There were a lot of other things involved regarding Mike, and I realized that they had to do what they had to do. You just have to pick yourself up and move on. But do I still think it would be a perfect fit? Yeah, I do.”

The Marlins traded Zeile to the Rangers on July 31, 1998. Zeile--who attended Newhall Hart High and UCLA--has been productive while helping the Rangers win the American League West division the last two seasons.

In his first full season with Texas last season, Zeile batted .293 with 24 home runs, 41 doubles and 98 runs batted in. He filed for free agency after completing the three-year, $9.5-million contract he signed with the Dodgers.