Embracing Issues Good for Dodgers

Under a sky the color of their caps, amid a breeze that felt like hope, the Dodgers embraced some long-lost spring friends Tuesday.

Anger. Irritation. Fear.

They stalked through Dodgertown in the form of Devon White, who says he is angry that people think he was one reason for last year’s implosion.

Good. Because he was.

He says he is irritated that Dodger fans sometimes think that he doesn’t hustle.

Good. Because they do.

He also is clearly worried that he will lose his starting job to Todd Hollandsworth.

Good. Because he might.

After a year of living easily, the Dodgers apparently will take the field for today’s first full-squad workout full of something other than themselves.

Call it humility. Call it embarrassment.

Whatever, most of the balls are still in boxes and a $12-million veteran already is griping.

On winning teams, it is a bad sign.

Here at the former Camp Take-A-Nap, it should be cause for joy.

“There’s a little different feel this spring, a little more depth, and players are going to feel that,” Manager Davey Johnson said. “Which is good.”

The neck-craning started this week, as it should, with White.

After spending all winter hearing how awfully he behaved in center field last year, he walked in Monday like a spurned lover.

“If the organization is saying that Hollandsworth is the player to play center field, so be it,” White told reporters, later saying, “The bottom line is people might say, ‘Oh, they’re trying to light a fire under him.’ What the hell is that? I can’t even answer that.”

He added, “Somebody’s got to be the scapegoat. If it’s on my shoulders now, I can handle it, but I’m going to handle it on my terms.”

This is where he is mistaken. Like many on this team, White’s disappointing season cost him the right to have anything on his terms.

The reemergence of Hollandsworth last year has put center field back on the market.

The smarts and daring shown during his rookie-of-the-year season came back. A once-brooding attitude was scrubbed clean by injuries, demotion and maturity.

He played where they wanted (any outfield spot and first base) and how they wanted (with heart).

Now, health willing, he says he’s ready to do that for 162 games instead of only 92.

“This year I feel like the wraps are being taken off, the ropes are being cut, and I’m just going after it,” Hollandsworth said. “I feel like I’ve come 360 degrees.”

While Dodger officials publicly say center field is White’s job to lose, it is clearly Hollandsworth’s to win, particularly since Johnson has declared the center fielder also will be the leadoff hitter.

Although he started only 34 of his 92 games there, Hollandsworth played hard, and without error. He had a better on-base percentage (.345) than White. In 213 fewer at-bats, he drew only 15 fewer walks.

“Center field is a demanding spot, leadoff hitting is a demanding spot,” Johnson said. “It’s high energy.”

That has been Hollandsworth.

It has not always been White.

We know. White knows we know.

But he says we really don’t know.

White met with Dodger officials after his statements appeared in print Tuesday, then came into the media room to elaborate.

“People think the way I run, the way I move, I’m not hustling,” he said. “But that’s how I play. It might look effortless, but I work as hard as the next person.”

He said that last year he was struggling with a sore left shoulder, which has since been surgically repaired and should not impede him this season.

He said that his legs grew inexplicably tired during the middle of the year.

“People who say there is a lack of effort, that’s unfair to a player like myself,” he said. “All my career, I’ve played the game hard.”

But at age 37, can he play his kind of speed and slashing game hard enough?

The Dodgers are wondering, and White knows they are wondering, and this is good.

Last year, both Johnson and General Manager Kevin Malone were new.

Everyone talked about how fresh it felt. Everyone forgot how compromising it could be.

Neither man wanted to play their first scenes here as the bad guy. Neither man wanted to bump heads or flatten toes.

The players knew this. The players played this.

This spring feels different.

This spring Johnson has more depth. He has more role players. He has a beefed-up Albuquerque. He has a hammer.

White already has felt it.

“He brings a lot of energy, he’ll be totally prepared, it will be interesting,” Johnson said.

He was not talking about White.

He was talking about Hollandsworth.

An unsettling day here. A good day.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.