Short-Time Solution

There is a theory that whoever plays shortstop for the Dodgers in 2000 will be merely keeping the position warm for Alex Rodriguez.

The Seattle Mariner star, like Ken Griffey Jr. before him, is eligible for free agency when the season ends, and of the few clubs that may be able to afford him, the Dodgers could have the biggest need.

Of course, there are limits to affordability, even for those big spenders from the West.

Rodriguez figures to receive $18 million or more a year. The Dodgers are already paying Kevin Brown $15 million a year, Shawn Green $14 million, Gary Sheffield $11 million and Eric Karros $8 million.

Theorists suggest the Dodgers will try to create payroll flexibility by trading Sheffield, but finding a taker could be difficult.

Sheffield will still be guaranteed more than $30 million after this season, has a no-trade provision either the Dodgers or the club trading for him would have to buy out, and he still carries an aura of trouble.

All of this, of course, is out of the control of Jose Alexander Cora, who is being given the opportunity to win the shortstop position and intends to eliminate that other Alex from the Dodgers’ thoughts.

He has set his heart and mind on it, although there was concern about his heart as recently as early February when, for the second time in four months, the 24-year-old infielder underwent a delicate procedure to tame a rapid and irregular beat.

“It’s natural to think your life could be in jeopardy when it feels like your heart is beating 1,000 times a minute,” Cora said, relaxing after a long session in the Dodgertown batting cages. “I read so much about EKGs and all the other tests that I feel like I became an expert.”

The experts call it radio-ablation. A catheter is threaded through a vein in the leg and into the heart, where, in the words of Dodger physician Michael Mellman, a radio signal is used to burn the circuitry creating the rapid beat. In some cases, the condition is handled with medication, but that can have side effects, Mellman said. Given Cora’s youth and occupation, the choice was to do something more definitive.

Los Angeles cardiologist Charles Swerdlow first performed the procedure on Cora, who had been experiencing the irregular beat on an irregular basis for several years, in November. Cora returned to his native Puerto Rico to play winter ball only to have the condition resurface, which is not unusual. The first procedure stunned the faulty wiring in Cora’s heart, Mellman said, but didn’t destroy it.

The condition has not returned since Swerdlow repeated the procedure Feb. 4. Cora, who was married Feb. 12, is not under any restrictions this spring. He will be monitored by EKG occasionally, but medicine is not required.

“The condition in certain cases can be lethal,” Mellman said, “but Alex didn’t fall into that category.

“Nevertheless, he would have been prevented from playing baseball, and it certainly would have been a distraction if it hadn’t been corrected.”

Cora brought a natural apprehension to Vero Beach, concerned that he might not be able to keep pace with his teammates’ training regimen, but he hasn’t missed a beat.

“It was all a little scary, but it put things in perspective,” Cora said. “We tend to think the game is everything, but it’s not life and death. I understand now that baseball comes after God and family.”

Which is not to say that Cora doesn’t understand the current opportunity. The Dodgers traded Eric Young, moved Mark Grudzielanek to second base and created a battle at shortstop among Cora, Juan Castro, Jose Vizcaino and Kevin Elster, who has not played since 1998.

“The competition is good,” Cora said. “It shows the team what kind of players it has. You either step up or break.”

In reality, the Dodgers want to keep Vizcaino in a utility role, view Elster as a triple-A insurance policy and don’t think Castro will ever hit well enough to play regularly.

Cora, a third-round draft choice from the University of Miami in 1996, has hit .121 and .167 in two brief trials with the Dodgers.

However, he hit .308 in 80 games at Albuquerque last season and will be expected only to do the little things offensively while focusing on defense.

“We think he’s ready,” General Manager Kevin Malone said, or as Manager Davey Johnson put it:

“We have several ground-ball pitchers, and he has the best range of all our shortstops. If we’re building on pitching, we simply have to be better up the middle than we were last year.

“I’m not pointing a finger at EY [Young] or anyone else, but we had to make changes. On the whole, our infield communication wasn’t good enough, and we had too many plays that weren’t made.”

Cora brings some instincts to the position.

His late father, Jose Manuel Cora, played semipro baseball in New York, scouted for the Texas Rangers and San Diego Padres, and founded the Little League in his son’s hometown of Caguas, Puerto Rico.

His brother, Joey, was a major league infielder for 11 seasons, a starter at second base for the Mariners, now a coach in the Chicago Cub system, and, as Alex describes it, a role model on and off the field.

“Joey was 5-7 but would run through a wall,” Cora said. “He was the same type player I have to be, a guy who gave 100% and got his walks, hit behind the runner, did the little things. I started playing with Joey and his friends when I was 4. I’ve played with the big guys all my life.”

Joey’s younger brother is now 6 feet, 180 pounds, spending hours this spring in the weight room and “confident I’m ready to take advantage of this shot.” “Joey told me to block out the pressure people will try to put on me and just go out and have fun. I’m working hard and playing hard, but I’m also relaxed and having fun. I always try to listen to my brother.”

Spring is for answering questions. Is Cora ready?

Heck, what’s this stress test compared with the one he hopes to keep passing in the cardiologist’s office?