Dodgers Need to Join A-List

Let’s make one thing clear:

The Dodgers have no choice, no alternative, no option where Alex Rodriguez is concerned.

Whether it’s $20 million a year or $25 million, whether it’s for five years or even 55, the Dodgers have to try to pay the price--providing there are not elements beyond the finances that would create alienation among his new teammates.

The Dodgers already are spending a lot, but investigating Rodriguez makes dollars and sense--for two reasons.

* Rodriguez is the best player at the youngest age--maybe any age--ever to hit the free-agent market, virtually guaranteeing that the big-market team he signs with, a contender or close to it already, will be in the playoff picture every year.

* The Dodgers, despite chairman Bob Daly’s recent revelation that he has provided his Fox colleagues with a five-year plan, do not have a five-year window if they intend to win with the current nucleus and retain fan support.

For the Dodgers, the situation may have clarified some Monday.

The New York Mets, considered to be the team Rodriguez is most interested in joining because it would put him on the biggest stage in the same city where his pal, Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter, plays, pulled out of the competition.

General Manager Steve Phillips said that in addition to the financial demands in the Rodriguez contract proposal, there were too many ancillary demands that would risk dividing the clubhouse--demands the Dodgers should not meet as well.

They do not need to provide another player with a private jet. They do not need to provide Rodriguez with a private office for his own marketing staff.

Whether the Mets’ decision is unequivocal, as Phillips insisted, or simply a negotiating ploy remains to be seen. The elimination of the Mets would significantly narrow Rodriguez’s options, leaving, perhaps, only the Dodgers, Colorado Rockies, Chicago White Sox and Atlanta Braves--or a return to the Seattle Mariners.

Understandably, after bidding against themselves before signing Kevin Brown for $105 million, the Dodgers do not want to be used.

Understandably, with their credibility having taken so many hits, the Dodgers are reluctant to finish second or third in a high-profile bidding war, a reason they were reluctant to enter the managerial bidding for Dusty Baker or Lou Piniella.

Despite all of that--and the intimidating characterization of the Rodriguez proposal by Phillips--the original premise remains valid.

The Dodgers have no choice but to make a run at Rodriguez and hope they can sway the 25-year-old shortstop to modify the divisive aspects of his proposal and accept reasonable--if still record--terms.

Consider the factors:

* Beyond even his significant--and potentially historic--offensive production, Rodriguez’s most valuable impact for the Dodgers might be on defense. He may not be in the defensive class of Jeter, Nomar Garciaparra or Omar Vizquel, but he would be a dramatic improvement for a team in need of it.

The Dodgers made 135 errors last season, second most in the majors. Sixty-eight of them were committed by five infielders, 26 by the shortstop combination of Alex Cora and Kevin Elster, and 17 by Mark Grudzielanek in his first year at second base. The error total is bad enough, but it does not reflect the costly lack of range between Grudzielanek and Eric Karros on the right side or the limited range of Cora and Elster at short.

The acquisition of Rodriguez would relieve some of the defensive pressure on maturing third baseman Adrian Beltre, who made 23 errors; allow the Dodgers to move Cora to second base, where his range is a better fit, and permit them to try to trade Grudzielanek, who is owed $10.5 million over the next two years. That $10.5 million, combined with the saving on Todd Hundley, who has filed for free agency, would come close to paying for Rodriguez’s first year.

* With Hundley gone and the possibility that Chad Kreuter will be the regular catcher, the Dodgers need to replenish a lineup that still lacks the weapons to generate the little-ball attack that Daly and General Manager Kevin Malone felt former manager Davey Johnson was delinquent in ordering. Jim Tracy may try to keep the brass happy, but why force it when there’s the possibility of clubbing the opposition with a lineup that would put Rodriguez in the midst of Gary Sheffield, Shawn Green, Karros and Beltre?

Agent Scott Boras has supplied clubs with a 65-page resume of his client’s accomplishments and historic possibilities, but what more needs be said about a young shortstop who has hit 41 or more home runs for three consecutive seasons and who drove in a career-high 132 runs while scoring 134 with an on-base percentage of .420 last season?

What more needs be said about a young player who was so highly regarded by his Seattle teammates that there was no opposition to his role as Piniella’s liaison--on and off the field--during a season in which Ken Griffey Jr. departed but the Mariners still earned an American League wild-card playoff berth?

On a team whose manager will be making his major league debut and whose clubhouse chemistry has been an issue almost as long as its lack of a playoff victory, those leadership skills could be as valuable as his bat and glove.

* As the complete package, Rodriguez is a five-year plan by himself. The Dodgers have no immediate help in the farm system and are locked into inflexible contracts that make trades difficult. The team’s remarkably loyal fan base has grown increasingly skeptical about management’s direction, but Rodriguez represents a postseason passport for an ownership that is paying $2.5 billion to televise the playoffs for the next six seasons and probably wouldn’t care what the Dodger payroll was if it could showcase the team in October.

The bottom line is that it would do more damage to Dodger credibility to refrain from bidding for this future Hall of Famer and present panacea than to be used for financial leverage as Rodriguez works the market.

Of course, what about the Dodgers’ neighbor to the south? The Angels have a competitive team burdened by a gaping hole at shortstop. They have a modest payroll and an owner with the financial resources and marketing outlets to satisfy Rodriguez--or to at least explore satisfying him.

How does Disney justify General Manager Bill Stoneman’s recent comments that seemed to close the door before even beginning an exploration?

The Angels obviously need a veteran pitcher or two, but Rodriguez has the ability to compensate for a mound shortage in several ways--along with the youth and health, at odds with the Angels’ history of free-agent signings.

The signing of Rodriguez will, of course, produce a record, but the price for the Dodgers and Angels if they don’t make an effort may be even higher.

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Sweep for

Martinez

Boston’s Pedro Martinez unanimously won his second AL Cy Young Award in a row. D3