A Jekyll and Hyde Look at Dan Evans

I don’t get it. Just what did Dan Evans do to become the hands-down choice for the Dodgers’ general manager job? Based on his performances during the season and in last week’s winter meetings, I’d say he’s no more qualified than Kevin Malone, no more respected, and, certainly, no less arrogant. What kind of a jerk simply doesn’t bother to return phone calls? You’d think he was in the entertainment industry.

I admit it’s early, but clearly, no one around the majors takes him seriously. Oakland’s Billy Beane played him like a cheap harmonica and we heard how the Reds’ GM Bowden treated him. And as far as his prospective deals, can someone tell me how replacing Sheffield and Shaw with Jermaine Dye and Billy Koch would’ve made the team better? What about center field, Dan? Who’s our leadoff hitter? I hear Park is going to sign with Texas, so who are our starting pitchers? Who’s going to play first?

How about shortstop? Hey, what about a closer? ... What’s that? You’ll call me back? I’ll wait by the phone.

Lupe Gomez

Los Angeles

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The weekly Sports Viewpoint has been loaded with correspondence really letting new Dodger GM Dan Evans have it, while not printing a single letter in his defense. Until now.

Evans is a terrific choice for GM, shrewd, savvy and he knows the value of a dollar. He’s a young first-time GM whom bozos like the Reds’ Jim Bowden thought they could embarrass into an advantage at the bargaining table. Didn’t happen. Evans maintained his class and dignity, and now it’s Bowden who looks like the chump. And it seems he’s not breaking his neck to answer Scott Boras’ or any other agents and even a few GM’s phone messages. Good. In his own way, he’s telling everyone that he’s now in charge and he’s beholden to no one, especially not Scott Boras.

This is wonderfully healthy for the club.

The Dodgers needed the opposite of spendthrift bull-in-a-china-shop Kevin Malone, and that’s who they got, a financially conservative, common-sense guy whose trades since early last year all made sense, at least on paper. It’s not Evans’ fault that players who had been solid throughout their careers tanked as soon as they donned Dodger uniforms.

His trade for all-star reliever Paul Quantrill and hot prospect shortstop Cesar Itzuris also appears solid, even if he had to give up the promising Luke Prokopec. Do I wish he could have somehow turned the now-dead Oakland deal into the Angel deal, offering Sheffield, Prokopec and Trombley for Darin Erstad, Troy Percival and another player? You bet I do.

Hopefully he’ll be able to trade Sheffield somewhere, and for excellent market value.

No, I don’t understand all the criticism, not at all. Dan Evans is the perfect Dodger GM at the exact right time.

Steve Smith

San Gabriel

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In the Quotebook column on Dec. 17, Lou Piniella says “The Yankees treated the winter meetings like a trip to Neiman Marcus.”

For Dodger and Angel fans, it was like a trip to the Five & Dime.

Marc Gerber

Malibu

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A Dodger Christmas Carol:

There once were three unsavory men named Rupert “Potter” Murdoch , Bob “Scrooge” Daly and Dan “the Grinch” Evans. These ogres teamed up to rob a great town of its once-proud franchise. They took advantage of the knowledge that no matter what evil they did, all the Whos in Whoville would still pour out of their houses to gather at the Ravine.

Murdoch destroyed the team with his hunger for power and prestige. Daly crushed it with his miserable miserly ways, and Evans took it down another notch with arrogance and ignorance.

On Christmas Eve, these three villains were visited by the ghost of Jackie Robinson. He chastised them for forgetting the true meaning of Dodger baseball, and warned them they would be haunted that night by three spirits:

The Ghost of Dodger Fan Past showed them class and integrity. He showed them World Series titles, league titles, and division titles throughout the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. He showed them shrewd ownership, great farm systems and great pitching. He showed them teams with hustle and heart that knew how to play the game.

The Ghost of Dodger Fan Present showed them a disintegrating organization--a club destroyed by shortsightedness, greed, complacency and stupidity, a club that is no longer taken seriously around baseball and one that takes its loyal fans for granted. He showed ever-rising ticket prices for an ever-worsening product. He showed them a picture of fading hope.

The Ghost of Dodger Fans Yet to Come showed them a Sunday afternoon game at Dodger Stadium in mid-July, with fewer than 10,000 people on hand. He showed them a perennial last-place team. He showed players like Paul Lo Duca and Shawn Green wanting to go elsewhere. He showed them a team and a game that no one cares about anymore.

Then, it was morning. I don’t know how this Dodger Christmas Carol ends. Do you?

Steve Freeman

Los Angeles