Dodgers Facing Trade Deficit

Is there any doubt now that Gary Sheffield must be traded, that the Dodgers simply have to swallow hard, spit him out and get whatever they can for him?

Sheffield’s threatening, unrepentant trashing of Chairman Bob Daly and the Dodger organization in his comments Thursday to The Times removed any possibility of his return.

The obsessed outfielder--in the middle of a six-year, $61-million contract he eagerly accepted from the Florida Marlins and which made him baseball’s highest-paid player at the time--burned the last of his bridges in an incendiary diatribe representing the latest chapter in his pay-me-or-trade-me saga.

Face it, as difficult as that is.

Sheffield has won. He has forced the Dodgers to give him away. The Dodgers know it, and every interested team knows it.

If the Dodgers are unwilling to give Sammy Sosa a $100-million extension to facilitate a three-way trade that would send Sheffield to the New York Mets, then they are going to have to do the best they can, possibly defaulting on the 2001 season in the process.

Make no mistake: The Dodgers probably would not be able to replace Sheffield’s power in the best of circumstances, and now they are under duress with a capital D.

If Met center fielder Jay Payton and a young pitcher or two is all they can gain, that will have to do. A barren farm system can certainly use a pitching prospect or two, and Payton, coming back from three elbow surgeries that delayed his emergence, had an outstanding rookie season. He batted .291 with 17 homers and 62 runs batted in to finish third in rookie-of-the-year voting, demonstrated that his elbow is sound with seven assists, and could develop into a long-term leadoff man.

The Dodgers, who failed to keep Charles Johnson when they had him and failed to pursue him as a free agent this winter, would prefer to land a catcher of the Mike Piazza or Javier Lopez caliber. However, Piazza is off the board and the Atlanta Braves seem to be retrenching financially, meaning they might be reluctant to take on the $30 million Sheffield is owed over the next three years--in addition to his likely extension demands--unless the Dodgers accept the physically suspect and highly paid Brian Jordan in tandem with Lopez.

The acquisition of Payton would compound the presence of center fielders Tom Goodwin and Devon White, who has also asked to be traded, and create a potentially combustible situation for Manager Jim Tracy. However, in getting rid of Sheffield’s contract, the Dodgers might be willing to pick up some of either White or Goodwin’s guarantee if the Mets, devoid of a center fielder if Payton is traded, would take one or the other as a throw-in with Sheffield.

In addition, how would having three center fielders be any less combustible than keeping Sheffield, now that he has ripped the chairman after ripping his teammates in Baseball Weekly? Sheffield told Times beat reporter Jason Reid on Thursday that he was misquoted in the national story and would never rip teammates. He also denied demanding to be traded or asking for an extension, but there have been so many inconsistencies in his comments over the last week that it is difficult to sort them out.

Plus, former Dodger Todd Hundley, in an interview Wednesday at the Chicago Cubs’ camp in Mesa, Ariz., said Sheffield told him last season he wanted to be traded.

“It doesn’t surprise me that he’s asked to be traded,” Hundley said. “I’m surprised by the timing and the fact it would become an issue when he has three or four years left on his contract, but I knew he wasn’t happy and wanted out of Los Angeles.”

If Sheffield isn’t out now, Kevin Malone and the Fox administration will have made the most shocking decision of a tenure riddled by shocks.