Dreifort Scenario Is Still Worth-Case

Say what you want about Darren Dreifort.

But do not say he has been affected by the money.

He was as erratic at $3.7 million as he is at $55 million.

Scary pitcher then, scary pitcher now.

The money makes the nights longer and the howls louder, but the plot is the same.

A 4-5 record with a 4.84 earned-run average after 14 starts last year.

A 4-6 record with a 4.95 ERA after 14 starts this year.

Five good innings, two lousy ones.

For seven long years.

The shame is not that Dreifort has thus far been incapable of helping the Dodgers when they need him most.

The shame is that the Dodgers ever thought he could.

“If he pitches the second half of this season like he did last year, then he will be worth the money,” Chairman Bob Daly acknowledged Saturday. “But if he keeps pitching the way he’s pitching now, we overpaid him.”

Say this much about Daly.

He handles a bases-loaded, none-out situation better than his enigma.

Daly stood behind home plate before the Dodgers’ 6-2 loss to San Diego and faced the dirge of what could be the most boneheaded move of his two seasons.

“I’m not blaming this on Kevin Malone or anybody else,’ he said. “I’m taking responsibility.”.

Daly said, however, that he has not given up on Dreifort, who tries today against San Diego to stop this very public bleeding.

“I believe this fall, we will be glad we have him,” Daly said. “I believe he will come through, I really believe that.”

It’s hard to tell what Dreifort believes.

He wouldn’t talk Saturday, so we can only guess.

He probably feels the heat of being paid more this year than Roger Clemens, while performing like someone who would have been shipped to Columbus.

“I think he’s feeling a tremendous amount of pressure, everybody writing about his contract every day,” Daly said. “I talk to him. I see his face. It’s like, I’m disappointing you.”

He probably feels confused about a three-game streak in which he has struggled twice against the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks. While knowing that his $11-million salary is also more than that of Curt Schilling.

“I don’t think a tremendous amount of this is physical,” Manager Jim Tracy said.

He probably also is fretting over his tendency of struggling against left-handed hitters, against late-inning hitters, against clutch hitters.

Not to mention, struggling against all hitters before the All-Star break, when his career ERA is a full point higher than afterward.

“As far as I know, there are two ways to go about fixing a recurring problem,” pitching coach Jim Colborn said. “Sometimes just defining the problem can help. Or, you can get all psychological about it, start peeling layers off the onion, see if something is short-circuiting.”

And what approach is Colborn taking?

“I think the glass is half full,” he said, smiling. “I think this is a great pitcher going through something too unusual to continue all of his life. I’ve never heard of that happening.”

Jim Colborn, meet Tim Belcher.

And while one might admire this old-school coach for insisting that the glass is half full, you must also wonder if that glass is colored in roses.

At the time Dreifort signed his $55-million contract in December, he had a career record of 39-45 with a 4.28 ERA.

It was announced on the same day that Alex Rodriguez stunned the sports and business worlds by signing a $252-million deal with the Texas Rangers.

Dreifort’s deal made less sense. Then, and now.

That’s a lot of money that could have gone to a decent pitcher and a good center fielder, no? As the Dodgers sink slowly into the National League West standings, that looks like a lot of money, period.

Daly explained it Saturday in the terms of his weekly celebrity poker game.

“We had to sign Darren on the come,” he said.

In other words, Daly felt they had to take a chance on him in case they couldn’t sign their other top young starter, Chan Ho Park, when he becomes a free agent this winter.

Why not sign Park to a long-term deal last winter?

Some said it was because industry heavyweights asked the Dodgers to chill after paying so much to Dreifort.

Daly disputed that, saying that Park turned down overtures and wanted only a one-year deal in order to have more leverage this fall.

Park’s agent? The same as Dreifort’s agent. The brilliant Scott Boras.

With him around, do the Dodgers really need a new general manager?

“We’re trying to think one move ahead here, and we needed to get Dreifort under contract in case something didn’t work out with Park,” Daly said. “Although we do fully expect that Chan Ho will stay here, because he wants to stay here.”

We certainly know where Dreifort will be, thanks to a no-trade clause in that contract, the sort of which Daly now smartly disapproves.

The Dodgers never had such a clause until Kevin Brown showed up. Now they can’t trade Brown, Shawn Green or Dreifort.

“A lot of players are getting them now, and that makes it tough, but it’s best not to do that,” Daly said. “In the future, we’re going to try our best not to have them.”

In the meantime, the boss can only cheer like heck for Darren Dreifort to suddenly become somebody other than, well, Darren Dreifort.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.