How About a Big-Hurt-for-Big-Hurt-Feelings Deal?

Now that the Tribune has absorbed The Times, the Chicago-L.A. link could be expanded by trading Gary Sheffield for Frank Thomas. That way each team would still have a malcontent, megalomaniacal misanthrope on its roster, just playing a different position. Because neither of these sluggers has ever thought of anyone except himself in his entire life, it would definitely represent “equal value” for Kevin Malone.

The logjam created at first base for the Dodgers could be easily solved by releasing Eric Karros. After all, Karros is unswervingly loyal to his employer, shows up for work on time every day without complaint, is unfailingly gracious to the press and the public and is a contributing member of the community. There’s no place for someone like that in professional sports.

ALLEN E. KAHN

Playa del Rey

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What Frank Thomas and Gary Sheffield fail to realize, or don’t care about, is that they are responsible for spiraling salaries that have dwarfed their large contracts. It is precisely because they asked for, and received, $10 million a year, that other players asked for $11 million, and then $12 million, and on, until Alex Rodriguez gets his absurd $252-million contract.

Frank and Gary wanted and asked for the security of long-term contracts, and got them. If they were willing to forgo this security, they could have negotiated yearly contracts, thus ensuring they would remain at the top of the pay scale (assuming their level of play remained the same).

MATTHEW KLIPPER

Hollywood

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Mr. Sheffield should get down on his ungrateful knees and donate his entire salary to the families of men such as Satchel Paige, Monte Irvin, Cool Papa Bell, Buck Leonard, Rube Foster, Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, and Jackie Robinson, for their having the fortitude to stand tall with such incredible human spirit, and prevailing against the hatred and abject discrimination of the times, therefore opening the doors for the riches the ballplayers that followed have gorged and spoiled themselves on. Sheffield has disrespected and spit on all of their memories with his narcissistic charade.

I’m sorry. I’m a lifelong Dodger fan, but I’ve lost all respect for Sheffield. The sooner he’s traded, the better. If I were the Dodgers, I’d ship him to the worst outpost major league baseball has to offer, damn the return on his “value.” His “value” will be that he’s not in the Dodger clubhouse any longer.

RUDY HIERS

Orange

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If the Dodgers had any guts, this is how they would handle the Gary Sheffield situation. First, pick up his option for 2004 because it is at such a bargain rate. Then sit him on the end of the bench for the next four years and see how he likes spending the prime years of his career pinch-running for a catcher late in the game. Sheffield has no trade value anyway and the Dodgers have shown that they can eat a contract (see Carlos Perez).

I for one have decided to stop attending all major league sports because of the absurdity, but I would come to Dodger Stadium to see this. It’s your move, Mr. Daly. Make him a “lifetime Dodger” and then “bury him.”

DAVID HAWKINS

Riverside

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I always wondered what it was like to be idolized and considered a hero. Frank Thomas probably knew. He was a guy who always exhibited class and professionalism while doing his job without complaining or brooding. In fact, you might even say I idolized him. But after reading comments like, “I’m not even probably in the top 50,” and, “I’ve never been greedy,” uttered in the same breath, it makes me sick to think this is someone I once put on a pedestal.

Do you think my parents, both of whom worked for 30-plus years keeping criminals off the streets as probation officers and parole agents, ever complained about not being “in the top 50,” even after receiving accolades and citations? I’m only sorry I wasted my time idolizing someone as selfish and egocentric as Frank Thomas, while I failed to notice that my real heroes were the ones busy raising me.

JOSH ENGEL

Los Angeles

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Todd Hundley’s comments about Los Angeles [Feb. 25] indicate that either Gary Sheffield is writing his material or he has taken one too many foul balls off his gourd.

According to Hundley, L.A.’s laid-back attitude makes it difficult for ballplayers to bear down and play serious baseball out here--not like Chicago’s authenticity and grittiness, which promote competitive play. If that’s true, how does he explain the Dodgers’ long history of success and the Cubs’ history of failure? L.A. was the first major league city to draw 3 million fans; we’ve won five World Series titles. Chicago hasn’t appeared in a World Series since 1945 and hasn’t won since 1908, when Teddy Roosevelt was president.

DAVID MACARAY

Rowland Heights

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Oh good. The Dodgers swapped Devon White for Marquis Grissom. Never mind that he’s a .244 hitter getting paid $5 million a year.

The Dodgers are keeping alive a recent tradition of finding fading fielders to patrol the largest patch of Ravine real estate. With Butler, Nixon, White and now Grissom, it seems the Dodgers have a soft spot for aging veterans in a position normally favored for the fleet of foot.

What, Rickey Henderson wasn’t available?

HALE ANTICO

Pasadena

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On Feb. 27, Bill Plaschke wrote “It was going to be [Maury Wills’] first time [at Dodger Stadium] in anything other than a Dodger uniform.” He then quotes Wills as saying “I thought about it, and I couldn’t bear to do it.”

Was Wills allowed to wear a Dodger uniform when he visited Los Angeles as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1967-1968? Sounds like more Dodger revisionist history to me, similar to Tommy Lasorda’s 50 years in nothing but Dodger blue, except for when he spent the 1956 season pitching for the Kansas City Athletics.

ANDREW M. WEISS

Studio City

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The Dodgers are expected to have the major leagues’ highest payroll this year, yet this is the first spring in a long time that I have not held some optimism. The entire outfield is questionable, we don’t have a proven catcher, our infield is promising but lacks any proven players at shortstop or third base and is certainly not known for its defense, and our pitching staff has only two proven starters. Where has all this money gone, and can anyone really say that it was wisely spent?

FELICIA BEISHA

North Hollywood

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Regarding the plight of Adrian Beltre, recovering from the emergency appendectomy and post-infection, I can definitely relate because I went through the same ordeal when I was 19, and I’ll tell you, it’s not fun. It’s one of the worst injuries or illnesses anyone can endure.

It’s a long process, and my only advice for the Dodgers is to get some help at third base for the next several months. Beltre may be able to make it back by late spring or summer, but I would guarantee his performance won’t be anywhere comparable to last season’s.

SCOTT BOYER

Flower Mound, Texas

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This just in on the sports wire:

The Dodgers traded Gary Sheffield to the Angels for Mike Holtz and other considerations.

Angel General Manager Bill Stoneman was quoted as saying that he would not spare any expense to make the Angels competitors.

Sheffield was quoted as saying that he was looking forward to being on the Angels, was willing to move to first base this season if necessary to help the team, and could restructure his deal.

Related stories: Pigs can fly, and hell has frozen over.

DAVID RODRIGUEZ

Rowland Heights