Dodger Management Can’t Afford to Forgive and Forget

So now, all of a sudden, after virtually destroying the Dodger spring, Gary Sheffield would like to stay and is rescinding his trade request?

So now, having ripped everyone from Chairman Bob Daly to equipment manager Dave Wright, he claims to have suddenly awakened to how much his cherished teammates want him in the clubhouse and need him on the field?

Of course, and here’s an idea: When Adrian Beltre has that abdominal surgery, maybe the Dodgers can get a package rate and secure a lobotomy for Sheffield. Is this guy delusional, or what?

I mean, it was only a few minutes ago that he was saying he didn’t think he could perform at full capability if he remained with the Dodgers, rekindling memories of his early years in Milwaukee when he intentionally played badly to force a trade.

I mean, it was only a few minutes ago he was asking for a lifetime extension at a time when he still has four years remaining on his current contract, extending the list of teams he would accept being traded to, calling Daly deceitful for spinning him as the villain and ripping teammates and their overpriced contracts in a national publication--claiming later, of course, he was misquoted.

Now, all is forgiven? Now, he is willing to embrace teammates and the organization?

Well, if Daly and staff swallow a last vestige of pride and retain the left fielder in the hope he can hit another 43 homers and help justify that $110-million payroll, they will deserve all that they have coming, which is likely to include a fractured clubhouse, a summer of fan malevolence and the decision--on third thought--that he really does want to be traded.

It’s this simple: Sheffield has to go. To believe all would be serene if he stays is to believe, as noted before, the leopard can change his spots.

A trade under duress is never easy. Sheffield’s litany of inane comments has polluted the market. The situation has been complicated by General Manager Kevin Malone’s attempt to package him with the high-salaried and defensively challenged Mark Grudzielanek (“I told Kevin that we prefer our middle infielders to be able to catch the ball,” said a National League general manager who otherwise had some interest in Sheffield) and by Malone’s concern over his own uncertain job status, fear that the 2001 season will be destroyed if he doesn’t get fair or comparable value in return.

It’s too late for that, of course. Malone has to get what he can get, even if it means two or three prospects to replenish a barren farm system and brighten the future.

Foreclosing on the season is healthier in the long run than turning the asylum over to an inmate who may have recognized that it didn’t appear he would get to the three clubs he most wanted to and it was time to repair his bridges. Believe him now is to flirt with the fire that burned them down.