Is Boras an Agent for Change?

Opening day, Kevin Brown throws a three-hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers.

“A great day for the Dodgers,” Jim Tracy says.

“It’s never a great day when you’re booed,” Gary Sheffield says.

First day of May, Eric Karros hits two home runs in a victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

“A great season so far,” Karros says.

“Not for everybody,” Sheffield says.

First day of June, Dodgers lose to the Houston Astros when Sheffield fails to dive for a dropping ninth-inning fly ball.

“Nobody understands,” he says.

First day of July, Dodgers lose to the San Diego Padres when Sheffield fails to run out a ninth-inning grounder.

“They treat me like a child,” he says.

First day of August, Dodgers fall into last place with Sheffield on the bench for the eighth consecutive game because of an upper respiratory infection.

He is joined by two players with nagging ankle sprains, two players who are mad after being disciplined for missing signs and four others who have quietly demanded to be traded.

“Lot of us around here have been sick since the first pitch of the season,” Sheffield says. “This team doesn’t respect anybody.”

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This is what you want?

I know Kevin Malone is desperate to save his job, and Scott Boras is desperate to save it for him, but this is what Dodger fans want?

A season built on a rickety bridge? A six-month journey on squeaky brakes?

A No. 3 hitter who also happens to be the team’s unhappiest and most selfish and emotionally unreliable hitter?

The Dodgers, having not been offered equal value and frightened of rebuilding with prospects, have all but given up the idea of trading Sheffield.

What happened Monday made it official.

Sheffield--or was it the Dodgers?--hired Boras, the team’s unpaid assistant general manager.

Sheffield says he is relying on his new agent for advice. But, in reality, the team is relying on Boras to keep Sheffield quiet long enough to start the season.

After all the money they showered on such Boras clients as Kevin Brown and Darren Dreifort, he owes them, right?

Once the Brewers show up at Dodger Stadium on April 2, the Dodgers figure Sheffield’s 40-homer power will make everyone forget the last month.

I figure his 40-mph hustle will make everyone remember.

They figure that his potential for 100 runs batted in will make everyone forget he doesn’t want to be here.

I figure that at the first scent of a clubhouse fire, everyone will remember.

The common thinking is that Malone is convinced he cannot have a playoff season without Sheffield, which means he cannot keep his job without Sheffield.

Which means Sheffield must stay.

Not for the good of the Dodgers, but for the good of their front office.

Now who’s selfish?

Here’s hoping Malone will not take the expected approach, but the noble one.

Here’s hoping this grass-roots baseball guy remembers that no team can grow into a winner with insubordination as fertilizer.

The Dodgers are not brimming with talent as are the Atlanta Braves or New York Yankees. They need a sense of purpose. They need each other.

Sheffield, if he stays, will be the anti-chemistry.

Dodger playoff hopes were slim even before Sheffield opened his pie hole.

The only thing that can be saved now is respectability.

If the Dodgers trade Sheffield for prospects and struggle, at least they can say they restored the franchise with honor, not to mention a future.

And if this younger but more focused team finds itself in a playoff race, it will make 1988 dull and trifling by comparison.

But if they don’t trade Sheffield? Here’s guessing the cellar will not just describe their position in the standings but the location of their reputation and credibility.

You think it can’t get any worse than Sheffield ripping his bosses and teammates in March?

Try listening to it when they are in last place in July.

And you will be listening. Sheffield will complain until he is making more money than Shawn Green and is more beloved than Karros.

This wasn’t even Sheffield’s first act of insubordination with the Dodgers. His first spring here, he threatened to retire before Davey Johnson talked him into apologizing.

Heck, it’s not even the first time he intimated that he might not try hard. Remember the young Milwaukee Brewer who said he made bad throws from third base on purpose?

What happened this year is not a fluke, is not unexpected and cannot be whitewashed with another apology or change of heart.

Bob Daly once said he cared about Dodger fans and tradition.

Here’s hoping he’s not the liar Gary Sheffield claims he is.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.