Sheffield Is Living in Peace

Gary Sheffield is back at Dodger Stadium this weekend, and each waggle of his bat will serve as a reminder that the Dodgers could use him.

Not any old Sheffield, but this one: the 2K2 version, happy and productive, apologetic and nonconfrontational. He has no interest in revisiting the acrimonious days in Dodgertown; he doesn’t care if the fans boo him every at-bat.

“There’s more important things to think about,” Sheffield said. “I’m just wearing another uniform. I’ve been on other teams before. I have to approach it the same way.”

There are more important things.

His wife, DeLeon, could deliver their baby any day now. (The Braves’ public-relations director keeps Sheffield’s cell phone with him during the games in case the big call comes.)

His new team has the best record in baseball and is leaving National League East rivals so far behind that the Expos, Phillies, Marlins and Mets probably wish the strike would happen today.

And he’s putting in work at the plate, hitting .303 with 24 home runs and 76 RBIs. He had a run of reaching base in 52 consecutive games earlier this season.

It has all conspired to take the edge off his return to Los Angeles. He won’t try to discourage talk that the Dodgers are better off without him.

“If they’re glad I’m not there, then I’m not there,” he said before the Braves had finished their series with the San Diego Padres on Thursday. “That’s fine. I don’t have any problems with that. I do what I do. I just try to concentrate on what particular uniform I’m wearing that year. Just concentrate on that and not look back.”

If the fans want to say he shouldn’t have traded barbs with the team in the spring of ‘01--when he criticized the big contracts given to Shawn Green and others, blasted Chairman Bob Daly, and suggested he might not play well if he weren’t traded--he’ll give them that too.

He said his mistake was “fighting fire with fire, instead of just letting my actions take place on the field. Once we got in the war of words, I regret that.”

If he bumps into Daly behind the batting cage, he doesn’t think they’ll have much to say.

“When you think you’re right all the time, a lot of times that’s when you’re wrong,” is how he characterized Daly.

The Dodgers traded Sheffield to the Braves last winter primarily to get rid of his attitude, but they were happy to get Brian Jordan in return. It turns out their biggest benefit from the deal was the other player the Braves included, pitcher Odalis Perez.

Meanwhile, they miss Sheffield in the lineup. Green has learned to work with what he gets without Sheffield around to keep pitchers honest against him, but the Dodgers are too dependent on him. When he slumps, so does the team. There’s no Sheffield around to pick up the slack or provide another fearsome bat.

The Dodgers felt they couldn’t risk another year of Sheffield, especially as he neared the end of his contract, which will run out next year.

Why couldn’t Sheffield just have been like this last year? Does a happy Sheffield make a team a winner, or does a winning team make Sheffield happy? When it’s smooth sailing, he’s up on the deck. When the ship starts sinking, he’ll drill an extra hole in the hull.

Maybe Sheffield just seeks stability, like a kid whose family has moved around his entire life. This is the fifth team in his 14-year major league career. Sometimes Sheffield brought on the change, as with his first team, the Milwaukee Brewers. An unhappy Sheffield said later that he intentionally played bad defense for the Brewers.

He liked playing for the Padres, but they broke up a perfectly good team by dumping high-salaried players like him and Fred McGriff. He was happy when he landed with a championship-caliber club in Florida, but the Marlins slashed their own payroll after winning the World Series in 1997. That led to Sheffield’s coming to the Dodgers in the infamous Mike Piazza trade.

It wasn’t exactly Sheffield for Piazza, but Sheffield--not Bobby Bonilla or Charles Johnson--was the key component in the deal. That meant he had the task of replacing Piazza, the most popular Dodger of his generation.

It didn’t help that Sheffield held up the trade by demanding a contract renegotiation before he even got to L.A.

Things have gone more smoothly in Atlanta. On the first day of spring training, a group led by perennial All-Star pitcher Greg Maddux and shortstop Mark DeRosa led an impromptu group that gathered around Sheffield’s locker and welcomed him to the Braves. Once the season began, he got in with his new teammates by hitting home runs in the first three games.

“He’s been one of the best players, he’s been one of the most popular players, all in one,” Manager Bobby Cox said.

The Braves struggled to a 12-15 start in April but went 39-15 in June and July to take control of the division race.

Although Sheffield does his part, guys like Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones keep him from carrying the load alone. And with the Braves, there’s always that pitching staff.

No team in sports has mastered the regular season the way the Braves have over the last decade.

“It’s a relaxed atmosphere,” Sheffield said. “It enables me to just go out and play baseball and not worry about the other mess.”

For Sheffield, the “mess” usually has to do with money. And even that isn’t a point of contention--for now.

“I have one year left on my contract, and I get to pick and choose what I’m going to do with my career,” Sheffield said. “And I’m going to choose wisely.

“I don’t even want to talk about it. The thing is, when I become a free agent, then I’m going to make the right choice. And it’s going to be the right choice for me and my family.”

The family’s about to grow. And he could double his total of World Series rings. Would that keep him happy?

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com.

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Monthly Report

Most of Gary Sheffield’s key statistics each month have gotten better as this season has progressed. A look:

*--* Month AB R H 2B HR RBI AVG OB% SLG% April 66 10 15 0 3 9 227 338 364 May 86 11 23 4 3 10 267 337 419 June 98 16 29 5 7 21 296 397 561 July 96 16 33 10 5 22 344 420 604 Aug 76 15 28 4 6 14 368 478 658 Totals 422 68 128 23 24 76 303 396 528

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POWER SOURCES

Sheffield is one of 17 players who have hit 100 or more homers since the 2000 season:

*--* Sammy Sosa... 157 Jeff Bagwell... 110 Barry Bonds... 156 Shawn Green...109 Alex Rodriguez... 137 Troy Glaus... 109 Jim Thome...124 Brian Giles... 104 Rafael Palmeiro... 120 Gary Sheffield... 103 Vladimir Guerrero... 113 Richie Sexson... 101 Todd Helton... 113 Carlos Delgado... 101 Luis Gonzalez... 112 Manny Ramirez...100 Jason Giambi... 112

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