Deal for Dollars May Make Sense

There was a time -- not too long ago, actually -- when trading Eric Karros would have prompted all kinds of moaning about the Dodgers’ loss of character and identity. Now it’s simply a necessary business move. Nothing more, nothing less.

Sending Karros and Mark Grudzielanek to the Chicago Cubs for Todd Hundley is an attempt to create payroll flexibility, with an eye toward the luxury tax. Obviously it’s not an attempt to upgrade the roster. It’s about trying to move the big salaries and reduced output of Karros and Grudzielanek and, surprisingly, finding a taker.

It’s about ridding themselves of the combined $15 million Karros and Grudzielanek will make next season and taking back Hundley’s $6-million contract. Basic math here: $15 million minus $6 million equals $9 million to spend on free agents or higher salaries through trades.

This is a great move for General Manager Dan Evans if he completes Step B and takes advantage of the savings by bringing in someone else. Jeff Kent and Cliff Floyd come to mind. It would have been nice if this could have been done in time to get in on the Jim Thome dealings, but he’s off the market after signing a six-year, $85-million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.

(For the Cubs it appears to be an update to an old slogan. Now they can say “Wait till the year after next” -- when they’ll be free of Karros and Grudzielanek’s salaries while Hundley still will be owed $6.5 million.)

For everyone else in Dodgerdom it’s simply another sign that we have comfortably settled into the post-O’Malley era. If this had happened in 1999, fans would have bemoaned the loss of a team staple.

Karros, the UCLA graduate who hit more home runs than any L.A. Dodger, was just a Dodger guy. He was a link to the days when the Dodgers were family-owned and seemed to have a bright future.

Karros, Dave Hansen and Hideo Nomo were the three Dodgers who were around the last time the team made the playoffs in 1996, and he is the only one of the three who had been here the entire time since then.

Karros was the most visible, most quotable player on the team. I remember one time, after a tough late-summer defeat, the Dodgers had an on-field auction for charity. Karros came out of the clubhouse, signed his jersey and met with the bidders to help boost the value of the bids.

That’s why the fans liked him. That and the fact he had a six-year run when he had 30 home runs and 100 runs batted in five times.

But with his body breaking down and his power disappearing, he averaged 14 home runs and 68 RBIs the last two seasons.

He was taking up space on the field and the payroll. He didn’t give the Dodgers enough punch in the lineup and he wasn’t attractive trade bait.

Most fans were ready to see him go. The door swung wide open last month when Karros’ agent and the Dodgers struck a deal that would allow the Dodgers to buy out the automatic vesting option for 2004 if Karros reached 500 plate appearances. It was an opportunity for him to play the 2003 season without worrying about a front-office agenda every time Jim Tracy took him out of a game.

As it stood, he had enough disagreements with Tracy in 2002, especially after the manager began using Tyler Houston in Karros’ place.

Grudzielanek had his problems with Tracy as well. But mostly he had problems hitting consistently. He wasn’t a gaping hole in the lineup or in the field, but he didn’t do enough positive things either.

He was a reminder of that rough early period of the Fox era, during Tom Lasorda’s brief stint as general manager in 1998 when he made a series of moves designed to make the playoffs right then and there. It didn’t work then and it still isn’t working four years later.

Karros always felt like a throwback. Back when there was a dirt track around the field, not rubber. Back when the vendors sold Cool-a-Coos and it went without saying that the Dodger Dogs would be grilled.

At least this high-profile ex-Dodger can expect to be cheered when he returns to Dodger Stadium. Think about it: Mike Piazza, Raul Mondesi and Gary Sheffield left a bitter taste with their departures and all were booed when they came back.

Fans always found it tough to boo Karros, even as he labored through the last two seasons.

He didn’t force his way out of town. He didn’t blast management.

That’s the thing with this trade. No hurt feelings. No emotions. Merely an accounting procedure.

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