Success at Top Will Be Bottom Line for Dodgers

Even if the addition of Brian Jordan and the return of a healthy Eric Karros and Adrian Beltre make up for the loss of slugger Gary Sheffield, the Dodgers, who scored the fewest runs of any National League West team last season, still have plenty of room to improve offensively.

That’s why Manager Jim Tracy and his coaches have put a high priority this spring on aggressive baserunning--going from first to third on singles, advancing on balls in the dirt, bunting, scoring runners from third with less than two outs, and hitting behind runners.

“Our hope is to take the little parts of the game, some of the intangibles, to another level,” Tracy said. “We want to incorporate situational hitting with aggressive baserunning, and if that turns the table for us in 10 games, it can make one heck of a difference.

“We were not very good at that last year, so we’re changing the way we think about it and talk about it.”

Tracy has told his players to use the exhibition season as a trial run, to not be concerned with making mistakes or getting thrown out on the basepaths, and the Dodgers, who were 29-29 in one-run games last season, seem to have embraced the approach.

“We’re not going to sit back and wait to explode,” second baseman Mark Grudzielanek said. “If we did things last year like we’re trying to do this year, we would have been a better team. We were really weak at that last year, and it showed.”

Jordan is more athletic and runs better than Sheffield, who had 36 home runs and 100 runs batted in last season but was traded to Atlanta in January. Beltre should be more of a threat on the basepaths now that he has recovered from last year’s surgery to close a wound in his right lower abdomen after a botched appendectomy in the Dominican Republic. Speedy Cesar Izturis could replace Alex Cora at shortstop. So, it appears the Dodgers have more team speed than last season.

But the key to a more productive offense is at the top of the batting order. Dodger leadoff hitters combined for a .306 on-base percentage last season, 15th out of 16 NL teams, and that includes 44 games by the highly successful Paul Lo Duca in the top spot. No. 2 batters combined for a .320 on-base percentage.

Grudzielanek, the primary No. 2 hitter, must improve his .317 on-base percentage, and whoever leads off--Tracy on Monday couldn’t even name a leadoff batter for Thursday’s Grapefruit League opener--will have to do a much better job of setting the table than the platoon of Tom Goodwin and Marquis Grissom did last season.

Goodwin hit .231 and had a .286 on-base percentage, and Grissom hit .221 with a .250 on-base percentage. Grissom had 21 homers and 60 RBIs, but he also had 107 strikeouts and only 16 walks.

Grissom, the 34-year-old veteran, said he’s too deep into his career to change his offensive approach. Though he’s willing to bat leadoff, he believes looking for more walks will affect his aggressiveness and confidence at the plate, and that would hurt his productivity.

Goodwin knows he needs to improve his bunting and on-base percentage, but he said he’s “not going to worry” about molding himself into the prototypical leadoff batter, a player who works counts and gets on base any way he can.

“Last year I was thinking too much instead of coming out and playing the way I can,” Goodwin said. “If that’s not good enough, we’ll go our separate ways.”

Despite the combined $8.25 million the Dodgers owe Grissom and Goodwin this season, one or both could be released before the season, especially if McKay Christensen, who showed promise in 28 games last season (.327 average, .400 on-base percentage), proves he can handle center field and the leadoff spot this spring. Dave Roberts, acquired from Cleveland in a winter trade, is also competing for the center-field and leadoff spots.

“It’s been well-chronicled what is necessary at the top of our lineup; we need people to get on base, and if they can take a walk, do it,” Tracy said. “I’m not advocating that our leadoff batter stand there and take good pitches, but we have to improve our on-base percentage at the top of the order.

“On most good clubs there is some type of catalyst. Whether that’s an average hitter who gets a lot of walks, a lot of bunt hits or ground-ball hits, it doesn’t matter.

“Just go out there and be a threat.”