Dodger Power Pack Lacks Juice

The reeling Dodgers have lineup problems from top to bottom, but it is absolutely unreal what has happened to the softest middle since Buster Douglas.

Shawn Green, Fred McGriff and Brian Jordan have combined for 25 home runs, which put them three behind Carlos Delgado, two behind Jim Edmonds and one behind Mike Lowell (not to bring up a sore subject).

The Dodgers, of course, continue to insist they can restore this power shortage from within, but how is that possible when ...

* Jordan, with knee surgery and free agency on the horizon, is already believed to have played his last game in Los Angeles?

* McGriff, still needing 12 homers for 500, has been reduced to pinch-hitting by a groin strain that hadn’t completely healed when the Dodgers brought him off the disabled list in their desperation for offense?

* And Green, amid mounting internal concern about the $39.5 million he is owed over the next 2 1/2 years of his contract, is averaging a strikeout every 4.9 at bats, a home run only every 37 and is giving new meaning to “Think Blue” with his wearied and worried body language that has no one mistaking his production for that of the player who homered every 13 at-bats and totaled 91 homers in his first two Los Angeles seasons?

Would the addition of one hitter help correct the paralysis?

Should Dan Evans even bother?

Of course he should. The theory that the Dodgers are beyond repair is fallacious.

The clock is ticking, but almost all of the second half remains, the starting pitching has held up, for the most part, under the offensive burden, and it is much too early to quit on either the division or wild-card races.

The problem, of course, is what it has always been:

The market may be bare of a Lowell-caliber hitter who could offer Green legitimate protection, and the Dodgers, amid their contract complexities, limited prospect depth and reluctance to go over the luxury tax threshold, may not have the resources to land a hitter of that caliber.

A Florida Marlin scout, expanding on his club’s decision to remove Lowell from the trading block, said of the Dodgers:

“I think Dan’s in a difficult situation. He has a couple young pitchers who caught our interest [Edwin Jackson and Joel Hanrahan], but in terms of Lowell it pretty much started and ended there.

“We don’t think Joe Thurston can be a regular second baseman at this level, and [Adrian] Beltre wasn’t a fit for us because he already makes too much, does too little and is arbitration eligible.

“I mean, the talent’s still there, but for me Beltre needs to go somewhere and start over again, and maybe Dan can convince the Cubs or someone to take him or [Andy] Ashby. He might have to pick up some of their salary, but that seems to be the only way things get done now anyway.”

*

Eating Salary

That was the only way things got done last week when the Chicago White Sox acquired Roberto Alomar and Carl Everett, and the Kansas City Royals improved their bullpen by landing Curtis Leskanic from the Milwaukee Brewers.

The White Sox will be responsible for only $150,000 of the $3.9 million Alomar was still owed by the New York Mets and $150,000 of the $4.55 million Everett was still owed by the Texas Rangers. Similarly, the Royals are paying only $150,000 of the $2 million still owed Leskanic.

The White Sox and Royals gave up a modest group of young players, but whether any could be considered true prospects will be determined by time.

Besides, White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams said, after acquiring Bartolo Colon in an off-season deal with the Montreal Expos, he’s been operating “with a mind-set for the right here and now, rather than looking down the road and pretending that we’re ‘Prospects ‘R Us’ and hoping we catch lightning in a bottle with young players.”

*

More to Come?

The Mets and Rangers are still trying to clear their rosters, willing to ingest more salary, and baseball officials say that Texas General Manager John Hart -- in probably a futile effort -- has been attempting to stir up a National League West bidding war among the Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies for outfielder Juan Gonzalez.

Of course, nobody knows if Gonzalez would waive his no-trade clause, having already turned down a chance to join a pennant fight in rejecting a trade to the Expos.

Hart reflected on that decision, said it is unlikely he will include no-trade clauses in future contracts and added that he didn’t understand the thinking by Gonzalez.

“I thought players would relish the chance to play in important games,” Hart said. “I guess I’m a dinosaur.”

Emerging Favorite?

There will be no decision by baseball’s relocation committee regarding a future home of the Expos by the initial deadline of next week’s All-Star break, but Major League Baseball thinks enough of Mark Broxmeyer’s interest in owning the Expos, if they are relocated to Washington or Northern Virginia, that White Sox owner and committee chairman Jerry Reinsdorf has invited him to attend the All-Star game in Chicago next week. A commercial and residential real estate developer in Long Island, N.Y., Broxmeyer has significant political and government connections and has hired Lehman Bros. as a financial advisor in his bid to own the Expos.