Dodgers Add Some Offense

The Dodgers made two major moves Monday in an effort to fill holes in the outfield, improve their inept offense and decrease the heat at Chavez Ravine, acquiring Jeromy Burnitz from the New York Mets for three minor leaguers and signing future Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson.

With left fielder Brian Jordan out for the season after knee surgery and center fielder and leadoff batter Dave Roberts sidelined because of hamstring problems, General Manager Dan Evans added Burnitz -- who appears to have regained form after slumping in 2002 -- and Henderson, a free agent considered by many the greatest leadoff batter in the game’s history.

The left-handed-hitting Burnitz, 34, averaged 34 home runs and 107 runs batted in for the Milwaukee Brewers from 1998 to 2001. Henderson, 44, is the major league’s all-time leader in runs (2,288), walks (2,179) and stolen bases (1,403). He also becomes the active leaders in hits with 3,040.

Evans has come under fire for assembling the National League’s worst offense and playing it cool while the Dodgers plummeted in the NL West standings, but he got off the sideline with the Burnitz and Henderson deals.

“It’s certainly been no secret that the one part of our game where we felt we needed a lot of improvement was our offense,” said Evans, working on deals in Chicago before tonight’s All-Star game.

“We felt we needed to bolster the offensive part of our program in order to have a better won-lost record in the second half of the season, and I think Jeromy and Rickey Henderson make us better.”

The Dodgers signed Henderson out of the independent Atlantic League, comparable to the double-A level, where he was among the league leaders for the Newark Bears. Henderson -- the 1990 American League MVP -- was unavailable for comment on joining his ninth team in his 25th major league season, a Dodger spokesman said.

Henderson will be paid the major league minimum of $300,000. He is expected to play regularly in left field, which could create a logjam in the outfield and atop the order when Roberts returns from the disabled list.

Despite playing in only 65 games after spending part of the season on the disabled list because of a broken hand, Burnitz batted .274 with 18 homers, 45 RBIs and a .581 slugging percentage for the Mets in the first half. Although right field is his best position, Burnitz has agreed to play center and left to accommodate right fielder Shawn Green.

Burnitz expressed enthusiasm about the trade, believing he has received “his biggest opportunity ever.” “I’m totally excited,” said Burnitz, who was born in Westminster and makes his off-season home in Poway.

“I played for the Brew Crew [Brewers] and Mets when we were struggling, so to have an opportunity to go to a club that has a shot at the playoffs ... it’s hard for me to explain what it means.” Players applauded Evans’ efforts to jump-start a third-place team that goes into the break in a 5-15 freefall, and trails the leading San Francisco Giants by 7 1/2 games in the NL West after being tied atop the division as late as June 22.

“Jeromy is having a good year and he’ll provide some more offense, which is obviously what we need,” said struggling No. 3 batter Green, who the Dodgers hope benefits most from Burnitz’s presence.

“I think he’ll take pressure off of everybody, because he’s a guy who can hit the ball out of the park. It’s definitely nice to have another guy in the lineup who can drive guys in, especially with all the injuries.

“With Rickey, you’re talking about the greatest leadoff hitter in history. At this point, we need to try to come up with something that works. Hopefully, this will.”

Whether Burnitz and Henderson can do enough to enliven the moribund offense remains to be seen, though Evans believes getting the veteran outfielders is a good start.

And the makeover on offense might continue until the July 31 nonwaiver trading deadline, because the Dodgers are finally facing reality.

“We acquired a solid run-producer and a middle-of-our order hitter, and we also added one of the game’s all-time greatest players,” Evans said. “These two guys can only make us better.”

In exchange for Burnitz, the payroll-slashing Mets received double-A infielder Victor Diaz, double-A pitcher Joselo Diaz and Class-A pitcher Kole Strayhorn. The Dodgers completed the deal without trading top pitching prospects Edwin Jackson and Greg Miller, keys in Evans’ long-range plan for franchise.

The Dodgers and Mets did not discuss financial terms of the trade, but two baseball executives said the Dodgers are responsible for only about $2 million of the remainder of Burnitz’s $11.5 million salary this season. And under the terms of his three-year, $25.3-million deal, which ends this season, Burnitz is owed another $500,000 from the Mets as a result of being traded, one of the executives said.

The financial structure of the deal helped the Dodgers remain below the $117-million luxury tax threshold, adding only about $500,000 to the payroll, a team official said.

Manager Jim Tracy has often been handcuffed on offense, and the Dodgers expect Burnitz to help liberate their field leader.

“We’ve been swinging better the last five games, but to have someone like Jeromy in the lineup is a big boost,” catcher Paul Lo Duca said. “He can hit. He could always hit.”

Burnitz does not view himself as a savior, but he understands the situation.

“The ultimate goal is for me to show up, just go crazy, hope it rubs off on everyone and the team goes to the World Series,” he said. “That’s obviously what everyone wants to happen, but I’ll only evaluate myself on the execution of my plan [at the plate] each day.

“I had the worst year of my career [.215, 19 homers, 135 strikeouts] in New York last year, so you’re pretty much exposed on all fronts when that happens there. I’m not going to worry about the expectations, I’m just going to try to have one good at-bat at a time.”

But even major contributions from Burnitz and Henderson won’t be enough unless everyone does more after the All-Star break, Green said.

“The guys who were here, we all have to do a lot better,” he said.

“If we’re going to go from being a bad offense to a good one, we’re going to need a lot more than one or two guys to pick up the slack.”

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*--* It’s in the Numbers A look at some key statistics for Jeromy Burnitz and Rickey Henderson: JEROMY BURNITZ What Burnitz has averaged per 162 games in his career: BATTING AVERAGE 253 ON-BASE PERCENTAGE 355 SLUGGING PERCENTAGE 488 DOUBLES 30 HOME RUNS 30 RUNS BATTED IN 94 WALKS 79 STRIKEOUTS 135 RICKEY HENDERSON A look at Henderson’s numbers with Boston last season: AT-BATS 179 RUNS 40 HITS 40 HOME RUNS 5 RUNS BATTED IN 16 STEALS 8 WALKS 38 BATTING AVERAGE 279 ON-BASE PERCENTAGE 402

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