The Dodgers Added Something, Didn’t They?

Rickey Henderson? I know the Dodgers sorely need offensive help, and nothing against Henderson, but isn’t that like applying a Band-Aid to a crack in a dam?

Brian M. Green

Long Beach

I’m so happy that the Dodgers are pleased with the acquisition of Rickey Henderson because he is the “best leadoff batter in baseball history.” But, if that is the only requisite, why not try for Ty Cobb? Shouldn’t be hard to locate.

Kerry Burnside

La Habra

Those who claim Rickey Henderson was tearing up the minors with a .339 average and .539 slugging seem to overlook his most recent performance in the majors, where in his last three seasons Henderson batted: .233, .227 and .223. Are we to believe that this is the man to cure what ails the Big Blue Whiffing Crew?

Oh, but we also got Jeromy Burnitz. Despite his recent past of never finishing over .250, Burnitz is hitting .274, which puts him third on the Dodgers. In the kingdom of the blind, the man with one eye is king.

The sad thing is that these guys with their questionable or diminished skills will still raise the Dodger team average.

Hale A. Antico

Santa Clarita

Given the cards he was dealt by Peter O’Malley, Fred Claire, Chase Carey, Tom Lasorda, Scott Boras and the Sheriff, I think Dan Evans has done the best he could. Bad trades and nontrades, bad signings and nonsignings, and burdensome contracts are the legacies left behind by this group.

This team is in the fix it is today because people felt pressured to “win now.” To give up a prospect or Odalis Perez for one bat would be sheer idiocy. Is one bat going to get this team into the playoffs? No way.

Evans should be trading for prospects, not giving them up. Let the farm system develop players. The Angels did. You won’t get Mike Lowell for Adrian Beltre, but you could get a couple of talented double-A guys.

The Dodgers dread using this term, so I will: rebuilding. From the ground up. Through the farm system, as other successful franchises have done.

And if I hear one more fan whine about losing Eric Karros (he stunk the last two years), I’ll scream.

Ned Shapiro

Mar Vista

Everybody has been taking potshots at the Dodger hitters lately, but I think we’ve got to admit they’re pretty smart. Just look what happened to Kevin Brown: 15 days on the disabled list because of a strained abdominal muscle suffered while running the bases.

David A. Johnson

Simi Valley

The player Pat Murphy [Viewpoint, July 12] refers to from last year’s Camera Day who held his bat out for the fans was Chad Kreuter, not Shawn Green. Kreuter was in a terrible slump (when wasn’t he?), and so he asked all the fans to touch his bat for good luck. Green shook my hand and those of many of the fans around me.

Shelly Maas

Newport Beach

Bill Plaschke’s column about Dodger hitting coach Jack Clark [“In a Scrape,” July 13] evoked sympathy for Clark’s condition and admiration for his determination to work.

But wait a minute! He is having dizzy spells and vomiting spells -- and he still drives? And on the freeway no less? Has he considered the possible consequences to himself and others?

Please, Jack, show some responsibility. (Or is that too much to ask of someone who rides a motorcycle without a helmet?)

David Datz

Altadena

As long as we have Jack Clark, why don’t we add Bobby Thomson, Joe Morgan, Reggie Jackson and Don Larsen to the coaching staff? This should seal our fate for the next 15 years.

Alan Oken

Hollywood

Who would’ve thought Shawn Green would have only nine more homers than Guillermo Mota at the All-Star break?

William Cheadle

Santa Maria

Jim Tracy is a victim of semantics. If he’d think of Eric Gagne as “fireman” instead of “closer,” the Dodgers might have survived the bases-clogged eighth inning against Colorado on July 11. Such misuse of Gagne is a Tracy weakness. Even a child smelling a fire knows enough to reach for the fire extinguisher, not a pitcher of kerosene.

George Feinstein

Altadena