Dodgers Aren’t in a Rush

Everybody else is in the pool, but the party can’t start without the Dodgers, who are standing at the edge, still testing the water with their toes.

Paul DePodesta, the Dodger general manager, won’t rush into a 10-player trade he isn’t convinced will help his team, regardless of mounting pressure from the other two teams involved, the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks.

“I know everybody else wants it done and they are leaning on us,” he said. “There is a lot of uncertainty here. We can’t venture into something this significant with all that uncertainty remaining.”

The deal involves the Dodgers sending right fielder Shawn Green and pitchers Brad Penny, Yhency Brazoban, Kazuhisa Ishii and Brandon Weeden to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Five-time Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson and Ishii would go to the Yankees, who would send to the Dodgers pitcher Javier Vazquez and two top prospects -- catcher Dioner Navarro and third baseman Eric Duncan. The Dodgers also would get Diamondback reliever Mike Koplove.

That’s a lot of player movement. But it’s only the beginning for DePodesta, 32, in his first off-season as general manager. He is like a chess player thinking three moves ahead and will only make the trade if he is certain that the next several moves can be completed without a hitch.

Those involve at least one free-agent signing -- probably right fielder J.D. Drew -- and at least one trade, which DePodesta declined to specify.

Whether he emerges looking like a chess master or a novice depends on the outcome.

“There are a lot of moving parts here,” he said. “I have to be careful how it goes. We can’t be left naked by doing this deal as a stand-alone.”

Making the trade and standing pat would leave too many holes on a Dodger roster already rife with questions. Green is a proven power hitter and solid fielder who also can play first base. DePodesta wants to unload his $16-million salary, but because the Dodgers did not re-sign slugging third baseman Adrian Beltre, Green must be replaced by a hitter with at least as much power.

That’s where Drew comes in. He hit 31 home runs and batted .305 for the Atlanta Braves last season. But he is expected to command a high price tag, perhaps one that exceeds the $10 million average annual value the Dodgers offered Beltre, who signed a five-year, $64-million deal with the Seattle Mariners. Would DePodesta pay Drew more than he offered Beltre?

Also, by trading three proven pitchers -- Weeden is a minor leaguer -- and getting only two in return, the Dodgers must have another deal in place that would shore up the starting rotation.

“Frankly I’m not excited about trading away the players we’re talking about,” DePodesta said. “At the end of the day, we have to have certainty we will be better.”

The players the Dodgers would acquire have value, but any or all of them could be shipped out in another trade before Christmas.

Vazquez has excellent stuff and has been dominant at times during his seven-year career, but he fizzled the last two months of last season and in the playoffs. He also is owed about $35 million the next three years.

Koplove, a sidearm pitcher who made 76 relief appearances last season, is beginning his first year of arbitration, making him relatively inexpensive. Navarro and Duncan are considered the best prospects in a weak Yankee farm system.

DePodesta acknowledged that at some point this off-season he probably will have to overpay for somebody. The Dodgers already offered free-agent pitcher Matt Clement more than they had budgeted. Clement signed with the Boston Red Sox.

“There’s been a couple of cases of that already, and we didn’t even get the player,” DePodesta said.

While the Dodgers are trying to lock up Drew and come to agreement on spin-off trades from the big deal, the Yankees and Diamondbacks are growing impatient. A Yankee official said Sunday the deal is so far along it only needs Commissioner Bud Selig’s stamp of approval today before a 72-hour window opens for Green and Johnson to negotiate compensation for waiving their no-trade clauses.

Perhaps that was a subtle message, an attempt to push DePodesta into the pool. But he will dive in only if he’s good and ready.

“It’s probably up to us at this point,” he said. “Unfortunately we don’t do all this in a vacuum. Others aren’t working on our timetable.”

He also isn’t concerned about the perception that he might be overwhelmed.

“All that matters to me is determining what is the best thing for the Dodgers and our fans,” he said. “I can’t venture into something this significant with all that uncertainty remaining.”