Dodgers Haven’t Earned Halos

Now that owner-to-be Frank McCourt has revealed his master plan for the Dodgers, I’ve put together a quick at-a-glance guide to Southland baseball. It’s pretty simple:

Angels=Lakers.

Dodgers=Clippers.

This should save everybody a lot of worrying and aggravation this season.

Jeff Baskin

Los Angeles

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I can’t wait to see the Dodgers announce their new marketing campaign for 2004, “The Season of Payroll Flexibility.” That’ll sure bring the fans out! Until Dan Evans actually fields a team worth watching, I think I’ll create some financial flexibility of my own and not renew my season tickets.

Jonathan Bock

Studio City

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Come on, Dodger fans, cheer up. Enjoy Dodger Stadium while you can, before the new owner and that wife of his turn it into a shopping center and build another corporate playpen downtown.

Greg Garnet

Canoga Park

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Los Angeles has spent years dealing with not having a professional football team. I never dreamed we’d have to deal with not having a professional baseball team either.

Robert J. Rossi

San Dimas

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Because prospective Dodger owner Frank McCourt is looking for loans from everybody except DiTech to fund his purchase, why doesn’t he just go to the guy who has no problem opening his wallet? Arte Moreno.

Paul Ollen

Lakewood

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I understand why the Dodgers did not sign Vladimir Guerrero -- there simply won’t be room in their outfield after they pick up Paul Konerko. I was glad we got Bubba Trammell and Jeff Weaver instead of Ivan Rodriguez and Greg Maddux.

I see the new and improved Dodgers finishing a game or two ahead of the Padres.

George Eazell

Placentia

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In the Thursday edition of The Times, referring to the owners’ approval of the sale of the Dodgers, Bud Selig is quoted, “We need the Dodgers to be the Dodgers, they’re one of our flagship franchises, but we have to be positive they’ll be operated in a manner that their fans deserve.”

That’s the best news we Dodger fans have heard in months, because it looks to me that McCourt can’t afford the chalk for the baselines.

We can only hope that Selig is a more honest man than Pete Rose.

Eric Monson

Temecula

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Good Lord! Just when I thought I had seen and heard it all, Bob Daly [Jan. 16] decides to speak his mind.

So Bob thinks that the Dodgers should fashion themselves after the Giants and reduce payroll to the $65-90-million range. Someone should tell Bob that there was a time when other teams fashioned themselves after the Dodgers, but now he thinks we should look at our Halloween orange-wearing neighbors up north for inspiration. Hey Bob, here’s a stat for you: The Giants haven’t won a championship for 50 years!

Hovel G. Sarkissian

Pasadena

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Dodger fans should be furious and very, very afraid. Their soon-to-be “leader” Frank McCourt asked Commissioner Selig whether baseball’s owners would object if the Dodgers made a free-agent offer to Vladimir Guerrero. With Guerrero now wearing Angel red, even Dan Evans can figure out Selig’s response.

Selig and his good old boys’ club are giddy that the big-market Dodgers are going to be monetarily neutered under McCourt’s cash-strapped regime. Besides, what really matters is that Rupert Murdoch benefited through expansion of his cable sports network, and now McCourt will make a killing with Chavez Ravine real estate.

I can’t wait to see Robin Ventura as the opening day first baseman.

Jeff Green

Long Beach

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Dan Evans actually made a good move this off-season in signing Bubba Trammell. Because the guy is already clinically depressed, he is a rare find for the Dodgers.

Harry Etra

Los Angeles

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Uh, Richard Hidalgo? Granted, he’s an upgrade from Brian Jordan (How did Jordan’s “chemistry” help the Dodgers score runs? Everyone had a blast in the clubhouse and went out and got shut out), but at $12 million? Hidalgo hit 28 homers with 88 RBIs in one of baseball’s premier hitters’ parks. What’s that in Chavez Ravine, 23 and 80? For $12 million?

News flash, Dan Evans: You could have gotten Vladimir Guerrero for basically the same price. I’m going to puke.

Kevin Webb

San Bernardino

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Born April 1, 1958: succumbed to deep frustration Jan. 14, 2004.

Longtime Dodger fan passes on to the Angels. May he rest in peace in the County of Oranges.

Tom Moir

Torrance

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If Walter O’Malley is the most hated man in Brooklyn Dodger history for moving the team west, then former L.A. mayor Richard Riordan must now rank as the most hated man in L.A. Dodger history.

Forget Rupert Murdoch and his brain trust of Peter Chernin and Chase Carey; forget Kevin Malone, Bob Daly and Dan Evans. It was Riordan who, while mayor of L.A., wrote the letter to Peter O’Malley, requesting that O’Malley stop his pursuit of an NFL team to play in Chavez Ravine and support the Coliseum Commission’s effort to land a team.

Since that letter, O’Malley sold the Dodgers, claiming he couldn’t survive in baseball without the additional income provided by a football franchise; Fox took over and traded Mike Piazza; Malone was hired as GM and was fired after making several catastrophic deals; Evans was hired as GM and has done little to improve the major league team; L.A. is left with a vacant ownership group that is unable and/or unwilling to improve the Dodgers and L.A. is still without a pro football team.

Nice job, Dick. Any more bright ideas?

Michael McAvin

Redondo Beach

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The best and most impressive new Angel in Anaheim is not Colon, Escobar, or even Guerrero. It is Arte Moreno, an owner with both substance and style. If only he’d bought the Dodgers.

Shel Willens

Los Angeles