L.A. Show Is About Nothing

Thirteen days, it has been.

Unlucky, unruly, unwatchable 13.

Since Ned Colletti became general manager of the Dodgers, a team has used minor leaguers and cash to acquire a top starting pitcher and veteran third baseman.

It wasn’t the Dodgers.

A team has acquired a power-hitting first baseman who is smart at the plate and great in the clubhouse.

It wasn’t the Dodgers.

A team’s new general manager has traded a popular star to acquire a championship center fielder.

It wasn’t Colletti.

Throughout baseball, managers have filled hot stoves and sold season tickets with talk of future hopes and heroes.

Not the Dodgers, who are in their 55th day with no manager.

Since Ned Colletti became the boss, only one thing of note has happened with the Dodgers, and somebody with the team apparently tried to hide it.

Two weeks ago, outfielder Jayson Werth underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left wrist, meaning he probably will miss at least the start of spring training.

The news didn’t break until a week later, when it was reported by Ken Gurnick of mlb.com.

The McCourts need more suspicions of consumer fraud like they need another house.

Was somebody trying to bury the news because Werth was involved in trade talks? Did they think they would see more season tickets if fans didn’t know? If Gurnick didn’t make a phone call to Werth, would anybody ever know until spring training?

“Anybody who has surgery, we should announce he has surgery, it shouldn’t be a footnote two weeks later,” said Colletti, a former flack. “I’m looking into it.”

He’s looking into many things, most of them containing dark corners and trap doors. The place is a wreck. Jim Tracy left it in turmoil. Paul DePodesta left it in chaos.

It’s going to take Colletti a lot longer than 13 days to fix it. We might be looking at 13 months. One lost winter could turn into another lost season.

Start with the manager.

There is one man who is perfect for the job. He is calm, smart, rational, and all this craziness would just make him grin. One problem. He now spends his summers in Pittsburgh.

Frank McCourt will never admit it, but had he not fired Tracy, the new general manager would have hit the ground sprinting.

Colletti would have had a veteran baseball advisor to help with trades. He would have had a veteran coaching staff to help with direction.

Now he has neither, as DePodesta alienated, lost or fired the best major league minds in the organization, from the major league staff to his super scouts like John Boles.

This is why Colletti is so enamored of Jim Fregosi. It’s not just about his managerial record, which is mediocre, at best. It’s about his baseball knowledge and evaluation skills, which are superb.

Fregosi advises the smartest organization in the game, the Atlanta Braves, and, like any first-time general manager, Colletti desperately needs that sort of trusted, veteran help.

By hiring him as manager, he gets two employees for the price of one. An understandable sentiment, but the wrong one.

Here’s guessing Fregosi couldn’t handle the losing, and would quickly tire of the battle, as veteran Davey Johnson did.

Colletti should hire a fresher face and try to lure Fregosi as a front-office assistant. He has three more interviews scheduled, with career bench coach John McClaren and two unnamed candidates. Whatever he does, he needs to do it quickly.

Having no manager makes it hard to pursue free agents, but this should not stop Colletti from making trades. Heck, the Boston Red Sox don’t even have a general manager, yet they made the trade of the winter by acquiring Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell and Guillermo Mota from the Florida Marlins for prospects and cash.

That brings this story to where all Dodger stories end up, at the money.

Colletti said the Beckett deal was too far along for him to intercept, but he has watched Marlin first baseman Carlos Delgado go to the New York Mets for prospects, and Philadelphia Phillie first baseman Jim Thome go to the Chicago White Sox for outfielder Aaron Rowand.

Don’t the Dodgers need a first baseman?

“The talent going back, coupled with the contracts, made those trades something I wasn’t inclined to do,” Colletti said.

The bosses in two other two-team markets disagreed. The guys who run the Mets and White Sox must have figured that the buzz was worth the money. With the Angels overrunning the place, the Dodgers need to start thinking the same way.

Maybe a team that didn’t need to sell tickets after a 91-loss season can afford to push kid first baseman James Loney and third baseman Andy LaRoche to the big leagues. Carlos Delgado would have looked great here. So, too, would have Jim Thome. Heck, why not take a flier on Manny Ramirez?

Money, that’s why.

Until Colletti can pull the trigger on a big-money deal that can make this team better, the McCourts will continue to be haunted by the notion that they just don’t have what it takes to play with the Morenos of the world.

That promise of a $100-million payroll has resulted in what is currently a $70-million payroll. You think they’re going to spend $30 million between now and opening day? The word is that they are not allowed to spend more than $18 million this winter.

“I have never told anybody that,” Colletti protested. “I have not been held back by anything involving money. Nobody has told me to stop or slow down.”

Well, then, good. Because a season needs saving, and fast.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.