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Dodger blues Sheffield's comments have Vero Beach abuzz
Updated: Thursday February 22, 2001 4:25 PM
Throughout spring training, CNNSI.com will feature regular dispatches from Sports Illustrated staffers assigned to scout camps in the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues. By Jeff Pearlman, Sports Illustrated TEAM: Los Angeles Dodgers SITE: Vero Beach, Fla. WEATHER: Low 80s, mucho sol. Sunscreen required. PLAYER I SAW WHOM I REALLY LIKED: Jesse Orosco. I like Orosco because he's 8,007 years old, and he looks 44. I like Orosco because he's wearing No. 00. I like Orosco because he was once traded for Jerry Koosman. I like Orosco because, against all odds, I suspect he will make the Dodgers staff as their lefty specialist. AROUND THE HORN The big topic at Vero: Why the previously-free media buffet now costs 10 bucks. Hah. Just goofin'. Dodgerworld was abuzz Wednesday over Gary Sheffield's insulting, idiotic, self-serving comments to Bob Nightengale in the current issue of USA Today Baseball Weekly. Sheffield ripped everyone and anyone -- from Carlos Perez (deserved) and Eric Karros to Shawn Green and Darren Dreifort. Sheff's main gripe: They're all overpaid, and I kick ass and slay dragons for wooden nickels. Although new Dodgers manager Jim Tracy played it cool ("There's no need for me to make a comment that will damage a personal relationship"), the good folk of Dodgerland were livid. It was all about facial expressions -- the smirks of disgust on their faces after they offered bland, "Gary is probably feeling blah blah blah ..." quotes. Everyone agreed, however, that if Sheffield winds up staying in L.A., he will have a ton of explaining to do. The problem isn't just that he's holding out. It's that he's taking down the very men he supposedly led just a few months before. Green and Sheffield had a very good, productive relationship last season. How can the Kosher Kid feel now, knowing Sheffield considers him overpaid? Center fielder Devon White is also demanding a trade, a request met with, more or less, a collective yawn. Sheffield is a superstar. White is a spare part. Oh, yeah -- a small Coke costs $2.
Sports Illustrated senior writer Jeff Pearlman will check in periodically
with reports from his tour of spring
camps.
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