|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Malone wants fair value for Sheffield
Updated: Monday February 26, 2001 8:30 AM
VERO BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- As Kevin Malone talked from the driver's seat of a golf cart at Dodgertown on Sunday, the object of the conversation was just a few yards away. Gary Sheffield sat quietly as he waited to take part in a drill. If he overheard anything, he seemed oblivious to Malone's comments, even though they concerned his future. Sheffield's demand for a trade has dominated discussion for a week now and there's no sign it will end soon because nothing has been settled, which is starting to rankle Malone. "We want to focus more on the Dodgers than on any one particular player," Malone said. "Nothing's really changed. We understand Gary's desires, and we hope to accommodate his requests, but we're not going to make a trade that wouldn't be advantageous to the Los Angeles Dodgers and their fans." If a trade cannot be worked out, Malone is confident that Sheffield will honor his current contract and play as he did last season when he hit 43 home runs and batted .325. "We're not in a position that we're going to give him away or make a bad trade," Malone said. "The option for him to be here this season is very real and legitimate." The Dodgers did trade a disgruntled outfielder on Sunday, but it was Devon White, not Sheffield. The Dodgers sent White to the Milwaukee Brewers for Marquis Grissom and a minor league player to be named. Sheffield and Malone met in the Dodgers' clubhouse Sunday after the day's workout had ended. They talked for 15-20 minutes and departed with a handshake and a hug. Malone said only that they talked to make sure both were on the same page. This came after statements by Sheffield on Saturday that he would be bothered if he were a Dodger on Opening Day. "It doesn't matter," Sheffield said Saturday. "Baseball is baseball to me. If I see a white ball, I hit it. Wearing this uniform, I won't be happy, but I'll go out and do my job." Making a trade won't be easy. Derrick Hall, the Dodgers' senior vice president of communication, said the Dodgers have a list of 19 teams that could make a trade for Sheffield. He said the Dodgers aren't that close to making a trade because many teams want to see Sheffield play in the spring games that begin March 2. "It's not difficult to find teams that are interested," Hall said. "It's difficult for us because he's so important to our offense. He's a major part of this team, and we built the offense around him. In that sense, we would have to find enough value and replacements to make up for it. He's a difficult guy to replace." In any situation, this would be a tough trade to make, Malone said. It's doubly so now. Still, he cautioned that other teams shouldn't look at this as a chance to take advantage of the Dodgers. "If that's their approach, then they've miscalculated the situation," he said. "Because if it gets to the point where we do trade Gary, everything will be considered, and a team's approach and a team's professionalism and a team's fairness will come into play at some point." Malone also wouldn't rule out a trade during the season if it comes to that. "I don't think we're going to close any doors," he said. "The sooner the better if we're going to make this move, but we don't control the timing." Notes: Chan Ho Park, Darren Dreifort, Kevin Brown, Jeff Shaw and Andy Ashby are among the pitchers who will pitch in Tuesday's two intrasquad games. A third one is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday with Ramon Martinez and Eric Gagne seeing action. ... Manager Jim Tracy was happy to see some improvement in Eric Karros, recovering from a back sprain, and Adrian Beltre, still working back into shape after an emergency appendectomy. "Karros has a lot more pep in his step this morning," Tracy said. "That was very, very encouraging to see him walking through there. Beltre's better today than he was the last couple of days. That's where we're at with him right now. It's two steps forward, a step back, one more forward, two more back."
| ||||||||||||||||||||
