New Dodger Environment: Muddy or Perfectly Claire?

Is Fred Claire the bearer of good news or what? First he tells us that Mike Piazza is traded, then he tells us that Hideo Nomo is (for all intents and purposes) released, then he tells us that Randy Johnson isn’t coming. The next time this guy calls a press conference, I’m going to cover my ears.

KEVIN READING, Placentia

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Piazza? Nomo? What’s next? A move to Brooklyn?

BARRY R. RESNICK, Orange

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Anyone familiar with Fred Claire knew the Randy Johnson trade would never happen. Not with all the “exceptional� players Claire wanted to keep. He says, “We have a good team and we’ve made some good additions [not because of him]. We’re going forward with the team we have.�

Am I to understand that a “good team� is one that can’t play .500 ball and is eight games out? With his attitude and no intervention from someone who can change things, look for the usual so-so, lackluster season for the Dodgers.

BOB HUTTON, Burbank

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Fred Claire couldn’t deal if he was playing solitaire.

BILL STEIN, Arroyo Grande

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Hey, Hideo, don’t bother closing the door behind you, I’ll get it.

DOUG VONBERG, Costa Mesa

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It’s great to be a Dodger fan again. After enduring the greedy, self-centered Piazza, we have finally rid ourselves of the stoic, unsociable, crybaby Nomo. I can’t wait to get to the ballpark again. The Fox Group has turned into my own personal genie, granting me every wish I make.

GENO M. APICELLA, Burbank

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Monday morning, go to your boss and say, “Boss, I don’t like working here anymore and I want you to do something about it.�

Everyone reading this knows exactly what will happen.

For years the complaints have flown around about how out of control sports have become, that the inmates are running the asylum. And, although we all put up with it, none of us on the outside could relate to it. Until now.

The Dodgers, always the pace-setting organization, have finally done what should have been done in the beginning--stand up to the insanity. Finally, someone said, “Enough is enough. If pampering and million-dollar salaries don’t make you happy, find your happiness at some other company; we can go on without you here very well, thank you. Best wishes at your new job.�

The Dodgers have just shown the rest of sports how to do it. Not the Florida Marlins’ way, but the common sense way. And, in the not-too-distant future, all of sports will be the better for it.

DENNIS SCHROEDER, Lake Forest

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Working for a Fortune 500 company, if I expressed displeasure with my salary or work environment, management would direct me to the “exit door.� In light of the recent transactions with Piazza and Nomo, major league baseball is definitely a corporate business with minimal value for loyalty or memories. However, the new Dodger management has made it clear that the players are employees and are treated as such, like the “real world.� I don’t enjoy saying this, but it is somewhat refreshing to see this, with the way some professional athletes conduct themselves nowadays.

WAYNE MURAMATSU, Cerritos

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Two or three years from now, when Bobby Bonilla and Charles Johnson are struggling near the Mendoza line, Gary Sheffield is demanding a trade because of the Dodgers’ ineptitude and Mike Piazza is hitting .350 with 35 homers for a franchise that is serious about building a championship team, then the good people at Fox will know how much Piazza is worth.

CHRIS CARTON, Bakersfield

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As an avid Mike Piazza fan, I was devastated by “the Trade.� However, as a Dodger fan, I was willing to wait and see if the team as a whole benefited. So far, the answer is a big no.

The team is still under .500. The pitchers, who were supposed to benefit from Charles Johnson behind the plate, have (with the exception of Darren Dreifort) gotten worse. Players batting before and after Gary Sheffield say they see better pitches because pitchers are afraid of Sheffield. As if they weren’t afraid of Mike Piazza? Ask Bernard Gilkey and John Olerud about the pitches they are getting now.

And the Dodgers’ biggest loss may be in marketing. I saw hundreds of Piazza shirts in the stands this weekend. I would bet the combined sales of Sheffield, Johnson and Bonilla merchandise won’t equal half the sales of Piazza gear. The Dodgers blew it big time. I’ll be buying a Met Piazza jersey at my first opportunity.

PAM HODGES, Westchester

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If Bill Russell would get off his bustle and show some hustle, it might stimulate his players to put some muscle behind their anemic offensive efforts.

There is no problem with the roster. The team has the players, but the players have a deadhead for a manager.

JIM HUNTER, Los Angeles

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I am a huge sports fan, but in no way does anything the Dodgers do warrant the front page of the paper. First Piazza gets traded, now Nomo gets reassigned [then traded], and the L.A. Times gives both stories on the front page? Hey, it’s only sports.

BRUCE E. KONSCHUH, Los Angeles

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What is Bill Plaschke’s problem with Nomo not knowing English? For the third time in a little less than a year we are treated to Plaschke whining about Nomo not speaking English to bottom-feeding sportswriters, which he was one of until recently.

Of all the players who have gone to Japan you can count about five who ever learned any serviceable Japanese (and two of those are in one family--Leron and Leon Lee), so why is there this big obligation for Hideo to take English lessons?

GARY GARLAND, Yorba Linda

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Bill Plaschke proves in his front-page column Tuesday about Nomo’s release that he can tell the truth and distort at the same time.

He says that the Dodgers traded Piazza and then won “eight of their next 12 games.� True enough, but since then they had a four-game losing streak and their Piazza-less record is 10-9. About the same as it was while Piazza was here. But, of course, they have new excuses now. So there is truth and then there is real truth.

JIM TURNER, Granada Hills

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It used to be that the awful opinions of the Monday Morning Quarterbacks of the world were regulated to talk radio and the L.A. Times Saturday Viewpoint section. That was until The Times hired Bill Plaschke: Now, instead of reporting the news, he tries to create the news with tabloid-like articles like:

Interviewing Brett Butler months into his retirement to dig up some dirt on Piazza (Was Tim Wallach busy?).

Writing a Piazza article which, in essence, set the tone for him being traded.

Most recently, telling all of Los Angeles, “Fred Claire must trade Darren Dreifort for Randy Johnson so the Dodgers can get to the playoffs.�

Mr. Plaschke, the next time the New York Post is hiring, apply for a job. Your writing skills are more suited for that paper.

ROBERT STENZEL, Northridge