Tracy and Dodgers Can Mark His Words

By Ross Newhan

Feb. 20, 2003 12 AM PT

MESA, Ariz. — This was the first day of his new life in the uniform of the Chicago Cubs -- darker blue replacing Dodger blue -- and there was much that Mark Grudzielanek couldn’t say with certainty.

He couldn’t say if he will play second base, return to shortstop or move to third base. He couldn’t say if he will be playing all three positions at times or watching others play them.

At 32, a veteran of eight major league seasons, Grudzielanek is much like Eric Karros, who also came to the Cubs in a trade in which the Dodgers cleaned out the right side of the infield.

They are both back to having to show what they can do in the spring, trying to retain starting roles against younger competition.

Amid that uncertainty, however, Grudzielanek believes he is certain about this: He believes he is justified in looking forward to playing for Dusty Baker, the new Cub manager.

“I’m looking forward to playing for a manager who understands players, knows how to deal with them and gets the best out of them,” he said.

“You never hear a player say a bad word about Dusty. It’ll be great to be in a clubhouse where the manager has total respect and credibility.”

Are we to read between the lines? Are we to conclude that what Grudzielanek was saying is that Jim Tracy, the Dodger manager, lacks total respect and credibility?

Grudzielanek wouldn’t answer that. He talked about having turned the page on his four-plus years with the Dodgers, of holding no animosity, of having had a “great time playing in that stadium for those fans.”

He acknowledged, however, there were disagreements with Tracy and said he was “shocked and hurt” when the manager accused him of being a selfish player in what became a late-season shouting match in Arizona that was heard throughout the clubhouse because the door to Tracy’s office had remained opened.

Despite that absence of privacy, the incident had not been reported until now, and Grudzielanek responded candidly when asked about it.

“I go back a long way with Trace [to their years as player and coach in Montreal] and I was thrown for a loop when he accused me of being a selfish player,” he said. “It was an unbelievably bad choice of words, and I believe he should have been smart enough not to use it in a situation that was already getting tense.

“I mean, that was the first time in all the years I had played that someone called me selfish, and there was certainly no basis of it with the Dodgers.

“I came off a great year at shortstop and agreed to change positions to make room for a guy [Alex Cora] who was basically unproven. I played hurt. I never made an issue of it when they kept moving me around the batting order -- one minute at the top, the next at the bottom. Did Davey Johnson ever accuse me of being selfish?”

In Vero Beach on Wednesday, Tracy told The Times’ Jason Reid that he would not discuss the incident because it would mar the freedom and comfort of players coming to him in private. He said he would never encourage General Manager Dan Evans to trade a player because of what was said during a meeting.

“Other than that,” he said, appearing displeased that the incident had left the clubhouse, “I don’t have anything to say about it. Period.”

A person who heard the exchange in Arizona disputed Tracy to a degree and said, “It was pretty obvious that Grud was gone after that.”

To what extent their sometimes tenuous relationship with Tracy played into the departure of Karros and Grudzielanek isn’t clear. The Dodgers have maintained that they were seeking to find more power at first base, which they believe they have in Fred McGriff, and create a vacancy at second for Joe Thurston. The oft-cited payroll aspect became secondary considering the trade was basically a financial wash for the Dodgers with the absorption of Todd Hundley’s two remaining years.

“Basically,” said a person familiar with the background, “both teams were looking to get rid of players they no longer wanted ... ‘you take ours, we’ll take yours.’ It’s that simple.”

Grudzielanek shook his head.

“Eric and I may have disagreed sometimes with the way we were used,” he said, “but it was done in private, behind closed doors, and it’s nonsense for anyone to say we were traded because we caused problems. I mean, if the Dodgers are saying that contributed to it

It’s difficult to measure that opportunity. Grudzielanek will have to beat out the touted Bobby Hill at second, the established Alex Gonzalez at short and has minimal experience at third. Karros, who has refused to be baited off the high road since the trade, must beat out the touted Hee Seop Choi at first.

Baker knows what he saw of Karros and Grudzielanek while managing the San Francisco Giants but said he will base his evaluation on what he sees in the spring.

“Some of it depends on them, some of it depends on how the younger guys do,” he said, “but I don’t want Mark and Eric feeling they’re only an insurance policy if the younger guys fail. They’re going to play, everybody plays on my teams. I just don’t know how much at this point.”

The new manager has generated a new atmosphere in the Cub camp.

Even Sammy Sosa shattered his tardy custom to report with the position players Wednesday and said it was out of respect for Baker -- “a proven winner,” said Sosa -- and his desire to contribute to and be part of the new and improved attitude.

Grudzielanek shared Sosa’s emotions. He can’t be certain of what’s ahead, but he knows what he left behind.