At First Will He Succeed?

By Ross Newhan

Feb. 25, 2004 12 AM PT

VERO BEACH, Fla. — The full Dodger squad worked out for the first time Tuesday and was addressed by Frank McCourt. The new owner was accompanied by wife Jamie and son Drew. Absent, however, was the hitter he had promised would arrive before camp opened.

For now, as Shawn Green moves from right field to first base and catcher Paul Lo Duca contemplates more appearances in left, the term “full squad” remains something of a misnomer.

As Manager Jim Tracy put it in a candid appraisal: “Our circumstances can’t be compared to a pat hand.”

The problem, however, in trying to make the most of a limited deck is that the Dodgers may be messing with Green, the most expensive and valuable member of a fragmented lineup.

“Right now,” Green said, “this lineup definitely requires me to have a year equal to or better than any I’ve ever had.

“I’m going to try and do it, but I still feel that what the club needs most is another hitter for the middle of the lineup.

“I mean, it’s difficult going to spring training knowing your lineup is such that a lot of guys have to have career years if we’re going to have a good offensive team.

“That’s not the right way to go into the season.”

The lineup landscape may change before April 5, but here’s the introspective Green carrying the weight of great expectations while coming off shoulder surgery and trying to correct the mechanical glitches that developed last year while compensating for the injury.

Now too, the Dodgers are asking him to change positions, which is a little like piling on and a whole lot like risky business considering everything else Green has on his plate.

The Dodgers, however, seem determined to make the move, barring the acquisition of a first baseman.

Part of it, for sure, stems from the fact that Robin Ventura is their only option at first. Part of it might also stem from growing concern about Green’s outfield defense, an issue club officials seem reluctant to touch.

If Green plays first, Juan Encarnacion will play right, leaving the major vacancy -- though not the only offensive question mark -- in left.

Green, of course, is always more cautious than controversial, but he creates the impression -- reading between his words -- that he would prefer to stay in the outfield for now.

Asked whether that would be his choice in a perfect world, Green smiled and said, “That’s a tough question. I want to do what’s best for the team. I’m sure you’ve heard that line before, but that’s all I’ll say. I don’t want to get into a debate about it.”

Refraining from debate, Green said he hasn’t played first regularly since his junior year at Tustin High and that, perhaps, it could prove to be a fun challenge at this point of his career.

“I look at it as a major transition,” he said, “but it’s something other guys have done successfully from the outfield. Darin Erstad. Jack Clark. Orlando Merced. It’s definitely much harder to move in than to move back because the game is speeded up on the infield.”

Said Tracy: “Shawn has the ability and the athleticism. I think he’s going to be a very good first baseman, and we don’t lose anything by being proactive.

“If the landscape changes at some point [and the club acquires a first baseman], we can move him back to the outfield. That someone of his stature would be unselfish enough to want to do this says a lot about his character.”

To imply that Green wants to do it may be misleading.

“I told Jim and Dan [Evans, the former general manager] that I’d make the move if we acquired an impact hitter,” Green said. “At this point, it just seems like it’s something the club wants me to do and I need to do it.”

The Dodgers, of course, have not acquired an impact hitter to help provide protection for Green, who said recently he would be disappointed if the club went to spring training having failed in that search and whose lingering disappointment (“the stronger the lineup is the less weight each guy has to pull,” he said) is tempered by a belief “something will get done.”

“At least things have been solidified as to who’s running the organization,” he said. “Everyone, including the players, has to give [the new owner and general manager] a chance. I think there’s a lot of optimism in that sense. I don’t think they’d want to come into the organization and not put a good product on the field.”

Time will tell, of course, and time is an ally of Green as he recovers from surgery and works on regaining the swing that produced 91 homers and accounted for 239 runs batted in during the 2001 and 2002 seasons. Green had a club-record 49 doubles last year but hit only 19 homers and drove in only 85 runs as the ailing shoulder prevented him from being able to finish a swing that was almost totally top-handed.

Green stayed in the lineup despite the injury and became the focal point of criticism for the club’s major league-worst offense until The Times revealed in early September the reason for his struggle.

The since-deposed Evans, who had allowed Green to absorb a summer of criticism by not revealing the injury, opted to protect his turf by trying to say that the injury had not altered Green’s swing even as Green was saying it had. Asked Tuesday whether he is bitter at having had his integrity maligned, at basically being called a liar, Green said:

“I guess you could say I was fine with it in the sense that I understood what was behind it. With the contract and the years I’ve had, there’s high demands on me. That’s part of the job description. If you play with an injury, you play and live with it, and I try not to let my ego get so big that I worry about what people are saying.

“At the same time, I don’t think it’s realistic for someone to get in another person’s shoes and try to say how that person is feeling. Dan had his reasons and so be it. I’ve turned the page on that.”

Although not 100% yet, Green also thinks he has turned the page on his shoulder surgery and can focus on putting his swing back together. He will make $16 million in this next to last year of his six-year contract, and he said the Dodgers have never indicated to him that they have a problem with his outfield defense.

“Struggle offensively and you start getting nitpicked everywhere else,” he said. “If my bat comes back to the way it was [in 2001 and 2002], then I think my defense will be viewed as just fine.

“When you’re hitting, everybody thinks you’re great all-around.”

Perhaps, but for now the view of Green will be at first base.