Dodgers Should Let Guerrero Hit the Road

Get the gold Dodger watch ready for Pedro Guerrero. Inscribe it “Thanks for some of the memories,” and at the end of this season present it to the mercurial slugger in lieu of a new contract offer.

What? Dump Pedro Guerrero, the man with triple-crown talent and lightning in his bat?

Not dump, exactly. Just let him mosey on down the line. To Anaheim, maybe, as a designated hitter. It’s time, after this season, for the Dodgers to find out if there is life after Pedro.

Why? Well, let’s take Saturday night’s game against the San Francisco Giants, for example, a game that turned into the high point of the Dodger season, thanks in no small part to Pedro.

The scene: Bottom of the 11th, 1-1 score, Guerrero leads off with a single. When Joe Price’s pitch gets away from catcher Bob Brenly, Pedro trots to second.

There he enters into a discussion with umpire Joe West. Earlier, Guerrero had a conversation with West regarding another Giant pitcher’s alleged (by Pedro) balk move. Now Pedro and Joe resume their debate. Guerrero maintains he was only kidding around with West, but whatever was said, West got angry, Guerrero got angry, and soon they were jaw to jaw.

Either West can’t take a joke or Pedro can’t deliver one, but the ump threw the slugger out of the game. The last straw, according to West, was Pedro calling the portly, round-faced arbiter a “big-headed bleep-bleeper.”

Hey, insult comedy is in. But considering the hugeness (Tom Lasorda’s word) of the game in a tight pennant race, this was a major bonehead move on Guerrero’s part. Most Little Leaguers know that when an overheated ump and an overheated player tangle, and one of them gets thrown out of the game, it’s almost always the player.

As it turns out, Guerrero (or West) saves the game for the Dodgers. The series of events set off by the ejection leads to a dramatic 2-1 Dodger win. If Pedro stays in the game, the two teams might still be playing, because the next play called for some baserunning derring-do, which isn’t exactly Pedro’s long suit.

OK, so it’s one bonehead play. But it’s not exactly an aberration. When Guerrero isn’t hitting home runs and doubles, which he hasn’t been doing much of lately, he hurts you more ways than he helps you.

Defense, for instance. At first base, Pedro is no Steve Garvey. He’s no Ed Garvey. The most you can say is that Guerrero sometimes makes the routine plays. His best position is probably third base, but the Dodgers don’t need him there, and he doesn’t seem particularly eager to get back to the warm corner.

The argument in favor of Guerrero will always be this: He’s one of the few ballplayers in the game who can carry a ballclub with his bat.

The question is, when he’s not hitting, can the ballclub carry him ? With Pedro out of the lineup (he was on the disabled list for 52 days with a pinched nerve in his neck), the Dodgers are 36-21. With Guerrero, the Dodgers are 29-30.

Granted, there are other factors. It can be argued that the Dodgers just happened to get hot when Guerrero got hurt. You can’t blame him for Sunday’s 15-4 loss to the Giants.

But you have to wonder about the intangibles. Leadership, that kind of thing. Is it a coincidence that the Dodgers seem more focused and aggressive since Kirk Gibson and Alfredo Griffin have come on the scene?

Pedro isn’t going to set a club on fire with his hustle or baserunning. He still carries the memory of blowing out a knee in a spring-training slide two seasons ago, but it’s not uncommon for Guerrero to break up a double play by veering sharply to his right and jogging to the outfield grass.

“He’s trying to take out the center fielder,” one observer observed.

Suffice it to say that if you had to give one Dodger a Charley Hustle Award, it probably wouldn’t be Pedro.

But always, looming over opposing pitchers like a thundercloud, is Guerrero’s bat.

“I can . . . hit,” Pedro once said. Maybe he said it twice. And he has pounded home his point over the years.

This season, however . . . In 215 at-bats, Guerrero has five homers. Rick Dempsey has six homers in 117 at-bats. Guerrero has seven doubles, two more than Alfredo Griffin has racked up in 26 fewer at-bats.

When “I can . . . hit” is your entire scouting report, you pretty much have to smack the occasional long ball.

There’s the injury, of course. You have to give a guy time to bounce back after nursing a bad neck for two months, right?

But here again, we’re not talking about an aberration. Guerrero just turned 32, the neck problem is chronic, he has tendinitis in both knees and he has recurring problems with his left shoulder and wrist.

To re-sign him, the Dodgers will almost surely have to give him $2 million-plus per year for at least two seasons. Could the money be better spent? Only Fred Claire and Peter O’Malley can answer that.

Pedro would be a tough guy to let walk. Last season he hit .338 with 27 homers. Lurking within that bat is the Thor-like, game-breaking, fence-busting potential most players can only dream about.

Maybe Guerrero will hit 15 homers down the stretch and serve me this column in October, with ketchup and mustard. If so, I wish myself bon appetit .

Until that time, the Dodgers should keep that gold watch on layaway.