Go back to the old system of bringing up youngsters, teaching them how to play right, and then going to the beach and chilling out. Ignore Murdoch's impatient answering machine messages demanding why you haven't won the World Series yet. He doesn't know baseball. The Dodgers do. Or they used to, anyway.
Trades are so much more fun to hear about.
God, I never thought I'd put a frowny face in one of these columns. And I never ever thought third base would be manned in 2001 by a platoon of 25th men, Craig Paquette and Placido Polanco. And because of his inflexibility, they had to sacrifice one of their young, shining hopes. One that reportedly had a bad attitude, and La Russa is one of these managers who would rather have a good-natured, humble .240 hitter than a testy .320 hitter. But I'll stop myself there, lest I allow my partisan colors to show.