Tracy, McCourt Dealing With Their Own Issues

Frank McCourt faces two critical deadlines that will reveal whether he cares more about building condos or championship teams.

July 31 is the trading deadline, and such difference makers as Mike Sweeney, Carlos Beltran, Randy Johnson and Steve Finley are reportedly on the market. Will McCourt allow his general manager to make a deal for any of these pricey players? Or will we hear the tired dollars and “non-cents” refrain, “Our current team is playing well, the chemistry’s good and we didn’t want to give away any of our young talent for aging players.”

The off-season will be the next deadline for McCourt, when his best everyday player and best starting pitcher are eligible for free agency. Unlike most free agents, though, Adrian Beltre, 25, and Odalis Perez, 27, are entering the primes of their careers and can form a winning cornerstone for the next five years. But not if McCourt decides Chavez Ravine should showcase his real estate acumen instead of good ballplayers.

McCourt can silence all of his critics. Even T.J. Simers.

Jeff Green

Long Beach

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Re: the debate over who should play, Juan Encarnacion or Jayson Werth. If Jim Tracy were managing the Yankees, Wally Pipp would return to first base after an injury and Lou Gehrig would be riding the bench.

Joe Gunn

Burbank

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The Dodgers have been winning despite Jim Tracy’s efforts. For example: Paul Lo Duca was batting .423 against Shawn Estes in 26 at-bats, but Tracy decides to play Dave Ross, who is hitting .171 and can only dream of catching up to a major league fastball.

Opposing teams do not worry about getting three outs against the Dodgers. They know that Tracy will give them at least one out an inning by bunting. Tracy bunts any time the Dodgers have runners on base regardless of who is batting.

Against the Astros, who have the short left-field fence, Tracy had Werth, who has been killing the ball and is right-handed, bunt Izturis over to second. He is only interested in scoring one run even when he is losing by three or four runs.

People shouldn’t be surprised that the Dodgers play so many one-run games. It isn’t because the Dodgers are not hitting, but it is because Tracy doesn’t want to score a lot of runs. He has designed it that way. Unfortunately for him, small ball doesn’t fly in this league anymore.

Mark Thomsen

Logan, Utah