Mondesi Talks a Blue Streak

For all of his talents, we never knew Raul Mondesi had this much versatility.

In one intense, long tirade in Montreal on Wednesday, Mondesi managed to both force the Dodgers’ hands and tie them.

He publicly trashed General Manager Kevin Malone and Manager Davey Johnson and said he wants out. Now Mondesi has to go.

It’s not about protecting Malone and Johnson’s manhood. It’s about maintaining some sense of credibility for the franchise and commanding respect for the chain of command.

But the job of trading Mondesi just got tougher, because now every other team in the league knows the Dodgers must get rid of him. And as of Wednesday, he is officially, irrevocably stamped as a player with an attitude.

Good luck, Mr. Malone.

Mondesi’s contract that pays him an average of almost $10 million the next two seasons wouldn’t make shipping him somewhere this winter easy, but some team would have been willing to absorb that because of Mondesi’s gifts on the field. If he played up to his capabilities, he’d be worth it.

That price tag looms larger when he’s floundering in the batter’s box and then starts tearing down people around and above him.

So Malone won’t get his first choice when he inquires about what other teams can give him for Mondesi. He might not even get his second choice.

There were enough general managers who didn’t like it when Malone talked about his team’s World Series prospects during the off-season. Do you think they’re going to be eager to help him get a problem out of his clubhouse?

Here’s a cleaned-up version of what Mondesi had to say to reporters before Wednesday’s game against the Expos:

“I’m tired of all this. I told my agent to get me the [expletive] out of here as soon as possible. I can’t take this anymore. I’ve had to deal with this all year. I told them to trade me because I don’t want to [expletive] be here. [Expletive] Davey and [expletive] Malone, they try to put all of our problems on me. They’re trying to say that all this [expletive] is my fault. That’s the way they feel. Fine.

“Just get me out of here. [Expletive] Davey. [Expletive] Malone. [Expletive] both of them.”

Detrimental behavior is one thing. Taking it public is quite another. Mondesi has had a knack for making his mistakes in full view. He skipped a workout after the All-Star game, then had that sit-in in the bullpen instead of returning to the dugout between innings in a game at Arizona on July 23.

It would have been completely different if he had furtively left the dugout and run down the tunnel into the clubhouse to sulk between innings, just as it would have been different if he took his issues directly to Malone and Johnson behind closed doors.

By doing it in front of everybody, he made the problems even bigger. Now they’re out there for the fans, the media and opposing ballclubs to dissect.

The Dodgers might have been a little more tolerant of this outburst if Mondesi were getting it done on the field. But he is batting .249, which is shaping up to be his worst average as a Dodger. And he went about a month without a home run after a scintillating start.

His anger is misplaced. Whatever displeasure Johnson and Malone have felt about Mondesi this season, they have primarily kept it in-house. Whenever they talk publicly about Mondesi they try to be as delicate as possible. They even tried to keep Mondesi’s fines under wraps.

The only person to publicly blast Mondesi has been Vice President Tom Lasorda, who singled him out during a scathing critique of the team July 31. He called Mondesi’s bullpen sit-in “bush,” and wondered why Mondesi wasn’t doing little baseball necessities such as hitting to the opposite field.

“But what’s even worse than that is that Mondy isn’t displaying the maturity we need from him,” Lasorda said. “He isn’t being the leader we need.”

What Lasorda did wasn’t right, but his words sure looked accurate after Mondesi’s outburst Wednesday.

It’s time for the relationship to end. Those won’t be “Rauuuuuuuls” you hear when the Dodgers return to Chavez Ravine on Friday. They’ll be boos.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: [email protected]