For Dodgers, if It Isn’t Broken, Then Break It

SAN DIEGO —  Now if I have this straight, the Dodgers were flying high in first place, the players feeling really good about themselves, the fans beginning to buy into the miracle, and I was the only one still calling them the Choking Dogs.

Well, I apologize, because I never dreamed the Boston Parking Lot Attendant would pay the 50 cents, or borrow it, to buy The Times, read Page 2 and redo the Dodger roster just to shut me up.

If there’s a better reason to explain what they’ve done, let me know.

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EARLY FEEDBACK on the massive overhaul to turn the Dodgers from winners -- overnight -- into losers: The Dodgers won’t have to rely as much on Eric Gagne with Darren Dreifort taking over for Guillermo Mota as the team’s eighth-inning reliever. The opposition will score, as the Padres did twice Saturday night to turn a 2-1 Dodger win into a 3-2 San Diego victory, and Gagne can sit down.

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THE FIRST look at Hee Seop Choi: He ran hard to first while grounding into a double play. Like that hustle.

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JIM TRACY, the Micro Manager, said the duo of David Ross and Brent Mayne are an “upgrade” at catcher over Paul Lo Duca. That was before Ross was charged with a passed ball and went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts. Lo Duca hit a homer on the first pitch thrown to him playing for Florida.

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THE DODGERS really wanted Steve Finley but kept him on the bench after he arrived, the old man undoubtedly tired from the two-hour flight from Colorado.

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LAST WEEK we learned Frank McCourt, the Boston Parking Lot Attendant who bought the Dodgers with no money, is two months in default on a loan on a piece of property in Boston. You would think someone who has been ridiculed for having no money would make sure he never puts himself in the position of looking as though he has no money, but I guess he really doesn’t have any money.

He’s going to save a bundle not battling Lo Duca, Mota and Dave Roberts in arbitration. That will also give the Dodgers more time to concentrate on making it two arbitration wins in a row over Gagne.

The Dodgers were paying Tom Martin $1.4 million to get left-handed hitters out; they were slated to pay him $1.9 million next year, and obviously McCourt has more important things he could do with $1.9 million than trying to get left-handers out.

In return for Roberts and Martin, the Dodgers got a pair of minor leaguers, who will get paid the major league minimum if they ever make it to the big leagues. In the meantime, Yhency Brazoban, a minor leaguer, was called up Saturday to make the major league minimum in place of Martin.

Juan Encarnacion, former General Manager Dan Evans’ parting gift to Los Angeles, earned more than $3 million this year and was due more than $4 million next year. After hearing about McCourt’s problems repaying a loan, I’d imagine Encarnacion is thrilled to go someplace where he can be sure they’ll make payroll.

The Dodgers are only renting Finley, of course, and since he’s hitting .216 in his last 10 games with one home run, they won’t look bad when they make no attempt to re-sign the old guy next season.

“We added a few millions with these deals,” said Dodger General Manager Paul DePodesta in disputing the assertion that saving money played any role in management’s decision to break up the first-place Dodgers. “We still have some money to play around with if we do anything in August.”

How come McCourt isn’t using that money to pay off his bad loan?

“You’ll have to ask him,” DePodesta said.

A spokesman for McCourt said, “The McCourts are negotiating,” which is another way of saying the guy is begging for a lower monthly payment, and how do you like the Dodgers’ chances of signing Adrian Beltre next season?

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I SPENT several hours in the clubhouse listening to the Dodgers’ spin on why they are a better team today. The Micro Manager was happy because he can juggle two catchers, two center fielders, two first basemen and a shaky bullpen.

“We’ve added an impact starting pitcher and an impact hitter,” he said, and I had to ask who the impact hitter was.

He said Finley, because he has hit 23 home runs. I asked if he knew how many homers Finley has hit since the All-Star break (1), and he didn’t know. You’d think a manager would check on something like that before agreeing to a trade.

We made a wager: I said Finley doesn’t hit 10 homers for the Dodgers, and Tracy said Finley would hit more, and I know this: If Finley doesn’t hit 10, I’ve got to make sure I collect that dinner before Tracy is sent packing.

On a positive note, Milton Bradley has agreed to move from center because he’s such a good guy and not as selfish as Finley, who insists on playing there.

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IF DODGER critic and Padre GM Kevin Towers has a sense of humor, he’ll send a bottle of Johnson & Johnson shampoo to DePodesta, who thought at one time he had them both, Randy and Charles.

DePodesta was asked if he was disappointed he didn’t get Randy Johnson and he said, “no,” which tells you how tough it is to believe anything Dodger management has to say. Obviously, I didn’t have to ask McCourt if he was happy about acquiring Penny, because I’m sure every Penny counts as far as he’s concerned.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Joshua Singer:

“Apparently the media didn’t get the press release stating that Mitch Kupchak is the new GM of the Dodgers.”

T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.