As the Dodgers wrestle with perhaps one of their most agonizing personnel decisions in many years — whether to pursue free-agent third baseman Alex Rodriguez — they would be wise to ask themselves three questions:

- Does the team with the highest paid player, and Rodriguez has been so the last seven years, regularly win the World Series? The answer is no. In fact, it hasn't happened since the 1980s.

- Do they know their history with Scott Boras clients? They should be well aware it isn't good. Over the last 10 years some of the richest contracts the Dodgers have offered have gone to Kevin Brown, J.D. Drew and Darren Dreifort — all of them Boras clients. During that time the Dodgers have won a total of one playoff game.

- Have the Dodgers thoroughly examined everything about Rodriguez? If they have, they will surely know he has never played in a World Series. But here's the big stat that sums up A-Rod the best — since Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, Rodriguez has come to the plate 59 times in postseason with a total of 38 runners on base and he has left every one on — going 0 for 27 right through the Yankees' loss to Cleveland in the 2007 AL Division Series.

Obviously, the Dodgers are in need of a power hitter and a third baseman. As tempting as it might be, signing Rodriguez is absolutely and unequivocally the wrong move for the Dodgers.

The primary advantage in acquiring Rodriguez means the team is not trading players to secure his services. The primary disadvantage is the money Rodriguez is asking for is insane. No matter how impressive Rodriguez's accomplishments are, no baseball player is worth $30 million a year! And do the Dodgers want to add a player who had the audacity to announce he was opting out of his deal with the Yankees during a World Series game?

The Dodgers slipped to 82 wins in 2007 not because they lacked a power hitter, although they could have used more punch in the lineup. They fell short of the playoffs mainly because the back end of their starting rotation included the likes of Brett Tomko and Mark Hendrickson for most of the season.

The Dodgers must continue to believe in their player development plan. Hey, it's working. Do we need to be reminded of how much Russell Martin improved from 2006 to 2007? He became an All-Star and Gold Glove catcher in his first full season. And Martin is not the only promising youngster the Dodgers can build around.

Toward the end of 2006, Matt Kemp struck out almost every at-bat. Last season he hit .342. James Loney was arguably baseball's best hitter last September. He hit .331. Chad Billingsley made great strides as well. It's not a stretch to see other Dodgers rookies like Tony Abreu and Andy LaRoche show that kind of improvement in 2008.

The Dodgers' offseason has gotten off to a good start with the hiring of Joe Torre as manager. To make it even better, they should not even think about signing Rodriguez. Instead, focus their efforts on improving the pitching. It's the smart way to go.

— Keith Kropp is a copy editor for The Star. His e-mail address is kkropp@VenturaCountyStar.com.