DODGERS APPEAR TO BE WINGING IT.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

So how do you like your spiffy new Dodgers so far? Can't decide what they look more like, the '95 Dodgers ... or the Angels.

Despite what we had been told, turns out they weren't all that interested in re-signing Chan Ho Park, the top free-agent pitcher available.

How could they be, when Hideo Nomo and Omar Daal were available? Those '95 L.A. teammates get to reunite their fresh arms on one of the most uncertain and fragile-looking Dodger rotations since they first placed a diamond in Chavez Ravine.

Park might not have impressed down the stretch, but he clearly was the best arm and had the biggest upside of any pitcher out there.

New Dodgers general manager Dan Evans claimed he wanted to re-sign Park, but Thursday we learned that all was a sham.

In a conference call announcing he had signed Nomo - who eight years later still needs an interpreter to speak to the media - Evans said he only was interested in the 28-year-old Park if he could sign him for one year.

He's got a better chance of finding some fat guy in a red suit stuck in his chimney Monday than signing the most desired pitcher in this year's free-agent class to a one-year deal.

``I was just hesitant to get into a long-term, contractual commitment with him,'' Evans said. ``When I learned he rejected arbitration, I just moved toward Nomo.''

It was arbitration or nothing. There never were any contract talks with Park and his agent, Scott Boras. Never a single offer made. Evans said ``short term'' for Park, meant one year. Despite saying he wanted to re-sign Park, Evans just let him walk.

It's one thing not to make an early offer so Boras doesn't shop it around and jack up the price, and it's something else to just take a complete pass.

This weekend, the Rangers are expected to announce they've signed Park to a five-year, $70 million deal. Just a little better than what he would have gotten out of one year in arbitration. And roughly the numbers Park was expected to attract.

Maybe he would have taken less to stay in Los Angeles, but we'll never know. We never were given the chance to find out.

Evans was not forthright in his true desire to re-sign Park but can use the payroll he inherited as an easy out for his action/inaction.

In Kevin Brown, Darren Dreifort and Andy Ashby, the Dodgers are committed to a staggering $123.5 million in salary to three starting pitchers. All three are coming off surgery. Pitchers and long-term deals make for uneasy bedfellows, and Evans might be showing he has a commitment problem with pitching.

``It's not a stance or a new policy, it's just that in this particular deal I was only interested in a short-term deal and very hesitant to get into a longer-term salary commitment,'' Evans said. ``We're talking about a very high-salary commitment. I was more comfortable with Nomo, and frankly, just felt it made more sense for the Dodgers.''

Nope, it would make more sense for the Angels. They're the team that annually attempts to bolster a shaky rotation by gobbling up journeyman arms. Nomo and Daal would be a traditional holiday fit in keep-the-expectations-low Anaheim.

But not the Dodgers. You expect more from the Dodgers. Expect a move of significance, not one that creates a Southland-wide yawn.

Nomo had his day in L.A., but that was four general managers ago. After inspiring Nomomania in '95, he clearly was one of the team's most popular players.

But three years later, at 2-7 with a 5.05 ERA, a frustrated Nomo demanded - and was granted - a trade. He pitched for the Mets the rest of that season and then was released.

Nomo looked done then. He looked washed up when the Dodgers sent him to New York, an arm that grew old before its time.

To his great credit, Nomo battled back. He started over, pitching in the minor leagues he skipped when first signed from Japan by the Dodgers. He worked his way up to the Brewers, and then became an effective starter for the Tigers in '00 and the Red Sox last season.

Last year he was 13-10 with a 4.50 ERA, and he led the American League in strikeouts with 220. It's not that he's an awful pickup, he's just not the kind of player who will push a team to the next level. He's ``effective'' when a suspect rotation cries out for more.

Maybe Nomo impressed Evans more than Park. At least he got a two-year deal. He'll hopefully join Brown, Ashby, Daal and Eric Gagne in the rotation, and move Terry Mulholland (how has he escaped the Angels?) to the bullpen.

``We've got six starters right now,'' Evans said. ``I like our rotation. I think our rotation is improved.''

Hmmm, last year the Dodgers opened the season with a rotation of Brown, Park, Dreifort, Ashby and Gagne. Must be a ``beauty is in the eyes of the beholder'' thing. Think their rotation is making them nervous in Arizona?

Evans claims he's not being forced to reduce, or even maintain, the team payroll.

``I'm not working off a specific number that I have to be concerned about,'' he said.

``The key to me is to be economically responsible, and at the same time, strengthen our ballclub.''

Hey, one out of two ain't bad. And at the same time, be up front with your true intentions.