RISKY BUSINESS BECOMES CLAIRE.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

In the front office, in the winter, the Dodgers are showing the guts and resolve they lacked on the field, in the summer.

Making the tough, correct decisions about which players to protect from Tuesday's expansion draft won't earn as many cheers as blocking the plate, or even hitting behind a runner. Fred Claire shouldn't expect any standing ovations. He will get some criticism.

But leaving popular first baseman Eric Karros and third baseman Todd Zeile off the untouchables list in order to safeguard young players is a cleverly calculated risk.

In the life of any long-time general manager, a time comes when making trades for minor-league utility infielders is no longer enough, when circumstances leave him and his club at a crossroads.

In a perverse way, Claire is at a crossroads like the one predecessor Al Campanis faced following the 1981 season, when Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes and Roy Cey were well into their 30s, and Steve Sax, Greg Brock and Mike Marshall were ready to step up.

The easy choice then would have been to hang onto the old guys. If they faded, the players and not the management would have taken the public heat. Instead, Campanis let them go one by one, opening himself up to second-guessing when Brock and Marshall failed to match their huge minor-league numbers.

Campanis' brave choice was based on the conclusion he had gotten as much out of the Dodgers veterans - a World Series championship in 1981 - as he could.

Claire may have reached the same conclusion, even though all he has gotten out of these Dodgers veterans is heartache.

Look at Karros. Fans like him. Reporters love him (because he's a perceptive, articulate clubhouse spokesman). He's 30 and has been the dean of the Dodgers' everyday players for two seasons.

But what did those two seasons - or the four before them - bring the Dodgers? I mean, what did they bring the Dodgers that Claire should be dying to hang onto?

Exactly what message, if any, Claire intends to send with his choices is unclear. Club executives are forbidden to publicly discuss their expansion lists, or even acknowledge the names that have leaked out to reporters, on penalty of having to listen to tapes of Bob Uecker's World Series jokes.

But we can hope Claire intends to convey this message: All those players who have helped the team to a playoff victory - you're safe. Everybody else - and that's everybody on the roster - you're expendable.

When a team hasn't won a postseason game in close to a decade, it has nothing to lose by starting over.

Of course there should be exceptions to this potential housecleaning. If one reason for making Karros and Zeile available is to save money that can be spent on a happy Mike Piazza and a big free agent (or both) - good.

Piazza's agent said recently that if a deal isn't complete by Feb. 15, the Dodgers will risk losing their catcher to free agency after the 1998 season (``not a threat''; no, just an ultimatum).

Slightly more recently, the Dodgers let the dark details of their profit-loss statement slip out, an obvious bid for public sympathy.

The sooner the Dodgers and their catcher negotiate a contract extension, the kinder the world will be. Piazza, Raul Mondesi, Chan Ho Park and Ismael Valdes are the guys to build around.

Saving money if Karros or Zeile (or both) are drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks or the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (or both) probably was only third on the Dodgers' priority list when they submitted 15 ``protected'' names. First is protecting young players Wilton Guerrero, Roger Cedeno, Todd Hollandsworth and Double-A pitcher Mike Judd.

Second is making room at first or (less preferably) third base for Paul Konerko, the consensus Minor League Player of the Year.

Chances are the Dodgers won't lose both Karros and Zeile. Maybe their salaries will scare off the expansion teams. Also, under the rules of the draft, teams can protect three more players after each round. So if, say, Zeile were taken in the first round, then the Dodgers could pull Karros off the block.

But what if second baseman Eric Young went and another Dodger went in the first round? Would Karros or Zeile (or both) then be protected? If not, they could both go in the second round.

Hey, the Dodgers won nothing with them, they can win nothing without them.

There's no way of knowing how this will turn out. But you have to like the risk Claire is taking. It's not as good as breaking up a double play. But it's a step in the right direction.