Gonzo is gone-zo

By Tony Jackson
Staff Writer
Dodgers left fielder Luis Gonzalez, a five-time All-Star who batted .278 with 15 homers and 68 RBI in his only season with the club, officially filed for free agency on Wednesday. The Dodgers aren’t expected to try to re-sign Gonzalez, 40, whose skills clearly had declined in his 18th major-league season.
Also filing were catcher Mike Lieberthal and infielder Ramon Martinez, whose 2008 options the Dodgers had declined to exercise on Tuesday. The Dodgers now have just 28 players on their 40-man roster, plus a handful of guys yet to be activated from the 60-day disabled list.
In other organizational news, the club promoted Gene Clines from minor-league outfield/baserunning coordinator to minor-league hitting coordinator, a position that was left open when Bill Robinson died suddenly in July. And former major-league infielder Mike Brumley, a speedster who played with six different clubs over an eight-year career, was hired as the Dodgers’ assistant minor-league field coordinator.