It don’t happen in the real world that way boys and girls. Now maybe those dratted agents, benefitted from some stupid court rulings, can get ludicrous long term deals for players, but for managers and front office personnel? And look how often the Dodgers have come out on long term deals.

We need a little of the old O’Malley-Walter Alston School of Economics,i.e., one year at a time and you stay as long as that works out for everybody.

We have nothing against Grady Little. Not at all. He was given a marked deck of cards to begin with. If he had anything to do with some of the decisions to keep brothers Loney and Kemp in Vegas, or Mr. Billingsley in the bullpen, then yes, we guess we do have some reservations, big ones.

Little did we know (is that a pun) that Mssrs. Kent and Gonzalez were a pair of old grouches, or that that aged reliever they picked up (someplace between 42 and 45 and maybe higher) had nothing left in the tank.

If “win or else” ain’t good enough, how about “the first group that has to be happier (besides the owners) are the paying customers”.

Little has one of the best managing jobs in baseball. He can make all the mistakes he wants in the first, and maybe the second inning, and also the last.

The LA fans come late and leave early. There is not a more placid group of beat writers in all of baseball. Heck, all of LA is on histamines or something and seem in a constant state of sedation. No visible mutinies here.

If Grady Little were managing in New York or Philadelphia, he have already been roasted, toasted, and ridden out of town. Whether he was a good, or merely lukewarm, or downright awful, it makes no difference - the manager takes the blame for not winning. And the last time we looked, the Dodgers were not winning.

Now as for the grumpy old men - Kent and Gonzalez - they ain’t nearly as funny as Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau used to be. They are just plain grumpy.

If they want work, we suggest they look at some of the upper scale old folks communities in south Florida - down Boca Raton way. It suits these two curmudgeons.

The flannel wearing softball teams peddle bottled Perrier instead of Bud, prunes instead of Dodgers dogs, pepto bismal instead of Coke, and the trainer comes equipped with blood pressure cuff and prescription mood levelors of your choice.

Kent and Gonzalez won’t stick out ‘cuz all the local denizens are naturally grumpy and the conversation rests around who has the best early bird special and the vicissitudes of yesterdays’ bowel movements. Nuff said.

Has it dawned on anybody out west that there are two pretty good veteran pitching coaches currently out of work, i.e., Leo Mazzone and Dave Wallace? Both have proven track records with young kids as well, kids like Clayton Kershaw.

This is why multi-year contracts for managers and coaches are frowned upon - every so often a gem comes unexpectedly on the market.

Come to think of it, if Don Mattingly gets chosen over Joe Girardi for the open Yankees’ job, Girardi is around. And what did he do with the Marlins kids? And aren’t the Dodgers committed to the kids? Hmmmm.