Colletti overdrawn as Dodgers employee

Wasting company money usually turns an employee into an ex-employee. So Ned Colletti, the Los Angeles Dodgers' general mismanager of funds, is in trouble with his boss.

Dodgers owner Frank McCourt is upset that his team's payroll is about $118 million and its winning percentage is about .500.

He's not blaming new manager Joe Torre, either.

"That leaves Colletti and any underachieving players as candidates for his disappointment," Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke wrote. "And don't be surprised about anything that happens to Colletti."

McCourt might be planning changes. And what is taking so long?

A review of Colletti's biggest front-office blunders reveals how lucky he is to still hold his job.

In November 2006, Colletti signed light-hitting outfielder Juan Pierre to a five-year, $44 million contract. One month later, he handed free-agent pitcher Jason Schmidt a three-year, $47 million deal.

Pierre is not an everyday player. Schmidt went 1-4 with a 6.31 ERA in six starts in 2007, had shoulder surgery and is getting lit up in his rehabilitation with the 51s.

Colletti made another reckless decision last offseason by giving a two-year, $36.2 million contract to out-of-shape outfielder Andruw Jones.

The Dodgers' young stars -- catcher Russell Martin, first baseman James Loney, outfielders Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp and pitchers Chad Billingsley and Jonathan Broxton -- were prospects inherited by Colletti. Now, he's talking about trading one or two of them.

McCourt should cut his losses and can Colletti before he tries to deal for Barry Zito.

• GRIN AND BEAR IT -- NFL training camps are opening, and that means a few good quarterback competitions. And one really bad one, in the case of the Chicago Bears.

The duel between Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton is something Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times cannot bear to watch.

Mariotti wrote: "Settle back and swallow the reality that Orton should be -- and will be, I predict -- the latest glorified mannequin to fill the (Bears') traditional black hole. It's pro football's lamest QB controversy ever. It's like going to a restaurant and seeing only Spam and chopped liver on the dinner menu."

• BILLY THE KID -- After announcing 34 Final Fours, and lasting 27 years as CBS's lead college basketball analyst, 68-year-old Billy Packer is out of the game, finally.

Packer will be missed -- missed for his crankiness, ignorant criticisms of mid-major programs and his incessant, insufferable second-guessing.

In recent years, Packer was an expert on Duke and North Carolina, and little else. During the 2007 NCAA Tournament, he referred to UNLV as the champion of the "Big Mountain Conference."

He also once called former Georgetown guard Allen Iverson a "tough little monkey." Packer apologized for that remark.

Real sorry to see you go, Billy.

COMPILED BY MATT YOUMANS REVIEW-JOURNAL