That's $20 million less than the Dodgers offered Manny Ramirez. Dunn is not Ramirez, mind you. But he's 7 1/2 years younger, said to be in the best shape of his career and the only major leaguer to hit 40 or more homers in each of the past five seasons.

Not a bad alternative. Not bad at all.

At the moment, the Dodgers are focused on pitching, talking to free-agent closer Trevor Hoffman as well as other starters and relievers.

They will not act on Dunn until they exhaust their options with Ramirez, according to major-league sources.

However, general manager Ned Colletti favors short-term, high-dollar deals and prefers Dunn to Bobby Abreu, the other top left-handed hitting free agent, sources say.

Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras, might scoff at the notion of the Dodgers signing Dunn instead of Ramirez, who not only performed brilliantly after arriving from the Red Sox last season, but also was big box office.

Ramirez, however, does not appear to have another prominent suitor. If the Dodgers indeed went for Dunn, where would Boras turn?