Following this morning's great Tim Brown column in the Times (and ensuing interesting dicussion), new Dodger beat writer Steve Henson knocks one for extra bases with a provocative piece on Paul DePodesta.

And yes, Henson smoothly gets at both the praise and criticism of DePodesta ...

And yes, The Fountainhead is back ...

Architect is a description the Harvard-educated DePodesta would find flattering because the fictional character he admires most is Howard Roark, the fiercely independent architect in Ayn Rand's 1943 novel, "The Fountainhead."

Fans alarmed at the wholesale shakeup of the Dodgers probably feel DePodesta is more interested in detonating dynamite than in drawing up the blueprint for a winning team. Not that he would be insulted — Roark too blew things up when he deemed it necessary.

Here, for me, is the toughest Roark to swallow.

DePodesta didn't return agent Scott Boras' phone call the day Beltre agreed to terms with the Seattle Mariners because Beltre, he of a monstrous 2004 season after six years of inconsistency, was not part of the plan.

To this day, this sounds oversimplistic to me - the idea that Beltre was not part of the plan. At a minimum, I can't believe he wasn't of part a plan - whether or not that became the ultimate plan. If that's the case, I disagree. But I really don't know if this should be taken at face value.

As a postscript, I'm wondering now how Roarkian I am with my approach to this site.