BEVERLY HILLS -- Before receiving the Jane Wyman Humanitarian Award from the Southern California chapter of the Arthritis Foundation Wednesday night, Dodgers manager Joe Torre was surrounded by autograph seekers whose questions focused on Manny Ramirez.

Torre's focus, however, seems elsewhere. It might be unfair or unwise to read too much into it, but Torre's comments to reporters emphasized Rafael Furcal, Andruw Jones and Russell Martin, and finding a replacement starting rotation ace with the likely free-agent departures of Derek Lowe and Brad Penny.

"We haven't closed the door on anything," said Torre, when asked if the Dodgers could land both Ramirez and CC Sabathia, even though they might get neither free agent. "We all know what Manny did, we know what Sabathia did for Milwaukee and Cleveland and what he's capable of doing. We certainly are interested in helping the club in those areas. Starting pitching for sure, and that part of the order. But Raffy can't take a back seat to anybody, as far as I'm concerned."

While the market appears murky for the 36-year-old Ramirez seeking a megadeal in years and dollars -- the Dodgers withdrew their initial offer, but plan to resume negotiations -- the 31-year-old Furcal is a hot commodity at shortstop, even though he missed five months with back surgery. Concern over his health has kept the Dodgers from blowing him away with an offer as they did three years ago.

"[General manager] Ned [Colletti] and I talked yesterday," said Torre. "Ned's investigated a lot of avenues. We're not even close to doing anything. Ned's certainly not sitting back having things come to him. I pretty much know what's going on. Right now, the situation is, we've talked about the people we're interested in. The flavor of the day, obviously, is Manny. Everywhere we go, people ask. We'd love to have him back.

"The guy now that's certainly important for us is Furcal. It's all about trying to do the right thing for both parties. Now it's up to both sides to find a way that everybody's comfortable with. There's concern about last year, but he's a young man. If you sign him, you want him on the field. That's why I'm happy I'm the manager and not the general manager."

The Yankees have already presented a staggering six-year, $140 million offer to Sabathia, while the Dodgers have expressed interest without making him an offer. Torre's mantra is pitching and more of it, but the Dodgers aren't showing the appetite for even the second tier of free-agent pitchers, that market established this week when the Cubs re-signed Ryan Dempster for four years and $52 million.

Torre hinted that a solution for an ace could come through a trade. Jake Peavy is the obvious one being shopped and would waive his veto rights to pitch in Los Angeles, but the Padres would need to back down from demands of three key players, because at that price the Dodgers would be creating more holes than filling.

Randy Johnson is an intriguing alternative. His agent, Barry Meister, said the Dodgers "certainly are way up on the list. I look forward to talking with the Dodgers."

Johnson won 17 games in back-to-back seasons for Torre in New York, but the manager wavered on whether Johnson was the answer.

"There's something about being a Hall of Fame-bound guy," Torre said of Johnson. "He came to New York and got off on the wrong foot with the camera thing [shoving a camera in a sidewalk incident the day he was being introduced as a Yankee], and it wasn't his fault and he just never got past that. From there on, he wanted to try to show people he was not that guy and put pressure on himself."

He pitched 184 innings while winning 11 games for the Diamondbacks this year. Can he do that again, with more than 4,000 innings on the odometer?

"That's the question," said Torre. "How old is he? He's sure an interesting figure, we know that. He wants to get 300 wins. The only question, then, is how long a guy like that can be at the top of a rotation. Going back to Arizona, that's his place, he was very comfortable there. I'm sure that had something to do with it."

Arizona broke off talks with Johnson last week. The Dodgers also have had bad luck lately with players whose previous teams have not tried to keep them (Jason Schmidt, Luis Gonzalez, Jones).

Speaking of Jones, Torre spoke to him by phone Wednesday and learned the five-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove Award winner will continue the rehabilitation of his career next month playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic.

"All the reports we're getting are very positive," Torre said. "We're going to have him play in games. You can practice all you want, the biggest part is playing in games. I went through this the year after I won the MVP. You start thinking mechanically and you can't operate that way. You've got to trust your ability and not think about it."

Jones hit .158 with three homers, 14 RBIs and one knee operation in one of the most precipitous declines baseball has ever seen. He told teammates he didn't want to return to Los Angeles, but did not repeat that to Torre, who indicated that Jones' problems this year weren't all physical.

"He's got to come to Spring Training knowing it's different," Torre said. "That's the only way he can clear his head. He was psychologically exhausted. He suffered. He was hurt with the knee surgery, but he had a lot going on with a start as bad as he had. It was like trying to climb out of a hole and keep slipping back in. He's a good guy. Whatever happened this year, I'm sure he wishes he could change the way it started out."

As for Martin, Torre rejected chatter that a position change to third base is being considered.

"Right now, Russell is the catcher," Torre said. "You don't find guys with his ability to catch and hit like him. It's nice to have the flexibility he gives you to move him around, especially in the National League."