The Hollywood approach has rarely worked in baseball.

Teams need to get fans to form an allegiance with the team for years to come. Focusing on a single player only works in the here-and-now. And the string of what-ifs -- injuries, trade, free agency, a significant slump -- make marketing a team based on a single player or two too risky.

Several seasons back, the Los Angeles Dodgers made the point that it was a team effort by hanging enormous murals of players outside the stadium. They picked players from the April roster who, by mid-summer, were either on the disabled list, in the minors, riding the pine or had been traded.

But it drove the point home: Be careful when you promote an individual in a team sport. Market the product, in this case the Dodgers, the way you would a film franchise such as "Star Trek."

Manny Ramirez...