Money and Power Are Keys to Dodger Search

If the Dodgers, in their search for a general manager, are offering an opportunity for power and glory, they’d better be offering power and money.

If they expect to land John Hart or Billy Beane-- an established general manager as opposed to a promising assistant-- they’d better be willing to cede autocracy and pay handsomely, in salary to Hart or Beane, and compensation to the Cleveland Indians or Oakland Athletics.

This is not to say that Hart and Beane are the automatic choices. The Dodgers could go in another direction. Or Hart and Beane could find it contractually impossible to leave their current jobs.

The suggestion here, however, is that if the Dodgers expect to land the credentialed general manager needed to rebuild the foundation and restore credibility, if they expect to romance Hart or Beane in May of a season that has five months remaining, three things are required. Call it reality. Call it industry buzz:

* Money. Either Hart or Beane would require a contract of at least three years at a minimum of $1 million a year, with

$1.5 million more like it.

The Indians or A’s would also have to be compensated in dollars and/or minor league players.

This shouldn’t be an issue. The Dodgers have an industry-high payroll of

$110 million. Are they going to look for a bargain GM to operate it?

* Power. Either Hart or Beane will want complete authority, which could be more of a problem than the finances.

Chairman Bob Daly, a power broker during his studio and entertainment career and a man still learning the complexities of his new business, insists he was forced into the middle of the daily baseball operation under Kevin Malone because of the many gaffes by the departed GM. He insists he can be happy if the new GM provides a 15-minute update daily.

Skepticism is rampant. Hart or Beane might be more inclined to provide those updates monthly, rather than daily.

* Housecleaning. Daly has expressed admiration and support for Malone’s remaining staff. Whether he means it or is simply hoping to quiet apprehension among the staff as it prepares for the June draft and handles the daily routine, a general manager of the Hart/Beane stature is going to insist on his own people as part of a housecleaning that won’t end in the front office.

It is doubtful that either Hart or Beane would tolerate a situation in which one agent represents a third of the 25-man roster and has the ear of the chairman to the extent that Scott Boras does. No general manager would want to dump all eight of Boras’ clients. Several are too valuable to the team and have contracts that make trading them difficult. However, a few would surely go in time, lessening the agent’s influence and bypassing the Daly-Boras hot line.

So, assuming the Dodgers are willing to pay the price, grant the power and give a new general manager permission to hire his own staff, where does the search stand?

The Dodgers insist it has not begun. Nor have they even compiled a list.

That is at odds, however, with industry sources who claim there have been back-channel inquiries into the interest of both Hart and Beane, plus Jim Duquette, senior assistant to New York Met General Manager Steve Phillips.

Duquette and Dave Wallace, the Dodgers’ interim GM, developed a close relationship while Wallace was with the Mets as the pitching coach and assistant GM. However, Duquette has already received subtle assurances from Met co-owner Nelson Doubleday that he will become general manager when Phillips becomes club president--”Sooner or later, [Phillips] is going to become king of the castle,” Doubleday told New York reporters the other day--and he also has a contract clause stipulating the Mets can deny permission for clubs to talk with him, even if it’s for a higher position.

In addition, for all of the respect people have for Duquette, he has never been the man in charge, and the Dodgers’ situation, in the wake of the Malone embarrassment, seems to demand an established, high-profile general manager who has the experience to chart a course through the soaring payroll, the inflexible contracts and the fallow farm system.

The industry is watching closely. Daly, wary of a high-profile rejection, could still decide that his power roots run too deep to do anything but remain in the spotlight by hiring a more anonymous GM who is now in an assistant position, as Fox did with Malone after Dave Dombrowski rejected the GM offer.

In that dubious case, rather than look elsewhere, many in the organization think Daly would be better off trying to persuade the respected Wallace to remain in the role full-time or appointing an in-house replacement and surrounding him with proven baseball administrators--if they can find any willing to take a secondary position to an unproven GM.

The Dodgers went a similar route with Fred Claire after the Al Campanis crisis, but that was an organization deep in front-office baseball experience and talent, a less complex time economically.

Now, the Dodgers are at a credibility crossroads. Does the inexperienced Daly and staff know how to go about this? Do they act now or wait until the season ends and the field of candidates possibly expands, losing the five months in which a new GM could be making evaluations--and moves? Hart and Beane boast proven records. The Cleveland GM is turning the reins over to assistant Mark Shapiro at the end of the year. The Oakland GM is said to privately wonder if the A’s have gone as far as they can go because of the uncertain stadium, ownership and financial situations.

They are both known to be thinking blue and casting covetous eyes toward Los Angeles but won’t lobby for the job while under contracts they might have difficulty escaping.

For the Dodgers, venturing that money and power, there is much to be gained.