Dodger Failure Isn’t Fault of Lasorda, O’Malley Says

The changes that have been sweeping through the Dodgers’ clubhouse will apparently stop short of the manager’s office.

Peter O’Malley, Dodger president, has absolved Tom Lasorda of blame for the team’s poor season and said that unless Lasorda wants to leave, he will “absolutely” return as manager for the final year of his contract.

“When we extended Tommy’s contract through 1993, we obviously both did it in good faith,” O’Malley said in a recent interview. “As far as I’m concerned, there has been no change.”

Speaking in his office after business hours, O’Malley answered questions about this “worst-case season” with his feet propped on his desk and his eyes sometimes wandering to the Dodger Stadium field below.

He spoke of being in last place as a sort of disease for which no team is immune during these days of frequent player movement and lengthy injuries.

He vowed that while his philosophy of relying on the minor league system is finally paying off again, he would not hesitate to seek help through the free-agent market again next winter.

The only time he smiled was when he talked of his manager.

“I don’t think you can blame (Lasorda) or give him credit for injuries or circumstances that we have this season,” O’Malley said. “It’s just not right.”

Despite speculation that Lasorda might move to the expansion team in Miami, he said he wants to return for his 17th season.

“If they want me back, I want to come back,” Lasorda said. “I’m more frustrated than ever before, sure, but I’ve still got the energy. I still want to do it.”

Lasorda’s future with the Dodgers off the field, however, is less certain. It is expected that he will move to the front office after next season, but O’Malley could offer no specifics.

“Nobody knows if (Lasorda) will manage ‘X’ more years, or what the other pieces to the puzzle are,” O’Malley said. “To say today that he is going to become a vice president, president, chairman of board or whatever, that is hypothetical. We just don’t know what other pieces in puzzle will be whenever that time comes.”

O’Malley said he could not respond to the hypothetical question of whether he would give Lasorda permission to talk to other teams about jobs while he is still under contract.

“I don’t want to face it today, I don’t think it will ever come up,” O’Malley said. “But if it does, I will cross that bridge then.”

Standing between Lasorda and his dream job of putting together the Dodgers is Fred Claire, Dodger vice president, who was also given a vote of confidence by O’Malley.

“I can’t second-guess the moves we will make in the off-season,” said O’Malley, who noted that he still supports the trade for Eric Davis. “We had a plan, the plan did not materialize. It can’t be fair or accurate to say Dodgers didn’t have a plan.

“Do we need a total overhaul? No. Circumstances don’t warrant a total overhaul or cleaning of house.”

Despite criticism that the Dodgers were seriously hurt by Claire’s failure to anticipate problems in the infield and bullpen, O’Malley said their main problem was two-fold.

Davis and Darryl Strawberry.

“I am not putting everything on them but . . . the offense we expected out of them in just an average year, together with our pitching, this was the heart of our club,” O’Malley said.

“Eric and Darryl would lead our offense. . . . That was the plan. But Darryl is hurt, and Eric is playing hurt. Our plan just hasn’t worked out.”

O’Malley said that the Dodgers’ biggest failing, a 12-26 record in one-run games, could have been changed with a couple of big swings from Davis or Strawberry.

“The one-run games that we lost, had Eric or Darryl been able to play, seems to me we would have won half of those one-run games, or maybe one-third of them,” he said. “And the standings would be totally different.”

O’Malley said the problems of Davis and Strawberry are typical of a larger problem throughout baseball.

Any chance of the Dodgers winning again simply because of their tradition, he implied, are dead.

“The Dodgers are not immune to what is happing in the industry . . . with player movement and time spent on the disabled list,” O’Malley said. “The fact that players are moving from one team to another more than ever before creates a totally different chemistry on the club than (the chemistry of) an infield that came up through the minors together and played a long time at major league level.

“You will not see that happen again. You will not only not see it happen in Cleveland, you will not see it happen in Los Angeles because of the conditions of the industry.”

He compared this season’s team, in a reverse fashion, to the Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins of 1991.

“Last year, the two teams in the World Series both finished last the previous year,” he said. “Last year we spent more than 100 days in first place, and this year we might spend more than 100 days in last place. That’s what baseball is today. There is an extraordinary movement up and down with teams.”

But O’Malley emphasized that he is making no excuses for this season.

“This was not a rebuilding year,” he said. “You do not rebuild with a payroll that is the second highest of major league clubs.”

O’Malley added that the Dodgers did not plan to rebuild next year, either, meaning Claire will be free to pursue more free agents.

“You can’t overreact,” O’Malley said. “You can’t say in 1992, we were stung because we had the second-highest payroll and as of July 30 we were in last place.

“You can’t jump from that to the conclusion that well, we’re going to stay out of the free-agent market. You just don’t make decisions that way.

“We will not rule any option out. To put together a contending team, you must make use of opportunities that are available to you.”

O’Malley said his outlook has brightened recently while watching the Dodgers’ home-grown infield, particularly Eric Karros and Jose Offerman.

“I talk to people all the time who remember when (Steve) Garvey had trouble throwing for accuracy . . . or when (Sandy) Koufax couldn’t throw a strike,” O’Malley said. “Fans are seeing Eric Karros in his first season. Maybe 10 years from now, people could be saying, ‘I remember Eric Karros when he was a rookie.’

“That’s fun. And while there is no optimism for this season, we are very optimistic about what is ahead.”