O’Malley and Claire to Meet Again With Lasorda Today

Tom Lasorda’s future as the Dodgers’ manager remained in limbo Tuesday after the first of two scheduled meetings with Peter O’Malley and Fred Claire.

When asked if Lasorda was going to be allowed to fulfill the final year of his contract next season, O’Malley, the Dodgers’ president, said: “All I’m going to say is, we’re going to meet again. I’m not going to comment further until the appropriate time.”

Their second meeting will be held today. Lasorda said if it is like Monday’s meeting, their only discussions will be player personnel.

“We just talked about players, nothing else came up,” Lasorda said late Tuesday.

When told of O’Malley’s reluctance to give him a vote of confidence for next season, Lasorda did not seem alarmed.

“Maybe he wants to see what I’m thinking, I don’t know,” Lasorda said. “But I know Peter has the right to give you whatever quotes he feels are appropriate.”

Lasorda added: “I can’t worry about things that I can’t control.”

Sources say O’Malley wants a decision from Lasorda before the sale of the Giants’ franchise is decided and before it is confirmed that Lasorda’s friend, Vince Piazza, will be a part of a group that wants to move the team from San Francisco to St. Petersburg, Fla.

Sources have confirmed that while Piazza is still legally a partner in the Tampa Bay group that is trying to move the Giants to St. Petersburg, his name was omitted from a recent list of partners submitted to major league baseball.

This submission occurred after the ownership committee expressed reservations about the size of Piazza’s out-of-state investment.

Confirmation of Piazza’s stake in the new group will apparently not be clarified until after a decision is made on the sale of the club.