BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Lasorda Says He’s Not Ready to Retire

Tom Lasorda said he is happy being the club’s manager and doesn’t want to be a general manager until he retires from the dugout. After 17 seasons, he still is not ready to quit.

“I love managing and I feel great, but I don’t know how they feel,” Lasorda said Monday, referring to Dodger President Peter O’Malley.

“Why would I want to be a general manager and go into the office every day, when I can be a manager and only work seven months out of the year?” Lasorda asked.

Lasorda said he does not want Dodger Executive Vice President Fred Claire’s job, and that he told Claire and O’Malley that in a meeting, although he would not specify when that meeting took place. Lasorda spoke about the subject in response to recent published reports speculating about his future and his relationship with Claire.

Lasorda is in the last year of his contract.

“I liked Fred before he became the general manager, and I like him now,” Lasorda said. “Sure, we have different ideas, but don’t my wife and I have different ideas?”

Lasorda said that after general manager Al Campanis was fired in 1987, he met with O’Malley to discuss the club’s situation. “We felt it was better for the team for me to stay as the manager and for Fred to become the general manager,” said Lasorda, who would not say whether O’Malley offered him the position.

“Look, if I wanted to be a general manager, I would have been. I could have gone to the Yankees or to the Braves. They both offered me the job of being both the general manager and manager.”

Lasorda said he stayed with the Dodgers because of loyalty.