BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : Offerman: Lasorda Is Worst Manager

Kansas City Royal shortstop Jose Offerman said Friday that the Dodgers’ Tom Lasorda is the worst manager in baseball, insisting that some Dodger players don’t like playing for him.

“You have to believe the Dodgers’ organization is the best,” Offerman said in Haines City, Fla. “But you also have to believe that they have the worst manager of any organization. I used to keep it quiet, but now that I belong to someone else, I can say it. . . .

“Believe me, I’m not the only one who thinks like that. Too many people have problems with him. He is the one who’s the problem, not me.

“[Dodger players] have been feeling that way for a long time, and they still have people there who don’t want to play for him.”

Offerman didn’t elaborate on Lasorda’s shortcomings before the Dodgers’ 10-4 victory over the Royals in the Grapefruit League opener. He did not blame Lasorda for the Dodgers’ failure to advance past the first round of the playoffs. Yet he accused Lasorda of playing favorites, saying that Lasorda never liked him.

When informed of Offerman’s comments, Lasorda repeatedly said that Offerman was entitled to his opinion. But he took exception that he was to blame for Offerman’s failures. Offerman made 139 errors in 571 games--including a major-league leading 35 errors last season before being benched in September.

“He has no right to criticize me, but if he wants to, that’s his prerogative,” Lasorda said. “If he wants to blame me for all of those errors he made, go ahead. But why blame me? What did I do to him? You guys [reporters] were the guys who wrote about his playing ability, not me. . . .

Offerman also accused Lasorda of laughing aloud when he made errors in the field, and said that if not for Fred Claire, Dodger executive vice president, he would never have played.

“That’s a big fat lie,” Lasorda said. “I have never laughed at a ballplayer who has played for me. And Fred’s not the manager, I am. Fred has never told me who to play and who not to play.”

*

Rookie Todd Hollandsworth, vying with Billy Ashley for the starting left-field job, hit a three-run homer in the Dodgers’ five-run sixth inning that broke the game open. Ashley went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts.