DODGER SHAKEUP

In yet the most significant change in the reshaping of the Dodgers, Executive Vice President Fred Claire and Manager Bill Russell were fired late Sunday night when the team failed to meet expectations accompanying a $57-million payroll.

Claire was succeeded by former manager Tom Lasorda and Glenn Hoffman, who managed the team’s triple-A Albuquerque farm club, replaced Russell in the latest stunning move in the franchise’s stormy season, its first under the Fox Group.

The Dodgers announced the management changes during a hastily arranged conference call with former owner Peter O’Malley, team President Bob Graziano and Lasorda.

Lasorda will occupy the position of general manager on an interim basis for the remainder of the season and assist Graziano in the selection process for a permanent replacement.

Hoffman will occupy the position on an interim basis as well, but Graziano said he could assume the position full time after the season, based on his performance.

Graziano informed Claire and Russell of his decision during a meeting Sunday night at Dodger stadium after the team returned from a disappointing six-game trip against National League West opponents that ended with Sunday’s 11-6 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

Graziano decided the sweeping and unprecedented changes were necessary because he believed the Dodgers weren’t playing to their potential under the low-key Russell.

Moreover, Graziano wasn’t pleased with the direction of the franchise in the wake of moves made by Claire, who assumed control of player personnel decisions in 1987.

“Peter O’Malley and I met with Fred and Bill earlier this evening and informed them that we were making a change,” Graziano said. “I spent a great deal of time over the past few days thinking about this and discussing it with Peter, and I felt a change needed to be made in order for the team to improve and get back on track.

“I mostly consulted with Peter O’Malley. Peter spent many years in the organization and many years with the people that this decision will impact.”

Said Lasorda: “I feel like I’ve been with the Dodger organization a long time, and anything I can do to make it a better organization I’m willing to do to help.”

Graziano made his decision Sunday afternoon. He informed his Fox Group superiors, Chase Carey and Peter Chernin, what he learning toward Friday. The decision was Graziano’s.

“Fred and I have been friends for a long time,” said O’Malley. “Our friendship and respect for one another will continue. Fred did an excellent job with the organization, and that will always be remembered.”

This ends a 33-year relationship that began when Russell, the former shortstop and coach, signed with the Dodgers out of high school in 1966.

He became the first Dodger manager to be fired since Charlie Dressen was replaced by Walter Alston after the 1953 season.

Despite completing the biggest trade of the baseball season--when the Dodgers sent catcher Mike Piazza to the Florida Marlins on May 15--the team has hovered around .500 for most of the season. After losing the final two games of the four-game series to the Rockies, the Dodgers returned to Los Angeles two games under .500, at 36-38.

They finished 2-4 in their six-game trip against National League West opponents, including being swept by the first-place San Diego Padres, and they now trail the Padres by 12 1/2 games.

The Dodgers payroll increased to about $57 million when all-stars Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla and Charles Johnson were acquired in the Piazza trade, and expectations of team officials soared.

But the Dodgers have been plagued by injuries and ineffectiveness, and they are only 17-16 since the blockbuster seven-player deal.

Ironically, the Dodger learned before the game that Al Campanis, whom Claire succeeded as general manger in 1987, died Sunday morning in his sleep at 81.

Campanis was chiefly responsible for building the franchise’s championship team in the 1970s and ‘80s.

“I think this will have a positive impact,” Graziano said. “Whether that will be substantive, I’m not sure. The fact of the matter was that we weren’t getting the job done. In my opinion, changes were in order to get the job done in the future. I look at the changes we’ve made and I feel more confident and optimistic about the second half of he season, rather than just with the status quo.”

This season Claire began his 30th year with the Doger organization. He rose from the ranks to become an executive vice president with wide-ranging duties before succeeding Campanis after he made racially charged comments during a Nightline interview on ABC.

Hoffman was 27-41 in his second season as manager at Albuquerque, his fifth season as a manager in the Dodger organization.

He had had only one winner in that time, leading Great Falls to a 46-24 mark in 1991, and has worked at many levels in the minor leagues, including the front office.

He is a former major league infielder, who broke in with the Boston Red Sox as a third baseman in 1980, playing there until moving to the Dodgers and playing for Lasorda in 1987 and ’88 before catching on with the Angels in 1989, when he retired.