Claire Says He Won’t Accept Diminished Role

Fox fielded its lineup of summer replacements Saturday night. Gary Sheffield took over in right field, Bobby Bonilla at third base and Charles Johnson behind the plate. Jim Eisenreich was available on the bench for the Dodgers as they played the Montreal Expos.

Upstairs, in the executive wing at Dodger Stadium, the lineup hadn’t changed. Fred Claire still sat behind his desk in the office of the executive vice president, but for how long?

Former owner Peter O’Malley gave Claire and other longtime executives three-year personal service contracts as protection amid the ownership change, but Claire is concerned now that his responsibility and authority over all player transactions has been compromised--an unacceptable situation, he said.

“I’m certainly well aware of the rights of ownership, and always have been,” Claire said, “but from the time I signed Mickey Hatcher [as a free agent] 12 years ago, there has never been a move where I didn’t have full authority and for which I didn’t take complete responsibility.

“That’s not to say I didn’t have to go to Peter occasionally and explain the financial ramifications, but I’ve never made a move and claimed it was what the owner or a manager wanted. I’ve always taken responsibility, which was a condition of the job when I took it and that’s how I’ve had it.

“Without having that responsibility, or having it change to the degree it did in this situation, is unacceptable.”

He referred to the fact that Chase Carey, chairman and chief executive of Fox Television, actually negotiated the final composition of the trade that sent Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile to the Florida Marlins for those four new Dodgers, along with pitching prospect Manuel Barrios.

Claire, who had laid some groundwork in trade conversations with Marlin counterpart Dave Dombrowski involving Eisenreich, was informed of the deal in a call from club president Bob Graziano Thursday night and made no effort to hide his limited role during the Friday night news conference during which it was officially announced.

Claire said Saturday he thinks it was an outstanding trade for the Dodgers in the short term, but that it carries serious financial ramifications in the future, and he will continue to sort out his own future in conversation with Graziano and Fox executives.

A one-time thing? Fine. If not. . .

“I’ve talked a little to Bob and the Fox people about it and will continue to talk about it until I’m satisfied that I’m comfortable moving on,” Claire said. “In fairness to Bob and Fox, they’ve reached out to assure me that my responsibility hasn’t changed and that this was a one-time thing. I’ll approach that in a positive fashion. I’ll believe it to be true and deal with it if I find that it’s not.”

Believe it, insisted Graziano, who said the deal simply came together quicker than anticipated, developing during a phone conversation between Carey and Marlin president Don Smiley to discuss Fox’s possible interest in buying a regional cable system owned by Marlin owner Wayne Huizenga.

“Fred has been and remains in complete control,” Graziano said. “With the exception of this deal, Fred has every reason to feel comfortable in his position. We’ve talked about it, but I think we’ll need to spend more time getting him comfortable with what happened.”

Claire acknowledged that “it would be unfair to Bob and people at Fox to say he had been left out of the loop” entirely. He had given his opinion and thoughts regarding the Piazza situation, a possible deal with the Marlins and the financial ramifications in the context “of the budget I had been given.”

“Anybody who pans the trade will get a hell of a debate from me,” Claire said. “I think it was an outstanding trade in the short term. We acquired a gifted defensive catcher in Johnson, the left-handed bat we need in Bonilla, a tremendous role player and left-handed hitter in Eisenreich and, of all the hitters we’ve faced, Sheffield is the most fearsome I’ve seen.

“I like it and I’m excited by it. I think we’re a better team because of it, but the financial implications stretch over several years, and anyone who thinks that doesn’t impact future roster moves is naive.”

The Dodger payroll went from $47.9 million to $57.7 million.

“Frankly, that caught me by surprise,” Claire said of Fox’s willingness to expand a budget that had been restricting his ability to fill critical holes. “It’s certainly changed as far as this year is concerned,” he said of the payroll, “and I assume it will change for next year. That’s something else I need to talk to Bob about. Where is it and how does it relate to future planning? You can’t go out and make moves without a road map.”

With Bonilla under contract for two more years and Sheffield for another five, the Dodgers have a degree of cost certainty that didn’t exist with Piazza. If Fox is going to spend more liberally, Claire acknowledged that it makes his job easier.

“Sure,” he said, “we start to compete on a different level. Since 1994, only the Braves, Yankees, Orioles and Indians have won more games than we have, and they’ve each spent an average of $15 million or $20 million more than we have.”

Said Graziano: “From a financial perspective, you have to look at the alternatives. What were we going to have to pay Piazza while still having to fill other holes on the club? It was going to take daunting numbers just to keep that team intact. I mean, Fox is willing to commit the revenue to field a competitive team while we look for ways to generate more revenue so that it’s not all coming out of Fox’s pocket.”

Fox will soon ask the city for approval to build 50 to 60 luxury boxes on the club level. Advertising signage will increase within the stadium. The Dodgers have a new array of marketable names, but the question remains:

Will Fred Claire be around to see how it works out?