Dodgers Moving Quickly on Alou

The Dodgers are quickly moving closer to hiring Felipe Alou as their manager because of the unstable ownership situation in Montreal, baseball sources said Tuesday.

Dodger President Bob Graziano and General Manager Kevin Malone are scheduled to meet with Alou in the Dominican Republic on Thursday. They will offer Alou a multiyear contract to become only the fifth manager the Dodgers have had since moving to Los Angeles from Brooklyn in 1958.

If all goes as planned, sources said, the Dodgers expect Alou to decide this weekend. They hope to introduce him at a news conference early next week.

“Yes, I’m going to go there to sit down with Felipe and see if we can get something accomplished, but I wouldn’t say anything is close to being completed,” said Malone, who also plans to tour the club’s Campo Las Palmas training facility, which was damaged extensively by Hurricane Georges.

“There are many things that I need to explain to Felipe about what the Dodger organization has to offer, about what we’re trying to accomplish, and what my vision of his role would be in helping us achieve our goals. This is obviously an important time for us because we need to get a manager in place as soon as possible.

“We have a lot of work to do, and bringing [Alou] on board would complete another big piece of our puzzle. I hope that Felipe will view this as a good fit, because I certainly believe it would be.”

The Expo ownership consortium is expected to announce today that, because of lack of government support, plans for a new ballpark have stalled. As a result, the club is expected to be put up for sale, increasing the uncertainty about the organization’s future in Montreal.

Last week, a high-ranking major league official said the Expos weren’t expected to meet their financing goals to build a stadium.

When asked recently about his situation, Alou said it would take “a new stadium and stability” for him to remain with the Expos if other teams expressed interest in him. The Dodgers on Monday received the Expos’ permission to interview Alou.

Contacted Tuesday at his home near Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, Alou acknowledged that the pace has quickened.

“I’m not a veteran of these situations, but I have been told by different people that the Dodgers want to do business, and they want to do it quickly,” Alou said. “I’m not in a hurry to leave the Expos, and I’m not in a hurry to have another team make an offer.

“I’m going to go into this with an open mind. I’m going to be frank with them and see how it goes.”

Malone declined to discuss specifics about the package Alou will be offered, but sources said the Dodgers, with the support of the Fox Group, are intent on signing him.

The Expo field leader is making $600,000 in the second year of a three-year, $1.8-million deal--considerably below market value for a manager considered among the best in the major leagues. The Expos have offered Alou a multiyear extension with a slight raise, and the Dodgers are prepared to dwarf that offer.

The Dodgers are expected to almost double Alou’s current package on a three-year deal, paying him $1-1.2 million annually. That would put Alou on a par with the other top managers.

Jim Leyland became the game’s highest-paid manager when he agreed to a three-year, $6-million deal to take over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday. Leyland, who earned $1.5 million annually while he managed the Florida Marlins, knocked Tony La Russa of the St. Louis Cardinals off the top spot. La Russa has a three-year, $5-million deal.

Alou has been Malone’s top choice to run the Dodgers next season since Malone assumed control of baseball operations Sept. 11. And Alou’s position has grown stronger because Leyland went to Colorado, making Alou one of the few remaining high-profile candidates.

The Dodger payroll is expected to exceed $70 million next season, and Graziano and Malone won’t entrust their team to an inexperienced manager. The Dodgers, in fact, are so eager to hire a big-name manager that they made another run at Leyland on Sunday--just in case Alou remains in Montreal--after he had declined to interview for the job earlier in the week.

“I don’t want to get into details [about an offer], but I consider Felipe to be one of the best managers in the game,” Malone said. “Felipe brings many things to a team, and there are other people [in the Dodger organization] who also recognize that.”

If Alou unexpectedly remains in Montreal, Malone probably will turn to Davey Johnson or Kevin Kennedy. Johnson, who is out of baseball, managed the Baltimore Orioles while Malone was their assistant general manager.

Kennedy, a baseball analyst for ESPN, worked with Malone in Montreal and managed the Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers.

The presence of Tom Lasorda, senior vice president, might dissuade Alou from joining the Dodgers, sources in Montreal said.

Alou and Lasorda are not friends, and those close to Alou said the Dodger situation is less attractive to him if Lasorda remains in a visible role.

Speaking generally about Lasorda’s position in the organization, Malone said Lasorda wouldn’t be a problem for Alou.

“Tommy just wants to help the Dodgers win, and he has been a big help for me,” Malone said. “But Tommy understands that I make the final decisions about the baseball operations.”

*

According to baseball sources, former Dodger coach Joe Amalfitano is expected to be offered the job as bench coach under Leyland with the Rockies.

* BELANGER DIES: Mark Belanger, one of the best fielding shortstops ever, died of lung cancer at 54. Page 6

* NEW ROLE FOR LACHEMANN: Angel coach Marcel Lachemann will become the team’s minor league field coordinator. Page 6