If You Thought Dodger Changes Were Over . . .

Dodger fans, of course, are interested only in the product that new General Manager Kevin Malone puts on the field.

Ultimately, however, the lineup he fields in the front office will have the biggest impact on his and his team’s future.

Malone didn’t bring a broom to his introductory news conference at Dodger Stadium on Friday, but a housecleaning is likely.

He put it in terms of anticipated changes to the “structure and hierarchy” of the Dodgers.

Translated: Those personal service contracts that former owner Peter O’Malley gave farm director Charlie Blaney and scouting director Terry Reynolds, among others, will soon be useful.

Fred Claire might have desk space at his new office in Pasadena.

Malone met with Blaney and Reynolds on Friday to offer assurances that there will be no immediate changes, but bet on this: Change is coming.

There will be new farm and scouting directors, in addition to the hiring of a personnel director or assistant general manager.

“Of course, there are a group of people I feel confident in to do certain jobs,” said the Baltimore Orioles’ former assistant general manager.

“There are people I’d like to be in the trenches with because I know their commitment to getting things done.”

Some of those people are under contract. He wouldn’t identify them, but here are names to keep in mind as Malone rebuilds the front office, with his emphasis on overhauling the farm and scouting systems:

Ed Creech, scouting director of the St. Louis Cardinals; Bill Geivett, special assistant to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ general manager; Fred Ferreira, director of international operations with the Montreal Expos; Jim Tracy, the Expos’ bench coach; Jay Robertson, a major league scout with the Cleveland Indians; Terry Ryan, who is general manager of the Minnesota Twins but said to be unhappy with the daily demands of that job, and Kevin Kennedy, the former Texas Ranger and Boston Red Sox manager who currently works for ESPN and was farm director of the Expos when Malone was scouting director.

All have roots in Montreal, where Malone, whose own scouting roots extend to the sandlots of San Fernando, kept the talent line running as both scouting director and general manager despite severe financial restrictions.

Malone will have vastly different resources with the Dodgers, but if the aim is to build from within--as Fox chairman Peter Chernin said Friday--he will find a bare cupboard.

There appears to be no immediate help, and the series of quick fix deals by interim General Manager Tom Lasorda--sending Paul Konerko, Dennis Reyes, Wilton Guerrero, Peter Bergeron and others packing--further depressed the system.

The Dodger situation, in fact, will tax all of Malone’s acknowledged adaptability.

In Montreal, where he was executive of the year in 1994 when the Expos had the Atlanta Braves beat in the East only to have the players’ strike interrupt the season, the frustrating finances ultimately prompted Malone to leave after the 1995 season, which began with his mandated sell-off of Ken Hill, John Wetteland and Marquis Grissom in a four-day period in the spring.

In Baltimore, where he was assistant to Pat Gillick, he had the financial resources, but the Gillick/Malone team had to cope with the meddling of owner Peter Angelos. A fed-up Gillick will leave at the end of the season. He is ostensibly retiring, but could resurface as general manager of the Colorado Rockies or Seattle Mariners.

Malone inherits a barren farm system and a payroll that will exceed $60 million next year even before his first phone call.

He is locked into seemingly untradeable contracts (such as Bobby Bonilla’s and Jose Vizcaino’s), has a closer (Jeff Shaw) who can demand a trade, has five key players eligible for arbitration and another four eligible for free agency, and has ongoing lineup problems:

No consistent left-handed hitter, no left fielder, no No. 1 pitcher and no definitive solution at third base, although Adrian Beltre has generated hope at times.

Would one free agent--eating up another $10 million a year of Fox dollars--solve the problems?

No, but Bernie Williams, the New York Yankees’ switch-hitting center fielder, would come closer than Mike Piazza.

A formidable outfield of Gary Sheffield in left, Williams in center and Raul Mondesi in right would change the Dodger complexion in a hurry.

Of course, George Steinbrenner will never allow his MVP candidate to leave the Bronx.

Malone faces two other major issues.

* He will certainly hire a new manager and can be expected to pursue the acclaimed Felipe Alou, who has one year at $600,000 remaining on his Montreal contract but would be given permission to talk, according to Expo sources who said that only Malone’s presence would tempt Alou to consider the Dodgers.

Jim Leyland, Davey Johnson (whose Oriole ties were closer to Gillick than Malone) and Kennedy are among other possibilities--unless Malone wants to reestablish the brutally severed but sorely needed links to Dodger tradition by hiring the untested but knowledgeable and aggressive Davey Lopes.

* While Malone has full authority over playing personnel and most front office changes, Lasorda lingers as senior vice president, requiring a delicate handling by the new general manager. Malone seems to sense that. He made several positive references to Lasorda during Friday’s news conference and has asked Lasorda to accompany him on the team’s next trip so that they can discuss the personnel.

Lasorda’s ego is still easily bruised, and Malone, with everything else, has to remember that.

Some have suggested that Claire and Bill Russell carry the scars.