CHURNIN' RIGHT ALONG : After a Winter of Changes, Fox's Chernin Says Primary Concern Is to Make the Dodgers Winners

By JASON REID

Feb. 20, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

VERO BEACH, Fla. —

Almost a year has passed since the Fox Group bought the Dodgers, ending baseball’s oldest family reign.

Much has changed and more will, but as the ballclub began spring training Friday, winning remains the ultimate goal, even as the Dodgers redefine themselves, those now in control say.

In his first interview on the state of the franchise, Peter Chernin, co-chief operating officer of Fox Group’s parent company, News Corp., told The Times that Fox is committed to supporting the Dodgers’ efforts financially, praised the planning of President Bob Graziano and General Manager Kevin Malone, and reaffirmed that Fox is on board for the long term.

Moreover, Chernin said Fox’s enthusiasm has not waned since it bought the club last March, despite problems the organization experienced on and off the field last season.

Fox wanted the Dodgers and, Chernin said, the media giant is determined to make the deal work.

“I don’t think anything that has happened [with the Dodgers] was sort of a process that we shouldn’t have expected,” Chernin, who is co-top lieutenant with Chase Carey under News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, said from Los Angeles. “I certainly don’t think anyone could say we’ve been surprised, or that we feel that we came in and we were surprised. We bought [the team] and then we started the appropriate process of trying to figure out how to manage it. We looked at what had to be done, what didn’t have to be done, and we’re trying to deal with the people we had there to help us through this.”

There have been sweeping management changes, notably the firings of general manager Fred Claire and manager Bill Russell in June. And the changes continued in the off-season, both in Los Angeles and the minor leagues.

Longtime team officials who survived the purge said many of the moves would have occurred anyway, because of the team’s postseason flops in the ‘90s. The Dodgers have not won a playoff game since their World Series victory in 1988, and the farm system, for a variety of reasons, has fallen into disrepair.

Some club officials clung to the club’s five consecutive National League rookie-of-the-year awards from 1992-96 as proof that the system was producing. But decision makers have said the Dodgers have long had major problems in scouting and development.

Chernin supports the belief that former owner Peter O’Malley would have had to make difficult changes, had he remained.

“Absolutely,” Chernin said. “Peter, better than we did, recognized that there were things that had to be done. Peter was very clear with us when we were going through the process [of buying the team] that there was work that needed to be done.”

O’Malley maintained his office at Dodger Stadium until the end of last year and Graziano often sought his advice, Chernin said.

“There is not a single change that was made last year that wasn’t made without Peter,” he added.

But last season’s surprises, among them the trading of former franchise player Mike Piazza, made Fox an easy target for restless fans. And the club’s sputtering on the field didn’t help the new owner’s image.

“People don’t like change,” Chernin said. “There was frustration with the way the team was performing, and it’s a pretty easy target to sort of say, ‘Big, bad media company.’ But I think anyone who has been in jobs like this, you know it comes with the territory.

“God knows, I’m sure that some of the things we did will work out well, and some of the things we’ll do will turn out to be not so smart. But I don’t think there’s anybody who can really look at it and say these guys are doing anything other than trying to build a winning team.

“As far as I’m concerned, the Nos. 1 through 10 obligations that we have to the fans of this city are to try to build a winning team.”

Chernin and Carey have endorsed Graziano and Malone in their attempt to rebuild the organization, increasing the payroll from $48 million at the start of last season to potentially $84 million this season. The front-office budget has risen in other areas as well.

Chernin and Carey are willing to spend more in the short term to fill holes, but throwing money at problems forever isn’t the way they operate.

“The most prudent way to economically manage one of these operations is to have a mix of big-name established players, and then a really strong group of up-and-coming talent being fed [to the major leagues] on a normal basis,” Chernin said. “That was something we spent a lot of time talking to Kevin [Malone] about when we hired him, but we’re a couple of years away from having that system run quite as smoothly as we’d like.”

But with Fox investing so much in this season’s team, what type of return are they expecting?

“Do we have to win [this season]? No,” Chernin said. “In sport, with all the dynamics involved on this level of competition, that you can sort of write a couple of checks, wipe your hands together and say, ‘That’s taken care of. We won. There!’ It’s not that easy.

“I don’t look at this as sort of being a do-or-die thing, where it’s all about this season. I hope we have a really successful season--I’d love to be . . . in the World Series. But a lot of things can go wrong, so we do approach it over several years.”

The key, Chernin said, is that the Dodgers have the right people and a sound plan.

“What we’ve tried to do is provide people, who we have enormous faith and confidence in, with the tools to have a better shot,” he said.

“The one thing I hope that will characterize us more than anything is that we’re not in this for the short term. If you look at any of our businesses, this is a company that has been characterized by long-term successes. That’s our view of the Dodgers--we’re in this for the long term.”

* ROSS NEWHAN: Forget everything else, winning is what counts, Chernin says. Page 9

* DODGERS: Brown has that huge contract, but he says his role is the same. Page 9

* ANGELS: Vaughn doing more greeting than leading in clubhouse. Page 9

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Dodger Front Office

How the Dodger front office shapes up entering the 1999 season:

* Board of directors: Chase Carey, Peter Chernin, Bob Graziano, Sam Fernandez.

* President and chief executive: Graziano.

* Executive vice president and general manager: Kevin Malone.

* Vice president: Tom Lasorda.

DODGERS

Record: