Claire Says Dodgers Put Trust in Avila

Fred Claire, former general manager of the Dodgers, said Friday that he had no knowledge of Adrian Beltre’s possible signing before he had reached the legal minimum of 16 and, if that happened, he considered it a violation of the trust and responsibility the organization had placed in Ralph Avila, the longtime vice president in charge of operations in the Dominican Republic.

Claire also said that if the charges are true, the commissioner’s office would be justified in declaring Beltre a free agent.

“If the rules were not followed correctly, any punishment would be proper, it’s that serious.”

In addition, he said, “if you can’t trust a man to operate properly, he shouldn’t be employed. I’m very, very disappointed. Quite frankly, we put a great deal of trust in Ralph Avila. No one knew or understood the rules better than he did.

“I don’t know the details, but if these charges are true and you carried them to the ultimate extent, then the general manager and club president [Peter O’Malley at the time] have to be responsible, and I’ll accept that. At the same time, every organization delegates authority and you don’t figure that a person of vice presidential stature is going to operate outside of the rules. If Peter O’Malley gave me an assignment it was carried out in ethical fashion. And any assignment delegated down the line should have been carried out in similar fashion.”

Neither Avila nor Pablo Peguerro, who recently replaced Avila as head of the club’s Dominican Academy, could be reached Friday when the Dodgers, bracing for Beltre’s possible departure as penalty for his allegedly illegal signing, acquired third baseman Kevin Orie from the Florida Marlins for a minor league player to be named.

In 77 games for the Marlins last season, Orie, 27, batted .254 with six home runs and 29 runs batted in. He was slowed by numerous injuries and lost the starting job to Mike Lowell after Lowell returned from cancer surgery.

The Marlins acquired Orie, who made $240,000 last season, from the Chicago Cubs on July 31, 1998. Orie failed to fulfill expectations in Chicago, and the Marlins were eager to trade him because they needed his spot on the 40-man roster to protect a top prospect during the upcoming Rule 5 draft.

The commissioner’s office has begun an investigation into the possible illegal signing of Beltre--revealed in Friday’s editions of The Times--that could lead to Beltre being declared a free agent because the Dodgers knowingly violated his rights, sources said. Scott Boras, Beltre’s agent, filed a petition with the commissioner’s office Thursday seeking free agency for his client.

Losing Beltre would severely affect the Dodgers’ short- and long-term plans. His current role on the team is key to payroll concerns.

Beltre has one year, 96 days of major league service. As a player with less than three years in the majors, Beltre is ineligible for salary arbitration.

The big-spending Dodgers are counting on Beltre--who made $220,000 last season--to have a relatively low salary the next few seasons. Even if they are permitted to negotiate with Beltre if he’s declared a free agent, they might not retain him in an expected bidding war.

With the addition of Orie, the Dodgers have three players with experience at third base on the 25-man roster, including utility player Jose Vizcaino and left-handed pinch-hitter Dave Hansen.

Vizcaino will make $3.5 million in the final year of his contract. Hansen recently agreed to a one-year, $475,000 contract extension.

Beltre, 20, batted .275 with 15 homers, 27 doubles and 67 RBIs in his first full season.

Beltre’s loss would follow the recent incident in which the club was fined and two promising Cuban players--Juan Carlos Diaz and Josue Perez--were declared free agents when the Dodgers were found to have scouted them illegally in Cuba and signed them in the Dominican Republic without conducting an open tryout, as required by the rules.

Claire, who was also general manager when Diaz and Perez were signed, said he was not aware of any illegality in that situation and was never contacted by the Dodgers for any information and insight he might have when that case was investigated by the commissioner’s office.

“I found that interesting,” Claire said, meaning he would have thought the current administration would have wanted to hear his side. Neither has he been contacted regarding the Beltre signing.

Claire said that at any one time there may be more than 100 players in the club’s Dominican Academy “and we never asked Ralph to fax us all those birth certificates simply because of the trust we put in Ralph and his knowledge of the rules. I mean, we had no reason to question the signing of Pedro Astacio or Jose Offerman or Jose Pena or any other signing. If this is true, however, it’s very upsetting to me personally and very damaging to the Dodgers because it reflects poorly on all of the people in the organization who work hard to abide by the rules.”

The Dodger media guide lists Beltre as having been born on April 7, 1978, but sources say he was actually born on that date in 1979, which would have made him 15 at the time of his signing.

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Who’s on Third?

A look at the third-base candidates, with last season’s statistics, available to the Dodgers if they lose Adrian Beltre:

FREE AGENTS

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Player (Team) BA HR RBI Todd Zeile (Tex) .293 24 98 Tony Fernandez (Tor) .328 6 75 Mark Lewis (Cin) .254 6 28 Ed Sprague (Pit) .267 22 81 Doug Strange (Pit) injured Dale Sveum (Pit) .211 3 13 Charlie Hayes (SF) .205 6 48

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ON DODGER ROSTER

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Player BA HR RBI Kevin Orie .254 6 29 Dave Hansen .252 2 17 Jose Vizcaino .252 1 29

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