Lasorda Isn’t Too Big to Fit at Their Table

The Dodgers employ the most popular baseball figure in the world.

Yet they have no idea what to do with him.

This sad little secret was gleefully dug up and hung out for public viewing this week at baseball’s winter meetings.

Today it flaps in the wind like an old favorite T-shirt now stained and tattered.

Why can’t the Dodgers make more room for Tom Lasorda?

What had previously been a whisper became a confrontational shout when Jim Bowden, Cincinnati’s juvenile general manager, refused to begin a trade meeting with the Dodger brain trust until Lasorda showed up.

Of course, Lasorda had not been invited.

Of course, Bowden knew this.

And, of course, Bowden would have never taken such a drastic step alone.

While Lasorda would never ask Bowden to belittle the Dodgers for his sake, the two men are close friends, and Lasorda has surely shared his ongoing distress over his situation.

The Dodgers won’t admit it, and Lasorda won’t acknowledge it, but everyone close to the organization has long known the uncomfortable score.

The Dodgers want their Hall of Fame former manager to stay visible.

But sometimes they also want him to disappear.

They want him shaking hands.

But they don’t want him rattling sabers.

They bring him to every news conference involving a big announcement.

Yet they have also endorsed extended commitments in Australia and Japan.

They wanted him in the Boston hotel this week for baseball’s annual trading convention.

But they obviously didn’t want him in the room for that meeting with the Reds.

“I knew about the meeting, but I wasn’t invited, and I never go where I’m not invited,” Lasorda said Thursday.

And this time, he was apparently one of the few Dodger folks who weren’t.

Some say, besides General Manager Dan Evans, there were a handful of Dodger people present. Others say there were as many as 10.

Whatever the number, it raises a persistent solitary question.

Do the Dodgers have that many great baseball minds that Lasorda doesn’t deserve to be among them?

Judging by the way they have performed since he retired as manager in the summer of 1996, the answer is clearly no.

They haven’t won the division since he retired. And some would say two of the best trades they’ve made since he retired were, well, made by him.

During his 21/2 months as interim general manager in 1998, he picked up regulars Mark Grudzielanek and Jeff Shaw in trades that cost them, among others, promising pitcher Ted Lilly and slugger Paul Konerko.

OK, so Carlos Perez was also acquired in those deals, but it wasn’t Lasorda who later gave him millions.

And, OK, Lasorda seemed baffled by some of the finer points of the players’ contracts, and the trade of Konerko seemed orchestrated to be announced by Lasorda during a nationally televised game.

But despite the surrounding distractions, has any Dodger general manager made a trade for two impact players since?

To be clear, this not about Lasorda replacing Evans at the head of the table. Even Lasorda agrees that, age 74, he doesn’t need the physical and emotional hassle.

But couldn’t they at least find him a seat?

How does that hurt? Whom is he threatening?

Those trips to Japan and Australia, incidentally, both resulted in championships.

However, no high-ranking Dodger officials attended the gold-medal game at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Good thing Peter O’Malley made the trip.

Evans is trying to change this approach, and has apparently increased Lasorda’s input, and consulted him on several matters.

“I support Danny wholeheartedly, I see the way he’s working, he’s spending endless time trying to improve this club,” Lasorda said. “I have no problem with him.”

Since Lasorda’s retirement, the Dodgers have also assigned him a full-time assistant to handle his scheduling chores, an important move.

But Lasorda needs to be involved even more. Not only in the meetings among Dodger officials, but in meetings with other teams.

Sure, sometimes his mere presence can be a distraction.

And, certainly, sometimes he talks as much bluster as baseball.

Nobody would argue, either, that Bowden behaved typically sophomorically in making his stand for Lasorda on Wednesday.

Evans handled himself well, waiting for Lasorda to show up, discussing the delay with Bowden later, and refusing to comment further.

“I would probably have walked out of the meeting if it was me,” Lasorda said.

“What Jim did was wrong, and I told him that.”

But the point was accurate, and will be made by other baseball people unless the Dodgers change their style.

Any meeting involving the improvement of the club should also involve Lasorda.

Heck, the 52-year Dodger veteran has been in the organization for 11 more years than Evans has been alive.

There are times, such as during the season around the dugout, when Lasorda should behave only as an ambassador.

But now, during a winter when a new management team is forming under a rookie general manager, is not one of those times.

Chairman Bob Daly needs to make that clear.

Or he should cut Lasorda loose and let him finish his baseball career in a place where his experience will be appreciated.

Who knows, maybe he could end up somewhere closer to his longtime Fullerton home.

I know a certain former Dodger catcher who wouldn’t mind having him around.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.