Daly Says He’s Willing to Get Impact Player

With the Dodgers playing their best baseball of the season, Chairman Bob Daly said Thursday he is willing to increase an industry-high $110-million payroll to acquire an impact player if the team remains in the National League playoff race.

“Where we are right now, obviously we’re on a hot roll,” said Daly, whose team has won nine of 10. “When you look at the team now, they really feel like they’re going to win. They feel confident.

“We’re going to do everything in our power to try to win this year. We’re not going to mortgage the future, but we’re going to do what we can to try.”

Breaking his silence on a variety of topics, Daly said he has turned the page on the April 18 forced resignation of former general manager Kevin Malone, and is confident the Dodgers are finally on the right path.

On the recommendation of interim General Manager Dave Wallace and Manager Jim Tracy, Daly jettisoned unproductive players Carlos Perez, Gregg Olson and F.P. Santangelo despite owing them $10.6 million.

The Dodger minority owner wants fans to know he won’t pinch pennies if the club’s first playoff appearance since 1996 is in sight come the July 31 non-waiver trading deadline.

“We’ll spend a few more extra bucks,” said Daly, who recently approved the record-setting, $2.25-million signing of a 16-year-old from the Dominican Republic.

“But the key is, you have to weigh what we’re getting versus what we’re giving up. Unfortunately, everybody is talking about the same thing right now: pitching. We’re going to try to do what we can to improve our pitching.

“We’re going to keep looking, right up to the [trading deadline], and right up until the last day of the season. We’re going to try to improve this team, and that’s what we’ll do. I think we have a very good shot.”

The stabilizing presence in the front office of Wallace and Dan Evans, Wallace’s de facto assistant, have brightened Daly’s outlook.

Considered two of the game’s best executives, they have helped restore the club’s tarnished image and made Daly’s life easier.

“You don’t know, when you bring somebody in, how they’re going to get along with everybody, but I couldn’t ask for a better scenario, so far,” Daly said.

Daly also lauded Tracy for uniting a formerly fractured clubhouse despite a rash of injuries and off-field distractions, and reaffirmed his commitment to keeping all-star pitcher Chan Ho Park at Chavez Ravine.

In his first public comments about rumors the team will be sold, Daly dismissed the reports, stressing his partners at Fox have repeatedly reaffirmed their long-term commitment to the Dodgers.

“As far as Fox is concerned, I had lunch with [News Corp. chief operating officer] Peter Chernin [Thursday], I am very close with the people at Fox,” Daly said. “If they ever decide they want to sell the Dodgers, which they have not decided, we’ll talk and we’ll see what happens. They haven’t even talked about it--the only people that have talked about it are other people.”