Almost Blue

The Dodgers hired Billy Beane’s bright young assistant as their general manager two months ago, prompting some to wonder why the Dodgers hadn’t hired Beane himself.

Beane, the widely acclaimed general manager of the Oakland Athletics, once had wanted the Dodger job, an acknowledgment he makes publicly for the first time, even as he suggests his time in Oakland might be running out. In conversations with baseball confidants in previous years, Beane often called the Dodgers’ general manager position his dream job.

“It was, at one point,” Beane said. “I have some personal reasons for saying that and some professional reasons for saying that. At one time, that certainly was the case. It changed for me as I started getting interested in other things.”

For now, he remains interested in the A’s. While the Angels generated winter buzz with a $146-million signing spree, capped by the acquisition of superstar outfielder Vladimir Guerrero, Beane rebuilt yet again, trading away All-Star catcher Ramon Hernandez and losing All-Star closer Keith Foulke and 2002 American League MVP Miguel Tejada to free agency.

The A’s, shooting for their third consecutive AL West championship and fifth straight playoff appearance, are tied for first with the Angels, who have won the first two games of a three-game series that ends today in Oakland.

There are few secrets in the major leagues. Accounts of Beane’s private conversations, and rumors generated by them, so unnerved former Dodger GM Dan Evans that he confronted Beane last November, demanding to know whether Beane was campaigning for Evans’ job.

By that time, though, three months before new owner Frank McCourt fired Evans and replaced him with Paul DePodesta, Beane said his interest had waned.

In the previous year, he had accepted and then rejected a job in Boston, ultimately deciding the richest general manager’s contract in baseball history and the relatively unlimited resources of the Red Sox ought not to lure him from a good job on the West Coast. He grew up in San Diego, where his parents still live, and his teenage daughter from his first marriage lives in Orange County.

The Dodgers offered the prospect of a challenging job in an ideal location and with a generous budget, no small consideration. Beane prides himself on refusing to use Oakland’s restrictive payroll as an excuse, but moments after the A’s had lost in the fifth game of the division series -- for the fourth consecutive season -- he snapped at a question about how he could get the team past the first round: “Give me $50 million more.”

McCourt would have, at least this season, but Oakland owner Steve Schott denied the Dodgers permission to pursue Beane. Schott also had said no when the Red Sox wanted Beane, then relented. But Beane said he did not ask Schott to reconsider this time for two reasons, the first because he recognized himself in a line from a book by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.

“ ‘The inability to be satisfied is a chronic condition,’ ” Beane quoted. “It kind of struck a chord with me.”

The other reason was that he was unsure how much longer he wanted to be a general manager.

DePodesta signed a five-year contract with the Dodgers. Beane, 42, in his seventh season as Oakland’s general manager after five as the assistant, said he would have felt uncomfortable committing to a new team for five years, in case another opportunity presented itself.

He isn’t sure what that opportunity might be. Sandy Alderson, who preceded Beane as Oakland’s GM, ascended to the club presidency and now is a lieutenant to Commissioner Bud Selig. Perhaps a team in another sport might call, or a company outside sports entirely.

“I love being a general manager,” Beane said. “I also have other aspirations. In 10 years, I would like to think I’d like another challenge. But for all I know, I may be sitting here in 10 years, which isn’t bad. I’ve got a good situation. I love the Bay Area. We’ve got a good group of people. I’ve got my dog running around the office.”