Can McCourt Make Things Perfectly Clear?

If “A” is for accountability, as the Boston parking lot attendant told us when he bought the Dodgers, and he was going to be “transparent” in dealing with the media, as he promised, then I wanted to know why Frank McCourt refused to acknowledge to fans that he couldn’t do anything the last two weeks without Fox’s permission.

Although the Boston parking lot attendant assured everyone he would be decisive and swift in improving the Dodgers, he was powerless to do so, and will not officially become the team’s owner until sometime today.

There had been suspicions that McCourt’s hands had been tied, preventing him from firing General Manager Dan Evans until the lawyers had officially completed their work. That would’ve helped explain the obvious charade, which has had Evans supposedly remaining a candidate for his own job.

“He’s a legitimate candidate,” the Boston parking lot attendant repeated Thursday, and how can you believe anything the new Dodger owner has to say if he’s going to continue to deliver such malarkey?

“At this moment in time he’s a legitimate candidate to be GM,” McCourt said, and at this moment in time, of course, Evans is a legitimate candidate to be the GM of the Dodgers because at this moment in time Fox still owns the Dodgers.

If you’re going to be less than candid on the small things, what happens when things really get rolling?

All he had to tell Dodger fans from the start was that it’s no different than buying a house, and until the deed is recorded, you don’t move in.

Why the false pretenses?

“Technically I don’t own the team until [today],” the Boston parking lot attendant finally confirmed after a lot of hemming and hawing. “I suppose if I wanted to hire or fire someone I could’ve gone to Fox, but it’s immaterial because I wasn’t going to do that. If something needed to be done over the past two weeks, I could have pressed the point with Fox. It’s a moot point. I still have an open GM search.”

But does he?

ESPN’s Peter Gammons, who lives in the same Boston vicinity as McCourt, reported that “Oakland assistant general manager Paul DePodesta is expected to be named the new GM of the Dodgers this weekend.”

I wonder if the Boston parking lot attendant meant he was going to be very transparent with the Boston media.

“I have not made a final decision on who we are going to hire as we are speaking here right now,” McCourt said, which is a lot like saying, “at this moment in time.” Love that corporate double talk.

“I have not made any commitments to anybody,” he insisted. “It’s still an active search, with the hope of wrapping things up in the very near future.”

I’m guessing Monday or Tuesday, after the NBA All-Star hoopla has run its course, and the headlines come open again for the Dodgers.

“These things are upsetting to me,” McCourt said in response to Gammons’ report. “I’ve had to talk with [Gammons], Danny [Evans] and [reporters]. When I make a decision, it will come from my own lips.

“I’m the new guy in town and I want to establish my credibility.”

Well, if you don’t succeed at first, try, try again.

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ESPN’S TIM Kurkjian weighed in on the Dodgers’ situation Thursday, and finished his gushing story with this: “It’s time for the Dodgers to start winning again. They have the right man to do it in McCourt....”

How would he know? Did McCourt do such a good job managing parking lots that it makes him a good baseball guy overnight? To date the guy has hired no one but his wife, so how can you even gauge whether he has the ability to make good baseball decisions? He’s got to be just guessing.

“I checked around,” said Kurkjian, who has been one of the best sports reporters in the business for years. “I think he’s going to be good for baseball. I talked to a lot of people. I could easily be wrong. I’ve been wrong plenty of times before, but I’d like to give the guy the benefit of the doubt.”

I’ve got to remind myself to try that some time.

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I’M HAVING a tough time getting past the image of Max Kellerman’s asking his bosses at ESPN to pay him $850,000 a year to work as host of “Around the Screaming Horn,” especially knowing it’s “Stat Boy” who has replaced him.

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MY FINAL words to the Dodgers on Wednesday were “make darn sure you’re accurate” when it comes to computing the winning percentage of the team under the guidance of the O’Malleys and Fox. I forgot to take into account the Dodgers never listen to me.

So they got it wrong. The O’Malleys’ .550 winning percentage was correct, as was Peter O’Malley’s .521 percentage. But Fox’s winning percentage was inflated, and was not .568 as reported, but instead .524. I should have taken into consideration that until this morning the Dodgers were still technically owned by Fox.

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DONALD STERLING gave a luncheon for NBA Commissioner David Stern on Thursday to get some All-Star weekend attention, and during his opening remarks, Sterling used the word “wonderful” 26 times. We know he wasn’t talking about his team.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Ruben Aragon:

“Just a little note in response to your comment about ESPN’s Max Kellerman. You couldn’t hold his jock-strap, and as far as him parking cars for FSN, he will still get paid more than you. It blows my mind that someone like you could still be employed by one of the premier newspapers in America.”

I had no idea he needed a jock strap to do “Around the Horn.”

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.