McCourt Is Planning to Build on Success

Charmed seasons haven’t occurred recently as often as they used to at Chavez Ravine, so the Dodgers are upbeat about their current good fortune.

Owner Frank McCourt and his family experienced a thrilling inaugural year, highlighted by the team’s first National League West championship in nine seasons, first playoff victory since the Reagan administration and attendance of 3,488,283, the third-highest in Dodger Stadium history.

Now comes the hard part: maintaining fan enthusiasm.

McCourt and General Manager Paul DePodesta acknowledged that something special had been awakened and formerly postseason-starved fans were only going to want more.

The owner said he was also hungry and determined to deliver, and the general manager is firmly in charge of the baseball operation in his first full off-season as the Dodgers try to move closer to the major league’s elite, retain third baseman Adrian Beltre and toe an industry financial line News Corp. regularly crossed.

It won’t be easy, but who figured they would go so far so fast?

“We’re going to build on this,” McCourt said. “We’re going to take what we accomplished this season, we’re going to learn from it, we’re going to make wise decisions and we’re going to get better because that’s what the fans deserve.”

Re-signing Beltre would seem to be a good starting point.

In one of the most productive seasons in history for a third baseman, Beltre, 25, established personal bests with a .334 batting average, 200 hits, 48 home runs, 121 runs batted in and a .629 slugging percentage.

He was among the top five in the NL in many categories, played Gold Glove-caliber defense and finished one homer short of Shawn Green’s single-season franchise record. Retaining Beltre tops DePodesta’s off-season to-do list -- but only at the right price.

“I’ve made it clear that we want Adrian to be here,” DePodesta said. “He played a huge role in our success and he’s definitely someone you want to have around, for obvious reasons.

“At the same time, I don’t know what’s going to happen. We’re prepared for the give and take that’s going to take place, but in the end it’s not our decision.”

Well, it is to a degree.

Agent Scott Boras has declined to discuss his plans for Beltre, but baseball sources familiar with Boras’ thinking said he might initially seek more than $12 million a season in a seven-year deal.

Dodger sources said it was highly doubtful that DePodesta would recommend committing anything in that range to Beltre, who made $5 million in 2004. The Dodgers might not go beyond a four-year contract that averaged $11 million, a team source said.

“We’re going to make wise decisions,” said McCourt, not specifically commenting on Beltre. “When I came to L.A., I said we were going to bring a winner for the fans.

“That’s what we’ve done and will continue to do. But we’re going to be smart about it. We’re going to make good decisions.”

That’s fine with Boras, who intimated that other teams would be eager to sign Beltre.

“We’re not allowed to have any contact with teams right now,” Boras said. “But what I am saying is that Adrian Beltre does things that are unique in the game at his position. I would think that there are a lot of teams out there that might be interested in that type of player.”

One reason DePodesta traded catcher Paul Lo Duca, setup man Guillermo Mota, outfielder Juan Encarnacion and left-handed reliever Tom Martin in July was to clear payroll, positioning the team to make a strong offer to Beltre and also address pitching concerns.

The Dodgers finished with a payroll of about $92 million. That figure could be reduced by more than $36 million if the Dodgers did not re-sign any of their potential free agents, including Beltre, center fielder Steve Finley and pitcher Jose Lima, the team’s most productive starter down the stretch and in the National League division series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Although only infielder-outfielder Shawn Green and pitchers Jeff Weaver, Darren Dreifort and Kazuhisa Ishii are under contract for 2005, the Dodgers owe them almost $43 million. McCourt and DePodesta have declined to reveal next season’s payroll, but few in baseball expect the Dodgers to be in the $100-million club. The rotation was a shambles when the playoffs began, and the poor performances of Odalis Perez and Weaver against St. Louis reinforced DePodesta’s belief he must upgrade the group.

The hope is that Brad Penny can overcome a nerve problem in his pitching arm and become the ace DePodesta envisioned. Weaver and Edwin Jackson are expected to return, but DePodesta is determined to trade erratic left-hander Ishii, who has a limited no-trade clause.

Lima’s situation isn’t as clear.

The ebullient right-hander resuscitated his career in his first season in Los Angeles and threw a five-hitter in a 4-0 victory over St. Louis in Game 3 at Dodger Stadium.

But at 32, Lima plans to seek at least a two-year deal. That might be more “Lima Time” than the Dodgers would prefer.

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Blue Crew

A look at the Dodgers’ leading hitters during their NLDS loss to St. Louis (minimum 10 at-bats):

*--* Player G AB R H 2B HR RBI BB SO AVG. Werth 4 14 3 4 1 2 3 3 4 286 Bradley 4 11 1 3 1 1 1 5 2 273 Beltre 4 15 1 4 0 0 1 0 3 267 Green 4 16 3 4 0 3 3 0 3 250 Izturis 4 17 1 3 1 0 0 1 2 176 Cora 4 15 1 2 0 0 1 0 3 133 Finley 4 16 0 2 1 0 2 1 0 125

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