Good-Guy Tracy Doesn’t Compute With McCourts

I’m going to miss the Micro Manager.

Given everything that has gone wrong with the Dodgers the last few years, for the most part Jim Tracy has done right, the Micro Manager shifting Mike Rose-like stiffs here and there in a frenzied attempt to overcome his team’s inadequacies.

More than that, at the heart of everything, Tracy is just a good guy -- a great guy, really -- but as you’ve already learned, when something goes terrible awry, hurting the image of the Boston Parking Lot Attendant and the Screaming Meanie, somebody has to go.

It’s not going to be Boy Wonder, the pubescent general manager, hired by the McCourts and given a guaranteed contract with three years left.

Paul DePodesta was given the power to blow up the Dodger roster, saving the McCourts money in the process, while painting a bright Dodger picture for Times reporter Steve Henson recently.

“I think there are certainly good things to come,” DePodesta told Henson. “There are an awful lot of positives.”

The guy in charge of personnel always sees good things to come -- think of Mitch Kupchak expecting more from Vlade Divac, Brian Grant and bringing back Karl Malone -- and when they don’t happen, it’s because the players, the coach or the manager didn’t live up to the GM’s expectations.

That’s why Tracy was given only a two-year contract after proving his mettle enduring the likes of Kevin Malone, Dan Evans, Bob Daly, Fox and a midseason trade that forced him to completely change his strategic approach.

Tracy has been a miracle worker at times, needing now a bigger miracle than ever. You’ve seen Wilson Alvarez pitch.

There has been speculation, stretching back to the off-season, when Tracy and his coaches had to wait before getting new deals after winning the division title, that Tracy and DePodesta have not been on the same page.

That’s why I wasn’t surprised on opening day in San Francisco to see Tracy and pitching coach Jim Colborn talking behind the batting cage, both appearing to give the cold shoulder to DePodesta when the GM arrived to chat, and DePodesta eventually shuffling off to find a friendly face. (He obviously ignored me.)

I asked Tracy this week if there was a lingering problem with DePodesta, and he said, “No.” I’ve never known the man to be so economical with his words.

From the day Tracy started talking as manager of the Dodgers, he has preached continuity. Unfortunately, that word has not been programmed into DePodesta’s computer.

“Frank McCourt paid me the ultimate compliment,” Tracy said. “He said in essence last year I basically managed two teams and managed to cross the finish line.”

This season DePodesta took away Adrian Beltre and Alex Cora, two of Tracy’s favorites along with Paul Lo Duca, while bringing in loners such as Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew, who don’t even shake hands after crossing home plate on the same play. I sometimes wonder if they have been introduced to each other.

Despite the changes, the Dodgers started 12-2, and nothing worse could’ve probably happened to the Micro Manager, making DePodesta look good, while elevating expectations.

If the Dodgers’ slide into mediocrity continues and attendance begins to lag, endangering the financial life blood for the McCourts, someone will pay. They’d fire him now if they had the money to hire a new guy.

It’s a McCourt trademark, shifting the blame to someone else. It explains why they hired Sitrick and Co., “specializing in reputation management,” as the Boston Globe noted this week, on top of the PR staff the team already employs.

The McCourts might not have the money to field a great team, but they don’t mind paying people charged with the task of making them look good. I imagine that would involve a lot of overtime.

The public response to Tracy is probably mixed among Dodger fans, and with only one year left on his inexpensive contract, it’ll make it easier for the McCourts to single out the Micro Manager for all that has gone wrong, even though he has probably been the Band-Aid to keep it all together.

It will also give Boy Wonder a chance to hire his own guy, extending his honeymoon with the McCourts while bringing in “new energy,” or whatever catch phrase Sitrick and Co. comes up with to market the Dodgers next year.

This week I was told by someone in the know that the McCourts thought they were going to be treated like royalty when they came to L.A. and have begun to sour on the L.A. experience. I’m told they assumed they were going to get the same treatment as the Red Sox brass in Boston, but they’re not getting the attention they thought they would. (I think the hiring of Sitrick and Co. demonstrates that).

Just imagine if the Dodgers have a losing season. I’m also told that Frank McCourt likes it best when signing autographs before and after the games, but he gets very disappointed when he’s not asked for an autograph.

I’ve made a note, and next time I see the guy, I’ll ask for one.

It’ll make a good going-away present for the Micro Manager.

*

I WAS afraid this might happen. I have a $1,000 wager for the benefit of charity with Jerry Buss that my daughter, Miss Radio Personality, will get married before his daughter, Jeanie.

That’s why I’ve selected three bachelors to join me Sunday for the Los Angeles Guardians’ charity golf tournament at the Malibu Country Club for the benefit of the Jewish Home for the Aging with the idea/assurances that one of them will agree to marry the kid as soon as we’re done playing.

Now I hear Jeanie Buss is making herself available as one of the prizes in the silent auction at the same tournament. She has agreed to a dinner date for two -- a bachelor and his mother, I presume -- to join her at Staples Center and then watch a Laker game from the owner’s suite. I guess she’s given up on waiting for Phil Jackson too.

T.J. Simers can be reached at

t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.