Is DePodesta’s Vision as Clouded as Dodgers’ Future?

If Paul DePodesta is to be fired, and on the Dodgers’ current course of tactical blunders and 91-loss seasons he surely is next, then he will take that hit surrounded by people he believes in, and who believe in him.

Jim Tracy was not one of those guys. Neither are more than a few of the coaches, and some of the organization’s scouts and other baseball personnel.

The players are not on that narrowing roll either, as evidenced when the single most respected man in the clubhouse, Eric Gagne, tried to get himself traded in the first week of October. Imagine if he found out that very idea was considered last off-season.

That leaves, presumably, for now at least, Frank McCourt, the five men to be interviewed for Tracy’s old job, and a handful of DePodesta subordinates who really do trust his vision and intelligence.

After two seasons, one quite good and the other horrifyingly bad, DePodesta was left a choice.

He could maintain his philosophy of constructing a team with organizational talent and a few deft free-agent signings while the field manager resisted. With that, two issues arose: DePodesta’s definitions of “talent” and “deft,” and Tracy’s reluctance to go along with either. And then, whether Tracy, who has done this for a while, was right or not.

Or, he could alter his philosophy, build a team that more suited his manager’s desires, ensure that the public would not hate him, and be wholly convinced it would not yield long-term organizational health.

That is why the Dodgers are searching for a new manager; whether it was Tracy today or DePodesta tomorrow, somebody was going to go. DePodesta acted out of preservation for philosophy and self, and you can debate the order.

Given that, DePodesta’s mistake was not in firing Tracy, but in not firing him a year ago when he knew the roster would change. Had he called Tracy a few times in the off-season, he would have known then, and Terry Collins already would be the manager. Probably, they would still have won 71 games.

It has been said in many baseball circles that DePodesta is a wonderful front-office No. 2, and a hopelessly swamped No. 1.

By all appearances, he was worked by agent Scott Boras last off-season. He was warned often that Odalis Perez would take at least one vacation during the season, which he did. Lacking triple-A depth and therefore quality reinforcements, he nevertheless put his faith in the enigmatic Milton Bradley, the delicately constructed J.D. Drew and the whiff-happy Jayson Werth. And he was lucky free agent Nomar Garciaparra refused to play second base because it led him to Jeff Kent.

However, someone was savvy enough to make D.J. Houlton a Rule 5 addition, Kent was exceptional, Dioner Navarro might be something someday and Derek Lowe chewed innings. Still, 91 losses, from a playoff opening act, and to no one does this look like improvement.

Rather, it looks like a mess. If this is not a fluke of injuries, and therefore a failure of the general manager, is it because DePodesta is the general manager? Or because he is McCourt’s general manager?

Amid the trauma of canning Tracy and hiring his replacement, along with a coaching staff, another winter’s work awaits. It falls again to DePodesta, and to McCourt, and now to Gagne, whose spring disposition will establish the tenor of a clubhouse.

It starts, however, with DePodesta and his man on the field, now that it is his man. We’re not saying it won’t work, only that there’s a lot of it.

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Eight years ago, when he was 30, Brian Cashman was the last man standing after a George Steinbrenner snit, and he became general manager of the New York Yankees.

“It’s true,” he had said by phone on a cold, damp night in New York.

He was quite qualified and certain the job requirements fell within his capabilities. Yet, when he spoke there was trepidation, because the only thing bigger than the job is the attention it brings.

Eight division titles and three World Series championships later, he has had a lot of great players and the highest payroll in sports and the help of plenty of fine baseball men, but what Cashman has most is a productive, consistent relationship with his manager, Joe Torre.

DePodesta largely works alone, or with a few trusted confidants, and so far that has not included the manager, or not enough to suit the manager’s taste. He desires teamwork, while some in the organization await integration.

Speaking only of his own situation, Cashman says he seeks to acquire players who fit an overall philosophy developed by the organization and maintained by him and Torre.

“You can’t have different philosophies in these positions,” he said. “You can’t have the GM think one thing and the manager thinking another. That’s a recipe for disaster.

“The great thing about it, when we disagree, we shut the door and talk about it. Then we walk away knowing we covered some tough ground, but that we’re walking out together.”

Whatever the result, Torre said, “Brian takes all the hits. He gets all the calls from above, I don’t. Brian is as tough as any GM I’ve ever worked for.... I have a great deal of respect for his intelligence and his heart.”

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Chicago White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams and his manager, Ozzie Guillen, maintain the same type of relationship, only at much higher decibels.

Guillen is emotional and shrill, and he brings out the same in Williams. Partly as a result, the rebuilt White Sox won 99 regular-season games.

“Personally, I needed a guy that could argue with me, because I don’t have all the answers,” Williams said. “If I walk into a meeting and I’m the smartest guy in the room, we’ve got a big problem.

“We have fought like brothers, including this year. Somehow, we’re able to fight like brothers and, like real brothers, then go out for a beer.”

If not Guillen, Williams said, then any number of guys, from assistant general manager Rick Hahn, to director of player development Dave Wilder, to special assistant to the chairman Dennis Gilbert, press their opinions.

“While you want people to push in the same direction, not to the point where they’re acquiescing,” Williams said. “If you’ve got a situation where you’re waiting for Kenny to speak, that’s a dangerous situation.”

Bats and Pieces

The resignation of John Hart and promotion of 28-year-old Cornell grad Jon Daniels has left many with the notion that Buck Showalter will be running things in Texas and that pitching coach Orel Hershiser will have a hand in many decisions.

“Jon’s the boss, period,” Ranger owner Tom Hicks said Tuesday during a news conference. “He’s Buck’s boss. He runs the baseball operations.”

Daniels, who has a three-year contract, is the youngest general manager in baseball history. Boston’s Theo Epstein also was hired when he was 28 but was a few weeks older. Cashman was 30, DePodesta 31.

Daniels and DePodesta both interned for current Colorado General Manager Dan O’Dowd, Daniels in Colorado and DePodesta when O’Dowd was in Cleveland....

The Red Sox are expected to shop Manny Ramirez over the winter and the New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays figure to be the most interested. Met General Manager Omar Minaya is infatuated with Ramirez, and Blue Jay GM J.P. Ricciardi says he believes Ramirez could push them into the AL East elite. Given similar offers, however, expect Epstein to trade Ramirez out of the division....

Great story: White Sox GM Williams was a freshman wide receiver at Stanford in 1982. On the last play of the Cal game that season, Stanford Coach Paul Wiggin grabbed Williams and told him to enter the game on kickoff coverage, just in case.

“Nah, never mind,” Williams recalled Wiggin saying.

So they stood together on the sideline, Wiggin’s arm momentarily wrapped around Williams’ neck, and watched the kick.

A lot of laterals later, The Play was history, Stanford had lost, and Williams would go off to play baseball.

Twenty-three years later, Williams sat in a box seat at Fenway Park, shook his head and said, “My last football game. We were going to a bowl game too.”