DePodesta Playing It by the Book

Five daylong interviews later, Dodger General Manager Paul DePodesta is contemplating whether to dip into his secondary list of managerial candidates or settle on Terry Collins, Alan Trammell, Jerry Royster, Ron Wotus or Torey Lovullo.

Does it really matter? Would the men on the second list be markedly different from the initial strikingly similar quintet?

What DePodesta doesn’t want is clear: another Jim Tracy, whose resentment toward front-office roster shuffling contributed to a dysfunctional relationship. It’s also clear he doesn’t want a big name with big contract demands.

What does he want? All he’ll offer is the indistinct explanation that “we need to be on the same page.”

So a page it is. Herewith, a reading from the book of “Moneyball”:

“Major League Baseball rules forbade the general manager from sitting in the dugout. But even there the GM was never very far away, because the manager, Art Howe, walked around with a miniature Billy Beane perched on his shoulder, hollering in his ear. In the Oakland A’s dugout occurred the most extraordinary acts of mind control; if Art had a spoon in his head Billy could have bent it with his brain waves.”

Beane, of course, is DePodesta’s mentor. And although their styles are very different -- the outgoing Beane hovers in the clubhouse; the introverted DePodesta rarely makes an appearance -- they share a similar view of a manager’s role:

Use the roster the way the GM intended when he assembled it. Use the computer-generated data provided by the front office. And keep the sacrifice bunts and stolen-base attempts to a minimum.

None of the five fellows interviewed would appear to take issue with carrying out such a plan. Collins and Royster are on record saying as much. Wotus replied, “I’d like to think so,” when asked. Trammell was the epitome of a company man in Detroit and the inexperienced Lovullo would seem grateful for the opportunity.

All of which prompts the question: What will be the determining factor when DePodesta takes his recommendation to owner Frank McCourt?

Cosmetic differences are obvious. Collins, the Dodger farm director, has managed in the major leagues, finishing in second place five times, but ended his three-year run with the Angels on a sour note, resigning in 1999 amid clubhouse bickering.

Lovullo hasn’t managed above double-A, but there are few more highly regarded young minor league skippers. Perhaps he would become farm director or bench coach if Collins becomes manager.

Trammell had an illustrious career as a player and is regarded as a consummate professional. But after 300 losses in three seasons in Detroit, it remains to be seen whether he’s anything more than a classy loser.

Royster had mediocre talent in his only major league job, the last 147 games of the Milwaukee Brewers’ 2002 season. Wotus, the San Francisco Giant bench coach, sleeps with the enemy, learning at the clipboards of Felipe Alou and Dusty Baker, but he did say he has a good relationship with Jeff Kent.

Experience hasn’t been a prerequisite to manage the Dodgers. In the last 50 years, only Davey Johnson wasn’t a first-timer. Tracy, Glenn Hoffman, Bill Russell, Tom Lasorda and Walt Alston all were.

Not that Dodger tradition necessarily means much to DePodesta. Otherwise Orel Hershiser, Bobby Valentine or Davey Lopes might have gotten a mention from someone actually involved in the selection process.

The only certainty is that as long as McCourt allows DePodesta to make the hire, the next manager will be someone willing to carry out a plan that so far has been difficult to define and easy to criticize.

But clearly it is DePodesta’s plan, and for now, the Dodgers are sticking to it.