Blue-Chip Investment

Another day, another Myrow.

Jim Tracy was filling out his lineup card Tuesday afternoon with the same shrug we’ve seen for five years.

A kid named Willy Aybar batting leadoff. A limping Ricky Ledee batting cleanup. Somebody named Brian Myrow -- don’t ask, we don’t know -- batting sixth.

And the Dodgers still on the outskirts of a pennant race?

“That’s the way it’s been this year,” Tracy said. “You just deal with it, you know? You just deal with it.”

In five years as Dodger manager, a tumultuous time during which he has evolved from knock-kneed novice to clubhouse cornerstone, Jim Tracy has never been in control of anything.

Until now.

In three weeks, the guy who has been pounded by his front office will finally have that hammer.

And he needs to use it.

Tracy’s two-year contract, signed last winter after Paul DePodesta embarrassingly kept him twisting for several weeks, contains a clause that allows him to leave the team after one season.

That clause reportedly has to be exercised within a week of the end of this season’s finale.

Between now and then, Tracy should ask for a contract extension for himself, new deals for his coaches and more influence in personnel decisions.

If the Dodgers say no, he should ask for the door.

He wouldn’t be outside long.

There could be as many as six teams with openings, and one of them would surely want a division-championship boss who won at least 85 games for four consecutive seasons before his boss chopped up his team and shredded his influence.

If things don’t change, anywhere would be better than here.

Tracy wants to be a lame duck for a rebuilding club run by a general manager who never listens to him?

He wants to go from managing the Dodgers to managing double-A Jacksonville to managing to get himself fired?

Even his harshest critics must admit, he’s not that dumb.

Tracy refused to speculate on his future for this story -- “I don’t want to distract from what these kids are trying to accomplish, that would be selfish, and that’s wrong,” he said.

But he did acknowledge that it’s tough to lay a new foundation while standing on quicksand.

“I’d like to think there’s an opportunity here for stability, for knowing that you can grow into something year after year,” he said. “If not, maybe that opportunity is somewhere else.”

That was not an ultimatum, simply a philosophy, but maybe it’s time for those who have ignored Tracy to start paying attention.

After four years of sitting at the children’s table, he is finally considered one of the adults, by the only two people who matter.

Frank and Jamie McCourt like him.

Maybe they’re not thrilled with everything he does on a baseball field -- what manager is not second-guessed? -- but they like everything he has done for the organization.

The owners like how he calmly handled the stink bomb that DePodesta rolled into the first-place Dodger clubhouse in August of last season, Tracy calmly leading the shattered Dodgers to a title without ever once being seen holding his nose.

They like how he has remained a portrait of class and consistency this season when injuries and awful personnel moves have depleted his team again.

He has never embarrassed them, he has quietly taken many shots for them, and the McCourts’ best investment recently endorsed him.

Yeah, that was Jeff Kent, who compliments about as much as he smiles, saying that Tracy does a good job.

Players who once ripped him for not being tough enough now respect him for putting them in positions to succeed while covering their backs with the media.

If DePodesta loses Tracy, he will indeed have to answer to higher authorities.

“I’m always open to listen,” DePodesta said of negotiations. “But I think the next three weeks is all we’re focused on right now.”

While DePodesta is at it, he needs to heed Tracy and his coaches more.

Tracy refused to criticize his boss, but it’s obvious that, beginning with contract negotiations last winter, the manager and his coaches have been mostly ignored.

“Our coaching staff has a lot to offer, look at their resumes, they have a huge role in what goes on around here,” Tracy said. “Anyone would like to think their opinion is heard and valued.”

Even himself, Tracy admitted.

“Yes, I would like to have my opinion heard,” Tracy said. “But I’m also respectful of who makes the final decision.”

That decision, for once, will belong to Tracy, who said he wants to return if possible.

“Yes, yes, I want to come back next year and manage this team,” he said. “Can this be fixed? Absolutely.”

But with the McCourt budget and DePodesta’s computer, the fix could take several years.

By rebuilding with cheap minor leaguers instead of expensive free agents, the Dodgers could get worse before they get better.

The club is trumpeting the Jacksonville Five such that press notes from the Suns’ Southern League championship series were given to writers on Tuesday. But the truth is, the Dodgers will be fortunate if two of those five players make a big-league impact.

Winning another division championship will take time. Tracy deserves that time.

Or he deserves a chance to win one somewhere else.