McCourt Taking the Long View

While also revealing plans for a new picnic area outside the loge level at Dodger Stadium, which he said would be in place before opening day, Dodger owner Frank McCourt acknowledged Friday that creating what he called “the best fan experience in the country” must include a winning team.

To that end, McCourt said he expected that the off-season upheaval in the front office would “pay huge dividends quickly.”

More specifically, he told reporters before a 12-3 Grapefruit League loss to the Detroit Tigers, “To me, success is not, in the playoffs one year, not making it the next year.... We want to be a consistent competitor. We want to be in the playoffs consistently.”

He added that the events of last fall, when the Dodgers were perceived to be spinning out of control before the owner hired Ned Colletti to replace Paul DePodesta as general manager and Colletti tabbed Grady Little to replace Jim Tracy as manager, were necessary to make that possible.

“It took a change of direction to get the franchise heading in the direction where we wanted it to go,” he said. “Everybody’s going to forget the process. What people are going to focus on are the results.”

Not that he was ready to make any bold predictions.

“It’s hard to put it into those terms because it’s hard to win the World Series,” McCourt said. “This franchise is a very, very successful franchise and it has won six world championships in over 100 years....

“But there is a big difference between winning a world championship each and every year and being in a position to win each and every year. And right now, this team is well positioned.... That’s what I see evolving now.”

For that, the owner credited his new management team.

“I’m thrilled with Ned and Grady and how they’ve set the tone for this camp,” he said. “I think Ned has done a masterful job in a relatively short period of time, assembling a team here of character ballplayers, players that have played in the postseason, players that know what it takes to win.

“The Dodgers historically have been successful because they had an attitude, an approach to doing things, and veterans would share that experience with younger players and so the baton would be passed constantly. Somewhere along the line, that baton was dropped. What we want to put back in place is that continuity.”

What McCourt plans to put in place in the more immediate future is what he called a “lush, heavily landscaped outdoor environment with a park-like feel” outside the third-base entrance to the loge level at Dodger Stadium.

“It’s sort of an experiment ... to see if fans enjoy it,” he said of the picnic area, which will accommodate 500 fans.