Baseball BeatFebruary 20, 2004
The Line Forms to the Left
By Rich Lederer

Doug Krikorian of the (Long Beach) Press-Telegram today weighs in on the Dodgers GM Office DePo situation with "Has McCourt hired a boy to do a man's job?"

The columnist interviewed DePodesta, who he describes as Paulie D, the other day and asks his readers the following question:

...should one of the most sacred franchises in baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers, entrust an on-the-job-training type to run its operations? Of course not.

Krikorian, who lobbied for Pat Gillick, chastises McCourt for choosing DePodesta.

So, ominously for Dodger loyalists, McCourt in his first major decision goes for thriftiness and inexperience over a more expensive, proven commodity.

It's certainly possible that Paul DePodesta could turn out to be another Billy Beane, who's built the A's into a formidable team despite limited funds with shrewd drafting and deft trades.

But there's also that dark possibility that he could turn out to be a bust, which only would be continuing the recent Dodger tradition of hiring GMs--Kevin Malone and Chemical Dan Evans come to mind--who generate more ridicule than victories.

Sounds to me like Krikorian has fully hedged his position so that he can be on the right side of this move either way.

Comments

By proven commodity, Krikorian must mean "proven mediocrity."

Posted by: Jason at February 20, 2004 10:56 AM

So the old Dodger GMs were bad, but McCourt should be criticized for trying to change them. Right. Hiring DePodesta has got all the usual knees jerking, so I wouldn't be surprised if he is quite successful.

And don't even get me started on the "sacred franchise" business.

Posted by: Garnet at February 21, 2004 7:32 AM

Krikorian takes a classic stance: "It's certainly possible that Paul DePodesta could turn out to be another Billy Beane, . . . " and follows that up with, "But there's also that dark possibility that he could turn out to be a bust . . ."

Gee, thanks for the insight, Doug.

No doubt, we can count on him to say he say , "I told you so," whatever the outcome. And, count on the fact that he would have been the first to jump on any anti-Pat Gillick bandwagon, despite his insuation that Gillick would have been a slam dunk choice.

Posted by: Tom at February 22, 2004 9:27 AM