The Team Is Hot, but So Is the Seat

It’s the first week of August, there are 55 games left, and the Dodgers have won four in a row since General Manager Paul DePodesta overhauled his division-leading team.

Of course, three of those wins came in a just-completed sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates, so it’s too soon to declare DePodesta’s trades an unmitigated success, although I continue to swim against the tide, believing they will prove to be just that.

It’s also too soon to suggest that Manager Jim Tracy has emerged from the uncertainty and is home free in a quest for a contract beyond the 2004 season.

Although no one could have predicted the Dodgers would be 21 games over .500 and leading the National League West by 6 1/2 games with less than two months to play, the safe bet is that Tracy still can’t afford an extended run of dog days.

The safe bet is that Tracy’s job status -- and when hasn’t he been on trial during 3 1/2 years at the helm? -- won’t be determined until the new owner and general manager see how he handles the September crucible.

DePodesta, after all, wasn’t hired until the eve of spring training, stated at the time he wouldn’t rush to judgment on Tracy or any member of the baseball operations staff (none of whom has a contract beyond October) and isn’t now going to disrupt the focus with high-profile firings and/or re-hirings.

Then too, there’s DePodesta’s ongoing contention that the trades of last weekend have put the Dodgers in much stronger position to survive the stretch and prosper in the playoffs.

Subliminally or otherwise, it’s hard to view that as anything but a win-or-else edict for Tracy.

“I definitely think we’re stronger than we were before the deadline, but I certainly don’t say that in terms of an ultimatum,” DePodesta said.

“Hopefully, the whole clubhouse thinks we’re in better position to win. If anything, that should be perceived as an encouraging message rather than a threatening message.”

In a corridor outside the home clubhouse at Dodger Stadium, DePodesta added:

“Ultimately, the manager and coaches can only work with what we give them. Sometimes, that [nucleus] may be better than at other times because of the nature of the business.

“So far, I think Jim and his staff have done a great job. They have the team in position to win, and I certainly think it’s better positioned to win now” because of the improved personnel.

Let’s see:

In his 3 1/2 seasons under two owners and three general managers, despite injuries, front-office paralysis and a lack at times of either enough pitching and/or hitting (didn’t FEMA consider coming to the assistance of the 2003 attack?), Tracy’s Dodgers are 61 games over .500.

The 2004 team is a major league-best 24-11 in one-run games, 15-10 against its principal rivals, San Diego and San Francisco, 32-18 in the West and 35-19 at home.

Yet, there the manager sits in his Dodger Stadium office with no assurance where he will be in 2005. Yes, there have been some blowout sessions with unhappy veterans during his tenure, some incidents where he said one thing regarding his lineup or rotation and then did another, some occasions when he has even apologized to his team for decisions or comments, but has it been a total magic-carpet ride for Joe Torre in the Bronx or Bobby Cox in Atlanta?

Sixty-one games over .500 and 6 1/2 up in the West, threatening a runaway?

The manager has to be doing something right, even if a large percentage of Tracy’s percentages is making sure the bullpen gate stays oiled for Eric Gagne.

Now, too, he continues to follow the right course regarding his future -- at least publicly.

He dismisses the notion that the sense of urgency generated by last week’s trades is something new -- “there’s been a sense of urgency here from the time I first signed in November of 2000,” he said -- and he scoffs at the idea that he is wrapped up in thinking about an extension or disturbed that it hasn’t been offered already.

“To me, there is something much more important than worrying about my situation,” Tracy said. “The season is much more important than distracting attention to me. I don’t want any part of that, and I don’t operate out of fear. What’s there to be afraid of? I want to win as badly as anyone, and I don’t indulge myself worrying about things I have no control over.”

The guess here is that Tracy will receive a new contract from the Dodgers, barring total collapse down the stretch.

He and DePodesta seem genuinely comfortable with their relationship and in general accord on major decisions, although it took an extended meeting in Colorado for the GM to underscore his strong belief in the subsequent six-player trade with Florida.

If Tracy was hesitant about giving up Guillermo Mota and concerned about the loss of chemistry and character through the departure of Paul Lo Duca and others, he now says it is impossible to put a price tag on the compensating character and World Series experience that Brad Penny and Steve Finley bring, that he is confident Darren Dreifort will fill the Mota gap and hopeful improved run production with Finley and Hee-Seop Choi could ultimately correlate to more rest for Gagne.

Make no mistake: Tracy is echoing the theme of a general manager who has the stability and autonomy inherent in a five-year contract and the confidence to pull the trigger on a controversial series of moves in his rookie season.

Should he also have moved on Tracy before his job status became a potentially distracting issue down the stretch?

Well, DePodesta said, he came on board so late that he has been forced to deal with issues that were directly in front of him. The status of Tracy and the baseball operations staff has had to wait.

“Everybody I talked to had positive things to say about Jim, but I thought it important to see how our relationship evolved,” DePodesta said. “I was not leery at all, and I’m not leery now.

“Our relationship has been nothing but positive.”

What that translates to remains to be seen.

It shouldn’t have to come to this, but September’s performance evaluation may be the most important of all.