Two Teams Might Hold a Bake-Off

Considering that the Dodgers are still in the division and wild-card races, it is odd that the front office would continue to create a distraction regarding the status of Manager Davey Johnson, who appears definitely out if the team doesn’t make the playoffs, with Dusty Baker clearly the first choice to succeed him.

The San Francisco Giants, of course, will not let Baker go easily, but they will have to significantly increase--in dollars and years--their two-year, $2.4-million offer and prove to Baker they are willing to improve the team by spending some of their $210-million Pac Bell Park revenue, double the 1999 total in 3Com.

The Dodgers, in turn, would have to prove to Baker that he would not receive any clubhouse interference from comparatively new or longtime members of the organization. And Baker, who still harbors resentment about the unfounded drug rumors that floated out of the organization under the former ownership when he left as a player, would have to finally put that resentment behind him.

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They have not won a World Series in 92 years, not had consecutive winning seasons in almost 30, and the Chicago Cubs are still trying to get it right. Now Andy MacPhail, president and chief executive, has taken on the general manager duties as well after Ed Lynch stepped down before the door hit him on the way out.

“I didn’t want to put Andy through some messy situation where he had to fire me,” Lynch said. “From a selfish perspective, I didn’t want to put myself or my family through any sort of death watch. I didn’t want a ‘call this number to vote fire’ or ‘call this number to vote no.’ I’ve seen all of that before.”

In Lynch’s 5 1/2 years as general manager, the Cubs had two winning seasons, regressing from the 90-win, wild-card success of 1998 to a 67-95 record last year that they may have a tough time matching.

Lynch disputed the opinion that he lacked a plan. He cited the off-season acquisitions of shortstop Ricky Gutierrez, second baseman Eric Young, center fielder Damon Buford, catcher Joe Girardi and pitcher Ismael Valdes as fulfilling the 2000 plan except that “we are still 14 or so games under .500, so I guess the plan failed, and it was an equal-opportunity failure. At one time or another we have had problems in every facet.”

MacPhail won two World Series as general manager of the Minnesota Twins but conceded that the job has become more difficult in an environment in which only three teams had an operating profit over the last five years, according to management tally. But MacPhail said he is committed to the GM position through 2001.

“Either I’m going to get it done or it’s going to kill me,” he said of the Cubs’ quest to return to the World Series for the first time since 1945. “Hopefully, we are not presiding over a funeral in a few years.”

They are familiar with a dirge at Wrigley, and the GM change is not expected to produce significant change in the monetary approach of the Tribune Co., which finalized its acquisition of The Times last month. The Sammy Sosa situation remains an inflammatory distraction, with the Cubs unlikely to meet his desire for a five-year contract at $17 million to $18 million a year. In addition, with the cross-town White Sox getting it done with a $31-million payroll, the Cubs--although their local revenue has increased 95% since 1995--are not expected to suddenly elevate a payroll that is now $60 million. In other words, no Alex Rodriguez or Chipper Jones.

In the meantime, this is how it works in Cubdom: MacPhail and other officials didn’t try to talk Lynch out of his decision. They merely gave him a two-year contract extension.

He will serve as a scout and talent evaluator, living in Arizona without the direct pressure of coping with the Cub curse.