Sources: Evans to Be GM

PHOENIX â€”  The commissioner’s office has granted the Dodgers permission to promote Dan Evans to general manager without conducting a search process, and the club is expected to announce the move before the regular season ends, management sources said Saturday.

Evans, interim assistant general manager, is an internal candidate, and clubs are sometimes permitted to forgo job searches when they plan to promote from within. The Dodgers also have conducted several searches for baseball-operations positions since June 1998, which the commissioner’s office considered in approving the club’s request.

Derrick Hall, senior vice president, declined comment on the ruling of the commissioner’s office. He said the organization is focused on completing the regular season, and has not finalized its front-office plan.

“Now is not the appropriate time for us to comment on the GM position,� Hall said. “We will make an announcement when the decision is final, but nothing has been decided.�

However, executives from other clubs said that the approval of the commissioner’s office was the final component to complete the promotion of Evans.

Evans quickly impressed Chairman Bob Daly and President Bob Graziano after joining the organization in late May to assist interim General Manager Dave Wallace, who will remain in a high-ranking position and be involved in guiding the Dodgers at the big-league level.

Wallace, whose duties include overseeing the farm system, might have a new title after another front-office reorganization that will affect other officials, sources said.

Wallace and Evans have declined comment on their status, but sources said Daly is eager to put them in position to begin off-season planning.

Evans, considered a good administrator and hard worker, spent 19 years with the Chicago White Sox and has a strong background in transaction rules.

He was the point man in the trades for pitchers James Baldwin, Mike Trombley and Terry Mulholland.