Clash of Cultures Rocks Dodgers

VERO BEACH, Fla. —  New Dodger co-owner Jamie McCourt lashed out at the former regime Monday while responding to questions about the recent spate of front-office resignations, saying more should have been accomplished and the culture of the club must change.

Speaking on behalf of her husband, Frank, Jamie McCourt said they were not concerned about the high-level defections that have occurred in their first month in charge. The McCourts have not addressed the club’s approximately 250 full-time staff members about the resignations of Bob Graziano, team president; Kris Rone, executive vice president of business; and Derrick Hall, senior vice president of communications, and they won’t dwell on them when meeting with employees sometime before opening day at Dodger Stadium.

The McCourts said change is simply part of the transition process and they expect more from everyone.

“We expect an enormous amount of accountability,” said Jamie, the vice chairman. “We’re going to try to change the culture of the Dodgers, because this should be a team that’s in the playoffs every year. To not be in the playoffs is crazy. They should have been drawing 4 million fans, not 3 million fans. They should be making money, not losing $50 million [a year].

“The Dream Foundation, for example, should be doing even more in the community than it’s doing. The Dodgers can do better. We’re not nervous, because it’s our intention to have better baseball, do better for the fans, do better for the employees and do better for the players. Whatever it takes to assemble that team, that’s what we’re going to do.”

Graziano, Rone and Hall each resigned because of philosophical differences with the McCourts, opening holes in senior management and stirring tension from Los Angeles to Dodgertown. The mood at Dodgertown was somber after Hall’s surprising resignation Saturday, longtime team employees said, because the McCourts had tried to persuade the respected and popular executive to remain. Many had advised the McCourts of Hall’s importance to the organization, but multiple team sources said that Hall was concerned about the new owners’ handling of several situations and apparently feared his credibility would be called into question.

The McCourts’ decision to let employees learn of the resignations through newspaper reports has created more tension among the remaining staff members.

“I hope we can talk [to the staff] because I think it’s very important,” Jamie said. “I hope it’s soon. Everything is just a little bit awkward in terms of timing because of when the purchase was approved, and now it’s spring training. Certainly, we would hope to do so before opening day, but I don’t think we’re going to focus so much on resignations.

“What we’ll focus on is what our expectations are and how we hope everybody who wants to be here will stay involved with the turnaround. We’ll reiterate what our expectations are in terms of accountability, winning, community service and how we want the Dodgers to be a better organization. And an organization that works together.”

She said the Dodgers, sold to the McCourts by News Corp. this winter, operated in a “silo for business, a silo for baseball and a silo for [public relations]” under previous management, and would now have an “integrated” approach. Jamie McCourt repeatedly cited new General Manager Paul DePodesta as an example of “everything that we believe in” in terms of the type of people they want to help lead the Dodger “turnaround,” and seemingly took a pointed jab at Graziano’s management team for failing to sell more of the club’s luxury suites.

“There are 30-odd suites at Dodger Stadium, and 11 were sold,” McCourt said. “No matter how you look at that, that is not a good reflection on the revenue-driven expertise at Dodger Stadium.”

Jamie McCourt would not address her husband’s comments last week about the makeup of the team, specifically his retreat from a pledge to “sign a player who can hit” before opening day.

She said he was unavailable to answer questions despite the fact she was being interviewed while they were driving back to Dodgertown together.

“I can’t speak for Frank. No one asked me if I thought we should get a hitter or not,” she said. “You probably have to talk to Frank. This is bad because you guys remember everything and you write everything down.”