DALY: TEAM IS NOT NOT FOR SALE.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

Recent reports of the Dodgers being for sale are unfounded, and adding to a league-high payroll will not keep the team from making a deadline trade, team chairman Bob Daly said during a lengthy impromptu interview Thursday.

Daly, who rarely speaks publicly these days, also lauded the efforts of the newly formed front-office partnership of interim general manager Dave Wallace and his top assistant, Dan Evans, and first-year manager Jim Tracy.

In all, a relaxed Daly sat in his office down the left-field line and appeared at ease as the controversy that has enveloped the Dodgers the past three seasons has turned into nothing but a ripple.

Not even the hot-spot topic of News Corp.'s desire to dump their losses after three-plus years of ownership ruffled Daly. News Corp. is the parent company of the Fox Group, which owns the Dodgers.

``I had lunch with (News Corp. COO) Peter Chernin today, and I am very close with the people at Fox,'' Daly said. ``If they ever decide they want to sell the Dodgers, which they have not decided, they haven't even talked about it. The only people that have talked about it are other people. I'm sure they're going to call me up and say, 'We want to sell.' That's fine if that's what they want to do. We'll talk and we'll see what happens, but there's never been any conversations on the subject.''

The relationship between Daly and Chernin, the top lieutenant of News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, goes beyond casual business partners. Daly introduce Chernin into the world of Hollywood glamour nearly two decades ago, hiring Chernin at Warner Brothers. It was Chernin's first job in the entertainment industry.

Chernin returned the favor after the 1999 season. He was influential in Daly purchasing a minority share of the Dodgers, handing to Daly the day-to-day operations of the club.

Daly said Murdoch didn't mention a desire to seal News Corp.'s 90 percent stake in the Dodgers during a budget meeting a month ago, and it didn't come up during the last budget meeting with Daly and Dodgers president and COO Bob Graziano.

``We went over, we gave him our five-year plan as far as financials are concerned,'' Daly said. ``Nobody brings it up other than newspapers. There's never been any discussion on the subject.''

But the Dodgers do have daily discussions about payroll, and theirs stands at a National League-record $110 million.

With the Dodgers having won nine in a row, their longest streak since 1993, entering their series finale with San Francisco, there is also strong debate as to whether the Dodgers need to add a veteran starting pitcher to make up for injuries and put the team in position to make a serious run at the playoffs.

Right-handers Darren Dreifort and Andy Ashby, both of whom signed free-agent contracts totaling $77.5 million in December, are lost for the season. It leaves the Dodgers with a rotation of Kevin Brown, Chan Ho Park, Terry Adams, Luke Prokopec and Eric Gagne.

The Dodgers have scouted several pitchers, including Colorado's Pedro Astacio and San Diego's Sterling Hitchcock, in hopes of making a trade to bolster the rotation, and payroll could become an issue. But Daly said that wouldn't be the case.

``We'll spend a few more extra bucks but the key is, you have to weigh what we're getting vs. what we're giving up,'' Daly said. ``Unfortunately, everybody is talking about the same thing right now and that's they all want pitching. And we could go a lot of different ways.''

Teams are asking for the rookie Prokopec in any deal. Cincinnati already turned down an offer for infielder Pokey Reese because Gagne was the marquee pitcher the Dodgers were willing to trade rather than Prokopec. The Dodgers' interest in Astacio has been tempered by his $6.6 million salary this season, his $9 million option for 2002 and the Rockies' insistence that Prokopec and a middle reliever be involved in the deal.

Tracy was asked if it was comforting knowing ownership would add to the payroll.

``Yes,'' Tracy said. ``Knowing the people I'm working under, I guarantee you if a situation comes up that's very attractive, as far as enhancing the situation of this ballclub, they'll explore it.''

Seemingly long removed from those hectic days of Kevin Malone-induced chaos, Daly is also ecstatic with the relationship between Wallace and Evans. The two have worked wonderfully with Tracy to establish tranquility and credibility to an organization that was a laughingstock before Malone's forced ouster April 19.

But Daly said Wallace isn't interested in becoming the permanent general manager, and he isn't considering Evans' candidacy at this point.

``They complement each other very well,'' Daly said. ``We're not going to get into any talk about the general manager until the season's over. I don't want any distractions. We've had our series of distractions for three years for the year before I got here and last year. I don't want any distractions.

``I couldn't ask for a better scenario than what's going on now, and the more we get to work together, from my standpoint, it's great. They come to me, tell me what they're working on. I feel very confident, so I'm very happy and we'll wait until the end of the season and we'll evaluate where we stand.''