DODGERS ANALYSIS: BIG DECISIONS ON DODGERS' FRONT OFFICE AWAIT NEW OWNER.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

As the offseason approaches, Dodgers general manager Dan Evans will focus on baseball's free-agent and trade markets, but must at least peripherally monitor the front-office job market.

Pending the approval of major-league owners, Boston land developer Frank McCourt will take control of the Dodgers by the end of next month. Just as teams are preparing to reshape their rosters, the Dodgers might be reshaping their front office.

McCourt faces many decisions in the coming weeks, the most prominent of which regarding the status of Evans, team president Bob Graziano and manager Jim Tracy, who has guided the Dodgers to moderate success but not the playoffs.

The contracts of Evans and Tracy are guaranteed through 2004, but throughout this season, speculation swirled that both might be ousted during the winter by a new owner.

It's too early to predict what McCourt will do, but interviews with his associates on the East Coast paint McCourt as an independent thinker, a businessman who listens to his advisers but likes to do things his own way.

Unlike News Corp., which often seemed more concerned with the team's financial bottom line than what was happening between the foul lines, the Dodgers' prospective new owner is described as a lifelong baseball fan with a low tolerance for losing.

It will be an awkward situation for the Dodgers. The free-agent signing period begins two weeks after the end of the World Series and baseball's general managers will meet Nov. 10-14, meaning Evans will have to work with his job status in doubt.

McCourt won't be without input. Under baseball rules, McCourt cannot officially make any decisions until the sale is approved, but he will be consulted on any financial matter between now and the expected approval next month.

Until then, it's all speculation. Under the News Corp. budget, Evans was expected to have the financial flexibility needed to add an offensive star to the Dodgers' lineup.

But will McCourt operate within News Corp.'s budget, or be more fiscally conservative? His personal wealth is estimated at approximately $400 million, well below his future contemporaries, but McCourt also has significant East Coast financial backing in his partnership group.

So if the option to sign a player such as Vladimir Guerrero is there, will the Dodgers have the funds to make it happen? And if so, who will represent the team in contract negotiations?

Evans was hired after the 2001 season in the wake of the disastrous three-year tenure of Kevin Malone.

The biggest positive from Evans' tenure has been the rebuilding of the organization's minor-league system. His transactions have brought mixed success, and largely been restricted by Malone's free-spending past.

Evans has succeeded in bringing in mid-level players such as Jolbert Cabrera, Cesar Izturis, Guillermo Mota, Paul Quantrill and Dave Roberts, but his higher-profile moves have not worked out as well.

The signings of Fred McGriff and Daryle Ward flopped, as did the trade that sent Gary Sheffield to Atlanta for Brian Jordan and Odalis Perez, but if Evans goes, it will be more about McCourt's desire to bring in his own people than Evans' shortcomings. Oakland's Billy Beane would be a popular potential replacement.

Then there's Tracy, who is 40 games over .500 during his three seasons as manager.

Tracy's winning percentage would be the envy of many managers, but these are the Dodgers, whose payroll and history force them to operate with higher standards.

So because the Dodgers haven't made the playoffs since 1996, or won a postseason game since their 1988 championship run, the arrival of McCourt could mean the departure of Evans and Tracy, deserved or not.

Rich Hammond, [phone]

rich.hammond(at)dailynews.com