DODGERS UPDATE: FIRINGS SHAKE UP DODGERS FRONT OFFICE.

Byline: Tony Jackson  Staff Writer

Dodgers executive vice president and chief marketing officer Lon Rosen and vice president of communications Gary Miereanu were fired Friday, marking the first front-office casualties since owner Frank McCourt hired a local consulting firm three weeks ago that specializes in public relations crisis management.

Those moves were accompanied by several more changes to the titles and responsibilities of various club personnel.

Allan Mayer, the managing director for Sitrick and Company, said on March 9 that while his firm specializes in crisis management, that wasn't the service it would be providing to the Dodgers. Mayer reiterated that Friday.

``This is not a crisis,'' Mayer said. ``This is a positive business development.''

That's a tough sell to Rosen and Miereanu, each of whom had been with the club for less than a year. They became the first notable club executives hired by McCourt to be fired by McCourt.

While no one would comment publicly on why the moves were made, several sources said privately that the Sitrick firm and McCourt agreed there were widespread communications problems both internally and with the public, which could be one reason McCourt has received such a staggering amount of bad press since buying the club almost 14 months ago.

Rosen characterized his termination as ``a mutual decision.''

``This is a great organization, and these are great people,'' Rosen said. ``I have no hard feelings. It was just time for me to move on.''

Miereanu was traveling and could not be reached for comment. McCourt did not return a phone message from the Daily News.

Meanwhile, vice chairman and co-owner Jamie McCourt will now head all business operations. She will report to her husband, but virtually everyone else in the organization will report to her, at least to some degree.

Executive vice president and general manager Paul DePodesta will continue to report directly to Frank McCourt on all baseball operations matters, including player payroll, but will report to Jamie McCourt on all other business matters.

``I have always reported to Frank and Jamie as a team, so really, for me, it's no different than before,'' DePodesta said.

Executive vice president and chief operating offer Marty Greenspun will now have the added responsibility of overseeing the marketing department until a new marketing executive can be hired, something one club official said is likely to happen ``sooner rather than later.'' The McCourts' oldest son Drew, 23, will assume the position of marketing director and will report to the new marketing chief when that person is put into place.

Public relations director John Olguin was promoted to the position of vice president of public relations, with Olguin's assistant, Josh Rawitch, becoming the new public relations director. The Dodgers also are expected to add a senior vice president for communications to whom the public relations staff will report, and that person will report directly to Jamie McCourt.

``Over the past year, the Los Angeles Dodgers made a number of organizational changes to improve business operations,'' Mayer said. ``This effort continued (Friday) with a series of changes, mainly involving the franchise's marketing and communications group, aimed at increasing the overall effectiveness, accountability and responsiveness.''