ENVY OF LEAGUE? DOESN'T ADD UP.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

There was a time not very long ago - within the lifetime of Paul DePodesta, in other words - when the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees were the most hated teams in baseball, resented for their wealth, envied for their star power, scolded for their swagger.

At least the Dodgers don't have to worry about any of that anymore.

What a coast-to-coast contrast Monday.

On the day the Yankees closed the deal to acquire Alex Rodriguez, the Dodgers named DePodesta to be their general manager. As the Yankees added to the game's richest payroll, the Dodgers hired an executive known for his skill with a budget. While Yankees owner George Steinbrenner showed there is no end to his spending spree, new Dodgers owner Frank McCourt signaled an era of limits.

To DePodesta, 31, who comes to the Dodgers after five seasons as Billy Beane's assistant general manager with the Oakland Athletics, the prospect of working with a player payroll in the $100 million range is mouth- watering.

``I think we have twice the resources here (as in Oakland),'' DePodesta said, ``so that's certainly intriguing.''

But to Dodgers fans who wished the franchise would continue to spend salary money as the Fox owners originally did - only spend it smarter - this is a comedown.

Don't get me wrong: The Harvard-educated, Beane-tutored, computer-aided DePodesta might deserve his billing as the brightest young mind in baseball, and I couldn't have been more impressed with what he had to say in his introduction Monday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.

Don't miss the meaning of his appointment, though: The Dodgers have hired a fresh and energetic thinker because it's going to take all of his brainpower to beat clubs that spend as L.A. used to.

There are three kinds of teams in the horsehide economy these days.

The Yankees, the lone remaining superpower, who came out of 2003 with a $180 million payroll and pushed it higher for A-Rod.

The A's, whose 2003 payroll was $56 million, and others in the Third World.

And, in between, the Dodgers and everybody else.

Southern California is the second-largest market in baseball. But when McCourt was asked at his inaugural press conference Jan. 29 what he envisioned for the Dodgers payroll, he described something less than the second-biggest. In fact he said he envisioned something in the top ``quartile.''

The top quarter. The top one-fourth of the 30 major-league teams. If my math is correct, that's anywhere from No. 1 to No. 7 1/2.

(It ain't going to be No. 1.)

If McCourt's $100 million estimate is accurate, that would be about $9 million less than what the Dodgers paid out last season, when Kevin Brown's $15 million was on the books.

Let's see, a mom-and-pop owner, a mere half-billionaire, buys a ballclub amid speculation he can't afford to run it. The ballclub has been losing money in the tens of millions of dollars a year. A sub-market-level payroll is projected.

Was there ever a doubt that DePodesta, made famous by Michael Lewis' book ''Moneyball'' and its account of the Beane front office's success with the small-market A's, would be the man McCourt picks to replace Dan Evans as Dodgers GM?

It would be a mistake to judge DePodesta on whether he patches up the batting order in the 47 days before the Dodgers' April 5 opener against the San Diego Padres, the work Evans was prevented from completing because of the complexities of the ownership change. It will take time to take the measure of DePodesta's approach to the Dodgers' problems. It may take time to get used to his theories.

Perhaps mindful that a 31-year-old Harvard guy associated with Beane's stats-heavy angle on talent analysis might be viewed as a young know-it- all, DePodesta kept saying Monday, ''I don't have all the answers.''

(Now, there's something I never heard Al Campanis say in the swaggering-Dodgers days.)

But if DePodesta brings with him the A's knack for identifying good young players, and McCourt spends enough money to keep them through their prime years, this just might work in the long run.

While the Yankees showed again Monday that they'll try to outspend the rest of baseball, the Dodgers confirmed they'll try to outsmart the rest of baseball.

You root for the Dodgers on this. But you keep betting on the Yankees.