MLB NOTEBOOK: DODGERS GET OK TO TALK TO GILLICK.

Byline: Tony Jackson Staff Writer

The Dodgers on Sunday received permission to interview former Toronto, Baltimore and Seattle general manager Pat Gillick for their vacant general manager's position. Gillick, who currently works for the Mariners as a special consultant to general manager Bill Bavasi, thus becomes the overwhelming favorite to succeed Paul DePodesta, who was fired on Saturday.

Still, there is a question as to how interested Gillick is in the job. He interviewed in Philadelphia last week for the Phillies' GM vacancy. Moreover, there might be lingering bad feelings toward the Dodgers and owner Frank McCourt, who interviewed Gillick for the job two years ago but never seriously considered him before hiring the inexperienced DePodesta.

Finally, coaxing Gillick out of semi-retirement clearly will take more than the estimated $800,000 a year the Dodgers were paying DePodesta - and will continue to pay DePodesta for the three years left on his contract until and unless he lands another job in baseball.

Gillick did not return a phone message left at his home on Sunday night.

Gillick was the architect of consecutive World Series championship teams in Toronto in 1992-93 before moving on to Baltimore, where he built a club that went to the American League Championship Series in 1996 and '97. Finally, during his four-year stint as Seattle's GM, the Mariners went to the ALCS in 2000 and 2001, winning a major-league record-tying 116 regular-season games in 2001.

Several sources have said Dodgers Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda, who is a special adviser to owner Frank McCourt and who will have a sizable voice in the searches for both a GM and a manager, is promoting Gillick for the job.

Gillick's interview hasn't been scheduled, but it is conceivable he could be the only serious candidate. He is a quintessential old-school baseball guy who would represent a radical departure from DePodesta and the currently trendy Moneyball approach to talent evaluation.

If hired, Gillick won't take long to find his comfort zone. Dodgers scouting director Logan White, Midwest scouting supervisor Gary Nickels and area scout Manny Estrada all worked closely with Gillick in Baltimore. Ellen Harrigan, the executive assistant in the Dodgers GM's office, filled the same position for Gillick in both Toronto and Baltimore.

--Hall of Famer Lopez dies: Al Lopez, a Hall of Fame catcher and manager who led the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox to American League pennants in the 1950s, died at 97.

Lopez, who had been the oldest living Baseball Hall of Famer, had been hospitalized in Tampa, Fla., since Friday, when he suffered a heart attack at his son's home, Al Lopez Jr. said.

Associated Press contributed