O’Malley Denies Report That Dodgers Want Gillick as New Vice President

CHICAGO — Dodger owner Peter O’Malley Friday night denied a story in a Toronto newspaper that said the club has approached Pat Gillick, vice president of the Toronto Blue Jays, about becoming the Dodgers’ vice president, starting next year.

“The story is absolutely not true,” O’Malley said by phone from his home. “This is another unfortunate and bad rumor. My response is that there is nothing to it.”

The Toronto Globe and Mail reported in its Friday editions that the Dodgers have contacted Gillick, a Southern California native who has been with the Blue Jays since 1976, about replacing Fred Claire as vice president of player personnel.

Gillick, who issued a no-comment in the Globe and Mail story, denied the report and also denied issuing the no-comment during Friday night’s game at Toronto.

The Dodgers would have to receive permission from the Blue Jays before talking with Gillick. Paul Beeston, executive vice president of business operations for the Blue Jays, told Toronto writers that the Dodgers have not asked for permission to talk to Gillick.

“It’s completely unfounded,” Gillick told Toronto writers Friday night. “I told the Globe and Mail that.”

Paul Patton, the Globe and Mail reporter who quoted an unnamed former baseball executive as saying the Dodgers were interested in Gillick, said Gillick previously told him that “there is nothing I can say.”

The Globe and Mail story quotes the source as saying:

“He’s had offers before and he’s always turned them down. But the Dodgers are the best organization in baseball. They’re No. 1, but right now they’re in trouble, and they need someone like Pat.”

The 49-year-old Gillick, a former USC pitcher who grew up in Sherman Oaks, has built the Blue Jays from an expansion team to a contender in his 12-year stint as vice president.

Asked how well he knows Gillick, O’Malley said: “I know him as well as I know any of his counterparts. He is one of the outstanding baseball executives in North America.”

When O’Malley named Claire to replace Al Campanis, who was fired in April, he said Claire assumed the job “for the time being.” It is known that Manager Tom Lasorda is interested in the job, but O’Malley has not commented on Claire’s status.

“We’re still at the same ‘time being’ stage,” O’Malley said Friday night.