Flanagan, Orioles Talk With Perlozzo

Manager Close to Being Retained

BALTIMORE, Oct. 11 -- On his first official day as the Baltimore Orioles' new executive vice president of baseball operations, Mike Flanagan started the process of bringing back interim manager Sam Perlozzo, while outgoing executive VP Jim Beattie pondered his future.

According to Flanagan, the Orioles spoke at length Tuesday with Perlozzo, who replaced the fired Lee Mazzilli on Aug. 4.

"At this point we're deeply into contract negotiations," Flanagan said. "It is going well. I think it's going to be soon. We're working out the final details of the contract."

Beattie -- who found out Monday that his contract with the Orioles wouldn't be renewed, which led to Flanagan's promotion -- said he harbored no ill will toward the organization and likely would accept the team's offer of a job as a consultant.

"I think the job will have fairly minimal involvement," Beattie said. "I have flexibility. I'm in a situation where I can call clubs. It also gives me the option if I don't find anything else now to wait a year."

Beattie and Flanagan were hired before the 2003 season to run the Orioles' front office in tandem, with Beattie atop Flanagan in the hierarchy. Beattie declined to comment Tuesday on Peter Angelos's statements the previous day that he had been hired to tutor Flanagan, although some in the organization have questioned why Beattie would have relocated his family to Baltimore for a position that would last only three years.

Beattie denied that he and Flanagan had philosophical differences in running the team. But numerous team sources say that Beattie thought Dave Ritterpusch, the Orioles' director of baseball information and Flanagan's close friend, had been too heavy-handed in the decision-making. At issue is Ritterpusch's strong belief in psychological testing and quantitative analysis, a philosophy Flanagan has embraced, perhaps too much, according to some in the organization.

"I think it's a little unfair how much attention it's gotten," Flanagan said. "You're not doing your due diligence if you're not accumulating as much data as you can."

Beattie said the information he received from Ritterpusch was useful but said the practice of using such techniques to determine player transactions was "not well-defined" and not the only way to judge talent.

But several internal Orioles memos obtained by The Post show that Beattie did not stop the use of psychological tests to determine player signings, because, many close to the team say, of Flanagan's relationship with Ritterpusch and Angelos.

One such test is the ISAM, an acronym for the Athletic Success Institute's psychological tests. A memo to all baseball operations personnel, dated July 9, 2004, and signed by Beattie and Flanagan, reads: "Consistent with the Orioles' policy in regard to signing drafted amateur players, effective immediately no player is to be signed to an Orioles minor league contract without an acceptable ISAM profile on hand."

It continues: "No position player will be signed who scores less than a 3 on a valid, accurate ISAM; nor will any pitcher be signed who scores less than a 4 on a valid, accurate ISAM."