Major news has surrounded Dodgertown over the past two weeks.

While Manny Ramirez has vacated his home in Mannywood heading to the Windy City, so ends his controversy-filled two-year roller-coaster ride with the Dodgers.

On Monday, the Dodgers’ much-publicized version of “War of the Roses” divorce trial got underway in downtown Los Angeles where Frank and Jamie McCourt, with the help of their high-priced attorneys, began slugging it out over who owns the team.

On a brighter note, legendary Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully will return to the booth for the 2011 season, and that will be his 62nd with the club.  Scully will continue to call all games at Dodger Stadium and all National League West road games. He will not be traveling, however, east of Denver.

Nestled between all this Dodgers news is another question, ‘Will Joe Torre return as manager next season?’

Torre, whose three-year, $13 million contract expires at the end of this season, recently stated he would decide on a return sometime around Labor Day but said he wouldn’t announce that decision until the team’s playoff fate is sealed.  With the way the Dodgers have been playing of late, expect that decision to come sooner rather than later.

Talk around the Dodger Stadium clubhouse have indicated that Torre won’t be back in 2011 but who can blame him.  The negative atmosphere around this McCourt owned team has made working for the late George Steinbrenner look like a party.

While Dodgers hitting coach Don Mattingly has been thought to be the likely successor to Torre, this no longer seems to be the case. We say that because in an interesting twist, SI.com’s Jon Heyman told Fox Sports Radio’s “The Petros and Money Show” yesterday that Mattingly is off the list because he was a favorite of Jamie. Heyman also mentioned that former Dodger and manager of the Dodgers’ AAA affiliate in Albuquerque, Tim Wallach, is a leading candidate to succeed Torre.

So the circus at Chavez Ravine gets even more interesting.  Stay tuned…

Used with permission of the author.

Chris Lardieri covers the Los Angeles Dodgers for Examiner.com and has written about Major League Baseball for Inside Edge, a scouting company that provides content to ESPN Insider and Yahoo Sports. He previously wrote for 1766, the Rutgers Alumni Magazine, and popular blog, ‘The Outer Loop’.  Be sure to follow Chris on Twitter for more MLB and sports observations.

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