The L.A. Dodgers announced yesterday that manager Joe Torre will be exiting his position at the end of this season
and his replacement will be hitting coach Don Mattingly.
During his tenure, Torre took the club to back-to-back appearances in the NL Championship Series in 2008-09, both times losing to the Philadelphia Phillies. One question that remains is whether Torre is retiring altogether from managing. Reports floating around indicates the Chicago Cubs and N.Y. Mets may be interested in Torre should be become available.
This was Torre’s final year of a three-year contract and his departure was expected. This tumultuous season included a slashed payroll, turmoil stemming from the divorce of the team’s owners Frank and Jamie McCourt and the team’s collapse since the All-Star break in July. These factors weighed heavily and clearly wore on Torre.
What’s surprising about this changing of the guard is the fact Mattingly was given the Dodgers’ top job. While it was all-but a certainty the past few years that he was being groomed to be Torre’s replacement in the future, recent rumblings indicated that the team might instead promote former Dodger Tim Wallach.
“The opportunity to manage the Los Angeles Dodgers is truly an honor,” Mattingly said about his first managing job. The former Yankees first baseman is scheduled to be in the Arizona Fall League this off-season to manage a team there.
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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