Report: Dodgers to fire manager Little, hire Torre.

[Subrick]

October 30, 2007

By PA SportsTicker

The Los Angeles Dodgers are planning on firing manager Grady Little and replacing him with former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, according to multiple reports.

Citing sources, the Journal-News of Westchester, New York said the announcement of Torre's hiring could come as early as Tuesday.

The New York Times, quoting two major league officials who requested anonymity, also reported Torre's imminent hiring but did not give a timetable.

Torre has been on the market since turning down a one-year offer to remain as manager of the Yankees on October 18. He had been with the Yankees for 12 seasons, winning four World Series championships and leading the team to the playoffs every season he was in charge in the Bronx.

Torre, 67, owns a .539 (2067-1770) winning percentage over 26 seasons in the majors that have also included stops with the New York Mets, Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Along with the possible hire of Torre, it is being reported that his bench coach, Don Mattingly, may be joining him in the same role that he manned for one season with the Yankees after spending three seasons as their hitting coach.

Mattingly was one of the three finalists for the vacancy created by the departure of Torre last week before the Yankees offered the job to former Marlins manager Joe Girardi on Monday. It had been reported earlier in the day that Mattingly would not accept a position on the new Yankees coaching staff.

Interestingly, a move to Los Angeles would reunite Mattingly with the organization that drafted his son, Preston, in the first round of the 2006 major league draft.

Little, who has led the Dodgers to winning seasons in each of his two seasons at the helm, led Los Angeles to a disappointing 82-80 finish last season, eight games behind the eventual National League West Division champion Arizona Diamondbacks.

Despite never enduring a losing season in four seasons with the Dodgers and Boston Red Sox and compiling a .552 winning percentage (358-290), Little will have lasted just two seasons with each team.

[Jobber]

I think he's going to be a great fit, for a team that is on the brink of contention in the NL. I also believe that if he is hired as the Dodgers skipper that he is going to attract some bigger name free agents to put around an already solid nucleus of veterans. Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada to LA???