Despite lack of experience, Mattingly to replace Torre as Dodgers’ skipper

Aug. 02, 2010 - Los Angeles, California, United States of America - 2 August 2010: Dodgers hitting coach Don Mattingly (R) talks to Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman James Loney.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Don Mattingly will replace Joe Torre as the Dodgers’ manager for the 2011 MLB season.

An official announcement will be made Friday before the Dodgers’ game against the Colorado Rockies.

Mattingly has been the Dodgers hitting coach since the middle of the 2008 season, which was Torre’s first with the team. Before that, they were together with the New York Yankees.

The Dodgers announced earlier this season that Mattingly, who has never been a manager, would guide a team in the Arizona fall league, fueling speculation he was being prepared to take over the major league club.

The article reports that Torre may stay with the Dodgers organization in some capacity, although nobody knows at this point what role he would have with the club.

It’s been long believed that Mattingly would take over for Torre some day, but there has been recent speculation that the Dodgers were considering Tim Wallace for the position. L.A. hasn’t exactly been an offensive juggernaut under Mattingly’s instruction this year and considering he doesn’t have any managerial experience on any level, this could prove to be a bad move in the long run.

Although hey, he has been learning under Torre for the past couple of years, so maybe “Donny Baseball” will surprise.

Follow the Scores Report editors on Twitter @clevelandteams and @bullzeyedotcom.

Related Posts