Report: Dodgers to fire manager Little, hire Torre

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Report: Dodgers to fire manager Little, hire Torre

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.
 

dreamcastrocks

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Well, we are about to see if A-Rod is loyal to Torre.
 

abomb

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So this is about the 15th time Torre has handed it to Little.
 

Mulli

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I am not so sure Torre would have helped that Dodger lineup last year.
 

Diawsome

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I am not so sure Torre would have helped that Dodger lineup last year.

With the way he handled the egos of those yankee "stars" and more importantly a trigger happy George Steinbrenner I don't think taking care of LA's problems would have been that difficult.
 

Mulli

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With the way he handled the egos of those yankee "stars" and more importantly a trigger happy George Steinbrenner I don't think taking care of LA's problems would have been that difficult.
Maybe.
 

MigratingOsprey

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Little just stepped down - glad to see he didn't just blindly cling to his job with all the speculation going around - better way to go out imo
 

BC867

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I have never rooted for an American League team. From that perspective, it will be good to see Joe Torre back in the NL. He's a class guy. So was his brother Frank, who played 1B for the Braves and died at a young age.

The Dodgers lineup is filled with potential. Especially if A-Rod becomes part of it. I think Joe can get the team to stop underachieving.

It's going to be a great division (except for the Jints, of course).

I hope that motivates the D'backs to step up.
 

OldDirtMcGirt

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What did Scott Proctor ever do to deserve this. His arm will fall off by the all-star break.
 

Diamondback Jay

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Is the irony of a Brooklyn native, who grew up a Giant fan (how the hell is THAT possible), managing the Dodgers not lost on anyone else besides me?
 

BC867

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Is the irony of a Brooklyn native, who grew up a Giant fan (how the hell is THAT possible), managing the Dodgers not lost on anyone else besides me?
Catcher Torre probably wasn't too vocal about it at home.

When I was a growing up in New Jersey in the fifties (before the exodus of the Dodgers and Giants), my father was a Giants fan, my sister a Yankee fan and I was a Dodger fan.

My favorite baseball player was Stan Musial (how Dodger fans loved Stan the Man when the Cardinals came to town). I loved Willie Mays and Monte Irvin (and all of the Dodgers) and hated the rest of the Giants and ALL of the Yankees.

And I followed O'Malley and Stoneham west 20 years later in 1978, as far as Phoenix anyway.
 
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