The Dodgers’ genuine mutual departure under Don Mattingly is accompanied by many emotions.
ANGELES — Don Mattingly stated that he didn’t make the decision to leave his position as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers until he left the team on Tuesday and went back to his home state of Indiana, four days after he started talking about his future with the front office.
Mattingly, who joined the Dodgers eight seasons ago as hitting coach and was in his fifth season as manager after taking over for mentor Joe Torre, said he will leave with mixed emotions after he and the team revealed on Thursday that he was leaving in what they claimed was a mutually agreed-upon arrangement.
Mattingly remarked, “I can’t sit here and claim I’m just bubbling over.” “A lot of discourse, a lot of debate, and a lot of emotions go into this, but as we kept talking about it, it kept coming back to the same topic. All of us arrived at the same conclusion. It’s better for everyone involved.
Mattingly declined to refer to Thursday’s action as a resignation, and the Dodgers were cautious not to characterize it as such.
President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman stated, “We expected him to be our manager in 2016 when we started on Friday.”
After the Dodgers’ season concluded last week, Mattingly spent several days meeting with Friedman, general manager Farhan Zaidi, and senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes.
A source claims that the conversations went something like this: Given the Dodgers’ record-breaking salary, Mattingly voiced irritation with the unfavorable sentiments the team’s fan base held toward him and with what appeared to be unreasonable expectations.
He indicated he would come back if it was what the club wanted, but if he felt conflicted about the job, Friedman and Zaidi were not sure they would welcome him back.
Mattingly’s contract was set to expire in one year. Though the Dodgers never formally extended a contract to Mattingly, the sides did negotiate one. This is according to Friedman.
By Wednesday, Mattingly’s release was mutually agreed upon.
At a press conference on Thursday, Zaidi stated, “It was a chat.” “We felt that in order to move the business ahead, if that was Donnie’s mental state, then perhaps it was time for us to make a change. It was an organic conversation that ultimately came to this point.”
“The desire to provide a label—did he let go?—will always exist. Has he tendered his resignation? Realizing that, and to be honest, I’ve had my fair share of cynicism when hearing about folks parting ways. However, we can sincerely sit here and state that’s how it happened.”
In the latter stages of the regular season and during the National League Division Series against the New York Mets, Mattingly was reported by several in the squad to appear “worn out.” During a conference call on Thursday, he acknowledged that he was tired, but he insisted that this was nothing new from how he felt at the conclusion of previous seasons.
Mattingly remarked, “You feel like you just hit the ground.” “It needs some time to start rolling.”
Mattingly expressed his desire to take on management once more, although he was uncertain if the chance would present itself in 2016. When asked if he could see himself being out of the game for a year before getting back into it, he said, “Yes.”
When the team was in New York prior to Game 4, Mattingly spoke with journalist Ian O’Connor for ESPN.com, expressing his conflicted sentiments over the expectations of the fans.
He admitted to O’Connor that “it wears on me a little bit.” “To be honest, you get sick of it after a while. However, you always return to your goals and speak with real baseball enthusiasts who are aware of how difficult this is. It really is a crapshoot in the postseason. It is, in fact.”
Friedman disagreed with the criticism as well.
“I never understood that Don Mattingly was to blame for how Game 5 unfolded,” Friedman remarked.
Following the week of talks with the Dodgers, sources told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that Mattingly didn’t feel like he was always trying to fit in with someone else’s vision; rather, he felt like he would be more at ease working for a front office and ownership group that had hired him. Mattingly had held positions under two general managers and two ownership groups.
Shelburne was informed by sources that Mattingly would be of interest to a number of teams, including the Miami Marlins. The Seattle Mariners, Washington Nationals, and San Diego Padres all have managerial positions.
After the Dodgers’ National League Championship Series loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, Mattingly and then-GM Ned Colletti got into a highly public altercation two years prior, when Colletti chose not to reveal at a season-ending news conference that an option year on Mattingly’s contract had vested. This decision painted Mattingly as a lame duck manager.
Mattingly stated that he has no problems working with a front office that leans analytically and that he anticipates becoming lifetime friends with Friedman, Zaidi, and Byrnes.
“It seems fantastic to me. We had excellent knowledge, in my opinion,” Mattingly remarked. “Do I fully concur with everything that is communicated? Most likely not, but there’s nothing wrong with data and their analysis of players and circumstances. For me, analytics is just a fantastic source of knowledge.”
In 2011, the Dodgers brought in the 54-year-old to take Torre’s job. In his five seasons, the Dodgers won 446 of 546 regular-season games, and they captured three consecutive NL West crowns, a first for the franchise.
The Dodgers have the largest payroll in baseball—a record $289.6 million as of the end of the regular season—but pressure has grown throughout the organization as a result of their failure to advance past the first round the previous two seasons.
The Dodgers’ ownership completely redesigned the front office after the team’s collapse against the Cardinals the previous season by assembling a virtual think tank of the best analytical minds in baseball.
In order to take over as the Dodgers’ new president of baseball operations, Friedman was hired away from the Tampa Bay Rays. Zaidi became the new general manager of the Dodgers after leaving the Oakland Athletics.
