FILE – In this Monday, Oct. 12, 2015, file photo, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly speaks during a news conference before Game 3 of baseball’s National League Division Series against the New York Mets in New York. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press that Don Mattingly is out as manager of the Dodgers. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015, because the team has not announced his departure. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
Don Mattingly is out as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He and the team mutually agreed to part ways, a person with knowledge of the situation said Thursday.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on on condition of anonymity because the team had not announced Mattingly’s departure. Front office officials were expected to speak at a news conference later in the day.
Los Angeles was 446-363 under Mattingly, finishing with a winning record in every season and winning the last three NL West titles. But the Dodgers have not reached the World Series since winning the championship in 1988.
The 54-year-old former Yankees star ranks sixth in wins among Dodgers managers.
The franchise with baseball’s highest payroll, a record $289.6 million as of the end of the regular season, managed just two playoff victories before losing 3-2 to the New York Mets in a decisive Game 5 of their NL Division Series last week.
The Dodgers reached the postseason in three straight years for the first time but they won just one series, beating Atlanta in the division series two years ago, while losing three.
Mattingly had one year remaining on his contract. He was a holdover from the previous front office regime, having been manager Joe Torre’s hand-picked successor in 2010 after he coached under the Hall of Famer for seven seasons in New York and Los Angeles.
Mattingly worked this season under the new tandem of president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi, who had greater hands-on management than what Mattingly was used to under former GM Ned Colletti.
Between Zaidi’s expertise in advanced analytics and Friedman’s reputation for building a roster by crunching numbers, Mattingly had a plethora of data at his disposal this season.
But the end result was still the same.
Mattingly had the support of his players, who backed him after the season ended short of the World Series again.
“He’s our guy and I believe in him,” first baseman Adrian Gonzalez said last week.
Left fielder Kike Hernandez said, “He had nothing to do with this.”
SOURCE: The Associated Press
Beth
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