Editorials

Dodgers’ Managerial Candidates Interview Elsewhere

Now that we’re a few days removed from Don Mattingly’s departure from Los Angeles, the attention has shifted to whomever the Dodgers might bring in next. Thing is: A few candidates are getting attention from a few other teams. So, what gives?

First off, it goes without saying, especially after that press conference immediately after Mattingly and the Dodgers went their separate ways, that Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi are playing everything excruciatingly close to the vest.



While we as fans (and those of us charged with informing the fans) would love to know where the Dodgers are looking and at the very least how the interview process will take place, the front office is pretty steadfastly telling us to trust the process.

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I’ll say this, though: Given how the season went and the disastrous state the roster ended in, the front office could benefit from even a slightly more open stream of communication. I’m not blaming the front office for how that roster looked by any stretch. There were inherent issues Friedman and Zaidi had to overcome to even get to the playoffs.

The casual fan might not understand that, though. Digging through the minutiae of each move isn’t something most fans are doing. Should they? Maybe. I don’t know. It can get pretty dry. But, as those fans are repeatedly told to calm down not only by Friedman and his staff, the frustrations will continue to mount as “Excel Baseball” becomes all the more tedious to pay attention to.

Jon SooHoo-Los Angeles Dodgers
Jon SooHoo-Los Angeles Dodgers

The other side to this discussion, though, is how open communication doesn’t do anything competitively for the Dodgers as they try to find the best manager for the next chapter of the franchise. If they release information about what they’re looking for, let alone who they’re looking at, you can bet the other teams in similar situations will heighten their efforts to hire the candidate the Dodgers are most interested in.

Yes, from a public relations standpoint, it’s almost always a good idea to be forthcoming and honest with your customers or, in this case, fan base. I wouldn’t even be surprised to start seeing at least little tidbits leak occasionally over the next couple weeks that will get the headlines going.

Anyone expecting more than that are simply kidding themselves. You’d be waiting for a front office whose competitiveness is only matched by their insulated nature. We can always speculate at who might get that first interview, if one hasn’t already taken place. I’d say the same thing if you think the Dodgers aren’t aware of potential candidates interviewing elsewhere in the league.

I know this is probably the last thing fans want to hear right now, but literally the only thing we can do is sit back and trust the process – at least for a little while longer.

Staff Writer

Staff Writer features content written by our site editors along with our staff of contributing writers. Thank you for your readership.

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