While it probably won't be clear who the next manager of the Dodgers will be until sometime next week, it became clear on Friday who it won't be. Dodgers pitching legend Orel Hershiser, who spent the past three seasons as Texas' pitching coach, accepted a high-ranking position in the Rangers' front office, eliminating him from consideration to manage the Dodgers.
Although he wowed Dodgers owner Frank McCourt when the two had dinner together on Oct. 27, Hershiser's candidacy appeared to have ended Wednesday when Ned Colletti was named the club's new general manager, and might even have ended several days before that.
"I think those plans (in Texas) were well under way for a while," Colletti said Friday.
Former GM Paul DePodesta's lack of interest in Hershiser as a candidate is believed to have been a strong factor in McCourt's decision to fire DePodesta on Oct. 29. The Dodgers held up Hershiser, as well as the Rangers, for more than three weeks.
Meanwhile, a Dodgers spokesman confirmed on Friday that Colletti will meet with Atlanta special assistant Jim Fregosi and Dodgers player development director Terry Collins this weekend. Both meetings are scheduled for sometime today in Florida's Tampa Bay area, where both Fregosi and Collins live and where Colletti attended the wedding of his former boss, San Francisco GM Brian Sabean, on Friday night.
Dodgers assistant GM Kim Ng, vice president for scouting and player development Roy Smith and scouting director Logan White are scheduled to join Colletti in Florida for the meeting with Fregosi, which can be classified as an official interview for the job. The other meeting will involve only Colletti and Collins, after which Colletti will decide whether Collins will become an official candidate for the position.
Colletti also is expected to place a call to former Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella to gauge Piniella's interest in the job.