Sources: Little resigns as Dodgers manager
By Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports
October 30, 2007
LOS ANGELES – Grady Little has resigned as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to sources, ending a turbulent month between him and the club, and broadening the possibility that the Dodgers will hire Joe Torre as his replacement.
A season-ending disagreement between Little and general manager Ned Colletti resulted in three weeks of uneasy silence between the two, that distance spurring the club's recent attempts to replace Little last week with Joe Girardi and this week with Torre, according to baseball sources.
The Dodgers believed they had reached an agreement with Girardi at the end of last week, with the announcement to be made at the conclusion of the World Series. Instead, the New York Yankees matched the Dodgers' offer of $7.5 million over three seasons, and Girardi accepted.
Colletti then shifted his emphasis to Torre, who on Oct. 18 declined a one-year, incentive-heavy offer to manage a 13th season for the Yankees, calling it, "insulting." Torre, who took the Yankees to 12 consecutive postseasons and won four World Series titles, is expected to command significantly more in compensation than Girardi, whose one season in Florida, while successful, ended in conflict with owner Jeffrey Loria and his dismissal.
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Negotiations between the Dodgers and Torre went into Tuesday evening, and a three-year deal has been offered, according to sources. There were no immediate plans for the sides to meet in person, either in Los Angeles or near Torre's home in Harrison, N.Y.
The Dodgers have been portrayed as eager to cast aside Little in the wake of their second-half collapse, and as the attractive options of Girardi and Torre became available. In fact, Colletti expected Little to return for a third season until recently, according to sources, when he came to believe Little was having reservations about returning.
According to a source, Colletti met with Little and his coaching staff in the manager's office on Sept. 30, shortly after the Dodgers ended their season with an 11-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants. The loss left the Dodgers in fourth place, eight games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks. They'd been in first place on July 26. Two weeks later, they were in fourth place, and a month later the clubhouse had degenerated into daily bickering and finger-pointing, with high-profile veterans and young players debating the other's role in the collapse.
In that setting, Colletti opened the meeting by blaming himself for personnel decisions that might have left the team thin in the starting rotation and everyday lineup, then put equal responsibility for the 82-80 record on Little and his staff. Little, according to the source, "didn't take it well."
Little defended himself and his staff, saying they'd worked harder and gotten more out of the team in 2007 than they had in 2006, when the Dodgers won the National League wild card, ultimately losing in a division series to the New York Mets.
"It went downhill from there," the source said.
When the meeting was over, Little left with the impression Colletti would rather he not return, but would have him back because he was under contract for 2008, the option for which was exercised in March. Colletti believed Little would take two weeks to consider his future with the Dodgers. By the end of three weeks, when he hadn't heard from Little, Colletti began the process of identifying a potential replacement, turning first to Girardi, whom he knew when both were employed by the Chicago Cubs.
By then, however, Little had decided he was of the mind and heart to manage the Dodgers again in 2008. He called Colletti, they talked through the pointed parts of the meeting, and told him so.
Colletti, by then, had what he believed to be an agreement with Girardi's agent, and couldn't be sure of Little's enthusiasm for the job. When he was notified of Girardi's decision, therefore, Colletti engaged Torre in conversations, still unsure if he was in a full-scale manager search or simply hedging against Little's hesitation.
A friend of Little's said Little had been eager to continue as manager of the Dodgers and that his relationship with Colletti was not irreparably damaged.
Little did not return messages left on his cell phone or at his Pinehurst, N.C. home. Colletti declined to comment.
I read about you being at the game. How awesome.. I know you hate gagne, I know, but I have too say that I am really glad that he won a ring. I will never forget him in '03 when he won his cy young.
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