I wish I could work up some emotion over this news, but I guess evidence that the Don Mattingly era is over is that I just don't care that much what happens in LA.
Good for Donny - but I feel sort of "whatever" about it all - which is kinda sad.
Y'all should drop by both Dodger Thoughts (now on ESPN-LA) and True Blue LA for how Dodger fans feel about it. There was some amount of consternation -- a lot of fans were pulling for Tim Wallach, who was managing their AAA club for 2 years, is well liked, and played for the Dodgers. But people generally like Mattingly too and will root for him, of course. Some felt their process was kind of annoying -- he was basically anointed manager awhile back and then hired without any real process. (Not sure how they keep getting around the minority hiring rule but MLB approved apparently.) Anyway, I like Mattingly, liked him as a player, like him as a guy, he's green but he'll get some mgr experience by heading an Arizona Fall League team. The team will have so many question marks going into next season that it's hard to know what kind of team he'll have, other than a few good young pieces and some minor leaguers coming, but maybe there will be less pressure on him that way with a team expected to rebuild and be better in 2012.
Anyway, we shall see, but there's some Dodger... thoughts for ya.
I wish I could work up some emotion over this news, but I guess evidence that the Don Mattingly era is over is that I just don't care that much what happens in LA.
Good for Donny - but I feel sort of "whatever" about it all - which is kinda sad.
(sigh)
Weird being a fan sometimes.
I believe there are universally acknowledged things that never happened: Rocky V, The Godfather Part 3, and so on.
Add "Don Mattingly, LA Dodgers' Manager" to that list.
Y'all should drop by both Dodger Thoughts (now on ESPN-LA) and True Blue LA for how Dodger fans feel about it. There was some amount of consternation -- a lot of fans were pulling for Tim Wallach, who was managing their AAA club for 2 years, is well liked, and played for the Dodgers. But people generally like Mattingly too and will root for him, of course. Some felt their process was kind of annoying -- he was basically anointed manager awhile back and then hired without any real process. (Not sure how they keep getting around the minority hiring rule but MLB approved apparently.) Anyway, I like Mattingly, liked him as a player, like him as a guy, he's green but he'll get some mgr experience by heading an Arizona Fall League team. The team will have so many question marks going into next season that it's hard to know what kind of team he'll have, other than a few good young pieces and some minor leaguers coming, but maybe there will be less pressure on him that way with a team expected to rebuild and be better in 2012.
Anyway, we shall see, but there's some Dodger... thoughts for ya.