Entering Wednesday, the Los Angeles Dodgers remain the lone club in the Majors without a manager in place. After announcing a mutual separation with Don Mattingly on Oct. 22, the Dodgers have conducted a search believed to include up to nine candidates.
Among those under consideration is Chicago Cubs bench coach Dave Martinez. He’s coming off a first season with Joe Maddon in Chicago, and was with Maddon and Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, in Tampa Bay since 2008.
Martinez is in Boca Raton, Fla., to interview with the Dodgers during the general manager meetings. Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi said the club hopes to trim their list of candidates by the end of the week.
Martinez expressed excitement over his interview and praised the Dodgers roster, via Jon Heyman of CBS Sports:
“It should be a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to it, no question about it,” Martinez said in the lobby of the Boca Raton Resort here at the GM meetings. “I think they’re really good. They’ve got some good pitching, veteran players who are really good and young talented players there.”
The perceived favorites for the job are team director of player development Gabe Kapler and San Diego Padres bench coach Dave Roberts. Kapler and Roberts, as well as Martinez, have never managed in the Majors.
Friedman has previously remarked he hopes to have a new manager in place by the Winter Meetings, which begin Dec. 7.
