With Don Mattingly and the Miami Marlins reportedly agreeing on a four-year contract on Thursday to make Mattingly the club’s eighth manager since 2010, the Los Angeles Dodgers remain the lone team yet to fill their managerial vacancy.
The Washington Nationals are expected to hire Bud Black, and the San Diego Padres replaced interim skipper Pat Murphy with Arizona Diamondbacks third base coach Andy Green.
Once it was announced Mattingly would not return as Dodgers manager in 2016, Chicago Cubs bench coach Dave Martinez, Dodgers director of player development Gabe Kapler, and Black were mentioned as potential candidates.
There’s been little information leaked as to the Dodgers’ search, though according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, former Angels outfielder and current University of Nebraska head coach Darin Erstad will interview with the Dodgers:
Sources: #Dodgers plan to interview Darin Erstad, University of Nebraska head coach (and former #Angels OFer) for their managerial opening.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) October 30, 2015
Erstad retired in 2009 after 14 seasons in the Majors, the majority of which came with the Angels organization. He served as a volunteer hitting coach at Nebraska during the 2011 season, before getting hired by his alma mater to lead their baseball program.
The Huskers went 29-30, including 15-9 in Big Ten play during Erstad’s first season at the helm. In 2014 he guided Nebraska to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008 with an at-large bid to the Stillwater Regional.
Nebraska went 1-2 at the regional, with both losses coming to California State University, Fullerton. Erstad starred as a two-sport athlete at Nebraska, serving as the starting punter for the Huskers’ 1994 national championship football team.
Erstad doesn’t have any professional managerial experience, though Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said experience, or lack thereof, wouldn’t be a deterrent.
Friedman added the Dodgers intend to have a manager in place prior to the Winter Meetings beginning Dec. 7 in Nashville, Tenn.
