Grady Little resigns
Grady Little has resigned as manager of the Dodgers, and apparently all that's holding up a deal between the Dodgers and Joe Torre is figuring out how much his coaching staff will get paid. Little said the decision had nothing to do with the rumors of Torre's hiring or the flirtations with Joe Girardi- not sure if I totally buy that one- and Ned Colletti said that if Little had wanted to return... not sure if I totally buy that one, either. Apparently, the relationship between (now former) manager and GM has soured since the end of the season, reports the very reliable Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, which definitely played into it.
Speculation, of course, is that all of this is designed to help grease the wheels for the signing of A-Rod. I think that's a little cart-ahead-of-horse, but it probably can't hurt. But on that issue, there are just too many variables to say A leads directly to B.
We'll have more info as it comes in. Between this and Lakers opening night tonight at Staples, please forgive me and AK if we look a little bleary eyed in the morning.
BK
Subscribe to this Blog | What is RSS?
“I’ve got my own personal reasons,” Little said. “It was a mutual resignation.”
How the hell can you have a mutual resignation of a job - is that like the "You're fired, I quit" scenario?
Posted by: benzo jones | October 30, 2007 at 04:48 PM
Does Torre know that he'll have to bat ARod 7th not 8th due to no DH in the NL? Also I heard that Proctor's arm is already starting to hurt again. Broxton better start to ice his now. Seriously though, if Torre helps the Dodgers get Arod then OK but as I've said before managers really don't matter that much. I would rather have seen the Dodgers spend what ever Torre is to get on a another middle reliever. WE NEED PLAYERS NOT MANAGERS.
Posted by: sickdodgerfan | October 30, 2007 at 04:56 PM
I just had a disconcerting thought. If Torre's not a done deal...
Jim Tracy is available.
Posted by: cjmsheng | October 30, 2007 at 05:15 PM
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Good riddance Chicken Little! Resigned yeah right, nobody's buying that.
Posted by: dcerros | October 30, 2007 at 05:33 PM
Let's wish Grady Little well and look toward the future.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!
Posted by: glenn | October 30, 2007 at 05:40 PM
WHO-HOO! YIPPE!! WHO-WHA!! I can now get a decent nights sleep knowing we have manager who is awake duri ng the game. 5 years of Tracy's sleepwalking act and 2 years of comatose butchering of game management by Little. We now have a manager who will not be out-managed. I hope this is McCorts idea because Colleti is just as much to blame. Although Colletti is not the game manager. We now have no excuses for not playing in October. Don't get me wrong we still need a stick, a starter and another lefty out of the bull pen, but the Dodgers were going nowhere with Knuckle Head as manager.
As far as A Rod goes. EEhh. If you want ticket prices and parking to skyrocket, I guess its a possibility. I actually say no. It is hard because he is excatly what the Dodgers need. A bonified 4 hittng third baseman. No Andrew Jones please. I would sign Lowell in a heart beat for no more than 3 years. Why not get Gange back. Boston hates him, he still throws 92 93 and appears to be healthy and probably a lot cheaper this year. No Andy Laroche either. An injury prone 24 year with warning track power, no thaks. Can you say trade bait?
I am still pinching myself to see it is not a dream that Grady Little will not be in the Dodger dugout. Lets hear it Dodger FANS
Posted by: coachtorch | October 30, 2007 at 06:06 PM
WHO-HOO! YIPPE!! WHO-WHA!! I can now get a decent nights sleep knowing we have manager who is awake duri ng the game. 5 years of Tracy's sleepwalking act and 2 years of comatose butchering of game management by Little. We now have a manager who will not be out-managed. I hope this is McCorts idea because Colleti is just as much to blame. Although Colletti is not the game manager. We now have no excuses for not playing in October. Don't get me wrong we still need a stick, a starter and another lefty out of the bull pen, but the Dodgers were going nowhere with Knuckle Head as manager.
Posted by: coachtorch | October 30, 2007 at 06:29 PM
I'm just wondering if Torre became a successful manager because he moved from the NL to the AL.
He didn't really have that much success in the NL.
During the 15 years he managed in the NL his teams were over .500 five times and finished in first place: ONCE
Is this Davey Johnson redux?
Posted by: wausroamer | October 30, 2007 at 08:03 PM
no more RIDICULOUS LINEUPS!.....No more benching players that are doing good!.....No more benching players that deserve to play!.....No more playing players that are taking the spot of someone that deserves to play!..........Heck I woulda tooken Joe Montana, Joe Scourbourgh, or even Bazooka Joe, over Grady Little
No more lineups that make no sense!!........Dodger fans take back your pride, because if we lose in 2008, it wont be because of Grady the moron Little
Posted by: Aryan | October 30, 2007 at 08:23 PM
I would like to wish Grady Little all the best in the future. And thank him for leading the Dodgers to the playoffs last season. I was hoping that the Dodgers would be able to keep him on staff as a roving scout or something, but what's done is done.
Dodger fans are right in their expectations, though, when they hope for not just a playoff-caliber team, but a championship caliber team instead. I think most of us Dodger fans realized this year that Grady couldn't steer the jolly BLUE roger boat to a World Series. Joe Torre clearly is the right man to steer the ship, and I will be estatic if he is hired.
To all the Torre nay-sayers who say he can only win when given the best players in baseball - remember, Joe won his World Series Rings BEFORE ARod came to New York. Joe won his rings with a nice blend of homegrown talent (Bernie, Jeter, Posada) and savy free agent additions (Fielder, Tito Martinez, Leiritz, Ruben Sierra). Joe had a tough go of it during his first run as a NL manager. But he has since learned what it takes to win championships with the Yankees. No one can take that away from Joe now, but hopefully he will come to L.A. soon, and share his winning ways with the Dodgers Faithful!!!!
Posted by: DodgerBlueBalls | October 30, 2007 at 09:01 PM
Anyone else notice that Aryan's caps lock button is now working properly since Grady left the job? I think we're in for better days with Torre, folks...
http://www.impawards.com/1990/posters/my_blue_heaven.jpg
Posted by: DodgerBlueBalls | October 30, 2007 at 09:13 PM
Package,
Glad to see you back. Hopefully, no hard feelings still over the disagreement we had a little while back. Let's bury it on a day I imagine you're quite happy (haha)
AK
Posted by: Andrew Kamenetzky | October 30, 2007 at 09:16 PM
Greatest Day of My Life.
Posted by: Hollywood Dodger Mark | October 30, 2007 at 10:52 PM
Grady may not have been able to write a sensible lineup but he could read the writing on the wall. Congratulations on going out with class when he could have made a big stink. First with DePodesta and now with Little, having McCourt say you'll be back is the kiss of death.
Now if we can just get Karl Dorrell to move on.
Posted by: uclart47 | October 30, 2007 at 11:07 PM
Before the Yankees, Torre was an awful NL manager, he needs a good strategist next to him as bench coach, not Don Mattingly - (what's Don Zimmer up to, btw? Note that Torre won all his World Series with the Yanks with Zimmer) - anyway, this is all very good. But we need A-Rod along with Torre, that one dymanite veteran, would make the team just seem really fantastic, especially in the NL.......Wonder if A-Rod would be disinclined because Dodger Stadium's vast dimensions could slow his pursuit of Bond's record, as per this interesting article:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/jon_heyman/10/30/arod.options/index.html
Posted by: 10milliondollarzen | October 30, 2007 at 11:17 PM
I'm new to this American tradition of baseball, but, from reading this blog I've come to the conclusion that the Dodger baseball team might be able to use a starting pitcherman.
That's why I was excited to see that the Kansas City baseball organization has declined the option on a starting pitcherman named Odalis Perez, making him an immediate free agent capable of selling his services to the highest bidding baseball management personnel.
I was so excited that I blew off a game of online Yahtzee with my cousin, who lives in Zonguldak, Turkey (on the coast of the Black Sea, east of Instanbul, which many Americans recognize as a city located somewhere besides North America) just to post this incredibly positive news.
He sounds like a perfect fit for the Dodgers starting rotation of pitchermen in the baseball '08 season.......GO BIG BLUES CREWS!!
I'm so excited about the potentiality of this amazing pitcherman coming to the LA baseball team that I'm going to jump in my Chevrolet and go get some apple pie.
Posted by: wausroamer | October 30, 2007 at 11:31 PM
I guess I'm just one of those people that would complain that I found a hundred dollar bill: I would have to bend over to pick it up...
I don't want to sound ungrateful that Little was replaced. But I do wish it was handled a bit better. I have to assume this is McCourt's decision or Colletti would not have given Grady the vote of confidence at season's end.
It would have been MUCH better to do this when the season ended instead of waiting like this. If I was Grady I'd be pissed at being handled like this. I know a lot of guys here could care less, but I hope things go well for him in the future. Just not as the Dodger skipper.
So why didn't McCourt do this earlier? What changed his mind? Did he read the dodger blog after all?
It's a shame because we might of had a shot at Girardi if he had moved sooner. I do think Torre is a good upgrade, how could it not be. But in a perfect world I would still prefer the "other" Joe.
wausroamer
"Is this Davey Johnson redux?"
I was wondering the same thing myself. I sure hope not.
Posted by: Andy B | October 30, 2007 at 11:33 PM
This is just an observation, but, whenever I watched Yankee games, my impression of Torre sitting in the dugout was that he was borderline comatose.
Posted by: wausroamer | October 30, 2007 at 11:46 PM
Right now, the whole thing stinks.
Yes, Joe Torre is a good manager who will do a better job than Grady Little did. But the way the Dodgers treated Little was deplorable. They waited until one of their girlfriends said yes before dumping their wife. Low class.
All the more reason that I think the job is only half done: Ned must go too. He's a poor judge of character and a bad manager of people, and the Grady/Girardi/Torre story is just one more example.
That said, I like the Torre signing, and I'm glad to see Grady go, even if I don't like the way the Dodgers ambushed him. I believe Joe Torre will have a calming influence on what is right now an ugly situation. L.A. will love him, unless he fails to produce, and then they'll run him out of here like everybody else.
Then again, maybe it's all fate: get rid of Grady Little and you win the World Series. Worked great for Boston. Kind of like getting rid of Buck Showalter worked well for the Yankees and the Diamondbacks.
Posted by: SaMo | October 31, 2007 at 12:10 AM
Duh... I guess I should have read the Yahoo article before posting.
Oh well, I do get excited when things start poping...
Posted by: Andy B | October 31, 2007 at 12:13 AM
if you guys read tj he is totally unhappy that grady is gone one reason is maybe they will not let the simers cancer into club house and everyone can consintrate on baseball not answering micro manager type questions. TJ PLEASE COVER SD SPORTS just think you can move back too Santee and hang with the klan and your dead horses
Posted by: PK-IN-THE-MESA | October 31, 2007 at 01:46 AM
AK
There are no hard feelings. You guys are the best! I am just hard headed and cannot make myself understand things sometime. Anyway I have buried the hatchet---right in Grady's behind!! HaHa Seriously, I wish Grady the best and hope he is successful in any new endeavors. Assumeing that the Dodgers hire Torre, what do you think will happen to Ned?
Posted by: Package | October 31, 2007 at 07:06 AM
According to Buster Olney from ESPN, the story is that there was a FALL OUT between Colletti and Grady Little at the end of the season. Grady did not want to take some of the blame for the losing season, and he told Colletti he not too sure if he wants to come back for another season. That was when Colletti started looking for a replacement. From what I heard, there was also a separation in the club house between young and veteran players at the end of the season and grady did not do a good job handling it.
Posted by: JV | October 31, 2007 at 08:38 AM
Wauroamer (Borat in disguise?),
I, too, am excited that Odalis is available once again. If the Dodgers could reaquire him, they would have 2/3 of the triumvirate that always claimed they really pitched better than it appeared. Perez, Loaiaza and the artist formerly known as Bombko.
I'll agree with others that, although not unhappy that Forrest has left, are troubled by how poorly it was handled.
Posted by: Chunkdog32 | October 31, 2007 at 09:03 AM
Now if we can get rid of Ned and Kent, we can start to think about some good baseball.
Posted by: Jim | October 31, 2007 at 09:10 AM