Don Mattingly is open to managing the Washington Nationals if he's unable to work out a new deal with the Dodgers, his agent told Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post.
Nationals rumors: Don Mattingly open to managing in Washington D.C.
Donnie Baseball is still working on a new arrangement to stay in Los Angeles, but is open to switching coasts if that doesn’t work out.
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Despite the Dodgers' great success on the field this season, Mattingly has hinted recently that he might not return to the club next year. The skipper is evidently unhappy with the idea of being on a one-year deal again, stating in a press conference Monday that even though his 2014 option vested "it doesn't mean I'll be back."
The firings of bench coach Trey Hillman and advance scout Wade Taylor on Tuesday -- both of whom are close friends of Mattingly, per CBS Sports -- probably doesn’t improve matters much for Los Angeles.
The manager's agent, Ray Schulte, said that the plan is to first sit down with team president Stan Kasten in the coming days to try and hash out their issues. If the two sides cannot come to some sort of an understanding, then it may open the door for teams like the Nats, Cubs and Mariners to step in.
Because Mattingly is technically under contract through 2014, the Nats and anyone else interested in Donnie Baseball would have to ask the Dodgers’ permission to speak with him.
The Nationals are pretty far into the process of selecting a replacement for Davey Johnson, so it could turn out that the front office wants to make a decision on their new skipper before Mattingly becomes a viable candidate. Diamondbacks coach Matt Williams, who has already interviewed for the open manager gig, is the presumed frontrunner for the position. Also in the running are bench coach Randy Knorr, former catcher Brad Ausmus and base coach Trent Jewett.
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