Dodgers could give Torre a proper send-off after all

This should have been the first month of the rest of Joe Torre’s life.

He could have treated his wife to Sunday brunch, or cheered his 13-year-old daughter at her softball game. He might have joined his fellow New York Yankees’ legends for the first weekend of the new Yankee Stadium, or offered expert analysis from a broadcast booth.

He should be enjoying retirement today, not managing the home team at Dodger Stadium.

That was the way he planned it. He would manage the Yankees one last time, last year, then go out with the old stadium.

The Yankees did not let Torre go out on his terms. The Dodgers almost certainly will.

His contract extends through next season. If the Dodgers get to the World Series this season, perhaps he could call it a career.

“Could be,” Torre said.

Torre turns 69 in July. He is the oldest manager in the major leagues, older than all but one coach in the NFL, NBA and NHL, according to STATS LLC. Don Nelson, the coach of the Golden State Warriors, has Torre beat by two months.

If the Dodgers get to the playoffs this season, Torre would have led a team into the postseason for 14 consecutive years and 15 overall, tying Bobby Cox of the Atlanta Braves for both major league records.

The rest of Torre’s Hall of Fame plaque is virtually engraved. He has a record 80 postseason victories, and he’s on the verge of passing Sparky Anderson for fifth place on the all-time victory list. No one else has 2,000 hits as a player and 2,000 victories as a manager.

He isn’t here to enhance his resume, to prove he can win without a $200-million payroll, to pad his retirement savings. He is here, he insists, because of the question that nagged him in the wake of his ugly divorce from the Yankees after the 2007 season.

“Could managing be fun again?” he said.

The Dodgers offered him the chance to find out, much to his surprise.

“They had a manager,” Torre said.

The Dodgers’ owners, Frank and Jamie McCourt, weren’t about to let Grady Little stand in the way of Joe Torre.

They staged an elaborately choreographed news conference to trumpet the new hire, then steered him toward an obstacle course disguised as a spring-training schedule: three weeks in Florida, one week in China, two weeks in Arizona, and good luck getting to know your team.

On the other hand, the McCourts never interrupted Torre’s dinner to tell him that he was an idiot, so that was a nice change from New York.

They made Torre the highest-paid manager in baseball, at $4.3 million a year. When Manny Ramirez dropped into the Dodgers’ lap last season, his behavior so erratic that the Boston Red Sox paid the Dodgers to take him off their hands, Frank McCourt dismissed any concern that Ramirez would be disruptive here.

Torre could handle that, McCourt said.

And, on that score alone, Torre earned his keep last winter. As McCourt yanked offers to Ramirez and threatened to walk away entirely, disgusted with agent Scott Boras, it was Torre who kept in touch with Ramirez, calming him, reminding him negotiations were strictly business, letting him know the Dodgers really did want him back.

Ramirez could have gotten fed up and walked away as well, to San Francisco, and McCourt would have been vilified. But Torre pacified Ramirez so nicely that he showed up at Camelback Ranch with a smile, even after the Dodgers knocked more than half off his asking price.

Ramirez hit two home runs Saturday as the Dodgers extended their winning streak to seven games, conjuring up visions of another blue October, and perhaps a farewell to Torre.

Torre wanted one last year with the Yankees, and then retirement. He signed with the Dodgers for three years.

“I wanted to have one year when I didn’t have to answer the question about the following year,” Torre said.

He had that year, and here we are.

To Larry Bowa, Torre appears far more relaxed than he was in New York, having more fun.

“I would be shocked if he didn’t manage next year,” the Dodgers’ third base coach said.

Torre and the Dodgers have a mutual interest in grooming hitting coach Don Mattingly as his successor. Mattingly played and coached for Torre in New York, then followed him to L.A.

“When it’s time for Joe not to manage the club, we would like his replacement to be on our staff,” General Manager Ned Colletti said.

If the Yankees do not return to the playoffs -- after spending $423 million on Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett -- we cannot imagine Manager Joe Girardi will be invited back. The Yankees selected Girardi over Mattingly as the replacement for Torre, and perhaps they’ll ask their beloved first baseman for a do-over.

Mattingly, who has no managerial experience, said Torre has promised him nothing.

“I feel like he’s helping me prepare,” Mattingly said, “but I don’t know if that’s necessarily for here. I liked it in New York. I like it here. I like the game.”

If Torre has decided whether this season will be his last, he won’t say. Even his wife can’t get a straight answer on that.

“She said, ‘Is this it for you?’ ” Torre said. “I said, ‘Yeah, maybe.’ ”

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bill.shaikin@latimes.com