General Manager Search Narrows to Final Four

With Dodger President Bob Graziano intent on hiring a general manager by at least the end of the season--and possibly by the middle of this month--the search has narrowed to four finalists, sources said Wednesday.

The final four: Florida General Manager Dave Dombrowski, Cincinnati GM Jim Bowden, Baltimore Assistant GM Kevin Malone and former New York Yankee GM Bob Watson.

The four are expected to come in for second interviews with Graziano and Fox officials next week, the sources said.

Dombrowski, however, has emerged as a possible candidate to be the named president of the Marlins if a new group makes a successful bid to purchase the team.

The Dodgers also interviewed New York Met Assistant GM Omar Minaya, Atlanta Assistant GM Dean Taylor and Marlin Assistant GM Gary Hughes.

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Though the Dodger starting lineup had a distinctly youthful flavor--Adrian Beltre at third, Juan Castro at second, Matt Luke in right field and Roger Cedeno in left--Manager Glenn Hoffman insisted that he wasn’t beginning a youth movement.

Hoffman said he wanted to take advantage of today’s day off to get regular second baseman Eric Young consecutive rest days before the Dodgers begin a stretch of 13 games in 13 days, starting with three games against the San Francisco Giants.

He said third baseman Bobby Bonilla asked out of the lineup because of a sore wrist.

With right fielder Gary Sheffield out for the season, Cedeno and Luke are part of his regular mix in the outfield, Hoffman said.

“I didn’t do it to give other guys a chance to play,” Hoffman said. “It’s not time to just put guys out there and see what they’re doing. Not yet.”

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There are no current plans to alter the Dodgers’ six-man rotation of Chan Ho Park, Carlos Perez, Dave Mlicki, Ismael Valdes, Brian Bohanon and Darren Dreifort, Hoffman said.

“They’re all lined up and ready to go,” Hoffman said. “For us, all six of them deserve to be in there. And at this point in the season, it helps keep them strong, getting that extra day off.”