Wallace to Remain Part of Dodger Plan

The Dodgers may lose bench coach Jim Riggleman to the Seattle Mariners, but they will not lose Dave Wallace, their senior vice president of baseball operations, to the New York Mets.

While Riggleman was named one of four finalists for the Seattle managerial job Tuesday, Wallace told the Mets that he turned down a lucrative offer to become their pitching coach.

“We’re real happy about it,” Dodger General Manager Dan Evans said. “I wanted what was best for him, but I was keeping my fingers crossed that he’d be back.”

Wallace was the Mets’ pitching coach in 2000, the year they reached the World Series, and the Mets were believed to have offered him a salary in the $450,000 range -- which would have made him the highest-paid pitching coach in baseball -- to return to New York.

Riggleman, meanwhile, will join Arizona bench coach Bob Melvin, Baltimore bench coach Sam Perlozzo and former Colorado and Detroit manager Buddy Bell in the group that will return to Seattle for second interviews next week, Mariner General Manager Pat Gillick said.

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The Dodgers have told the agent for Dave Hansen they would like to re-sign the veteran reserve infielder and pinch-hit specialist for 2003, and the sides are expected to reach a one-year deal soon. The Dodgers will not offer a contract to veteran utility infielder Jeff Reboulet, who is a free agent, and they are not expected to pick up the option on reserve catcher Chad Kreuter.

The agent for outfielder Marquis Grissom has been told the Dodgers would like Grissom back but not at the $5 million he made last season.

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Angel third base coach Ron Roenicke, who interviewed for the Seattle job Tuesday, and Angel pitching coach Bud Black could surface as candidates for the San Francisco Giants’ job should Dusty Baker leave.

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Times staff writer Bill Shaikin contributed to this report.