Dodgers Close to a Decision

The Dodgers are leaning toward hiring Ned Colletti as general manager, sources said Monday, and an announcement is expected before Frank McCourt leaves for owners’ meetings in Milwaukee on Wednesday afternoon.

Barring an unexpected development, McCourt will choose either Colletti -- the San Francisco Giant assistant GM of nine seasons -- or Dodger assistant GM Kim Ng. Two high-level Dodger sources said the job has not been offered to anyone.

Former Boston GM Theo Epstein had preliminary conversations with McCourt last week, but after consulting with friends within baseball apparently came to a mutual decision with the Dodgers that the job wasn’t for him.

Epstein has been linked to venture capitalist Frederic V. Malek, who heads one of the leading groups trying to buy the Washington Nationals.

John Hart, another former GM who had discussions with McCourt, removed himself from consideration Monday, saying he will remain a consultant with the Texas Rangers.

McCourt has talked to White Sox executive Dennis Gilbert and Texas pitching coach Orel Hershiser, but neither man has heard from the Dodgers in more than a week.

That leaves Colletti and Ng unless Epstein has a change of heart or a mystery candidate emerges -- which is possible given the secrecy under which the 18-day search has been conducted. Ng and Colletti are the only known candidates to have interviewed in person.

McCourt said the day he fired Paul DePodesta that the key ingredients for a successful GM are leadership, a keen eye for talent, communication skills and experience. He and his wife, Dodger President Jamie McCourt, were impressed by Colletti and Ng and the plans they laid out for fixing a Dodger team that was 71-91 last season.

Colletti, 50, has spent nine years as GM Brian Sabean’s assistant and has been a baseball executive for 24 years. He is known as an expert contract negotiator with excellent people skills.

Ng, 36, is one of only two women assistant GMs and would become the first woman GM in any major sport if hired. She has been with the Dodgers for four seasons after spending the previous four as assistant GM with the New York Yankees, who went to the World Series all four years. Several baseball executives have gone on record saying she is ready to become a GM.

The hiring process has dragged on far longer than McCourt anticipated when he fired DePodesta on Oct. 29 and said he would be “very aggressive in this search.”

Waiting on Epstein to signal his interest contributed to the delay. McCourt was tempted to hold off until after the sale of the Nationals was approved to gauge his availability.

However, he was unable to gain assurances from the commissioner’s office that the sale would be approved at the owners’ meetings this week. Baseball has already missed a series of self-imposed deadlines to approve the ownership and there are several viable candidates besides Malek.

The Dodgers need a GM in place before hiring a field manager and embarking on the aggressive roster-shuffling it will take to turn around the team.

“I’m very mindful of the importance of the off-season,” McCourt said when the GM search began. “And I need to make some decisions there as well, so we’ll move as aggressively as is prudent.”