Manager Tops Colletti To-Do List

The Dodgers’ last search for a manager ended with no manager and no general manager, the six-week sequence of events and non-events leading to Ned Colletti standing at a lectern Wednesday morning and administering to his own list of candidates by Wednesday afternoon.

The new general manager said his roster of preferred managers holds up to eight names. And while he declined to make public their identities, it is believed that Jim Fregosi, who managed four major league teams, including the Angels from 1978 to ’81 and the Philadelphia Phillies to the 1993 National League pennant, is chief among them.

Colletti and Fregosi have a close relationship, formed in part during their time in the front office of the San Francisco Giants, where Colletti was assistant general manager and, for two years, Fregosi was a special assistant to General Manager Brian Sabean.

It is unknown if Colletti has sought permission to speak to Fregosi from the Atlanta Braves, for whom Fregosi is employed as a special assistant to General Manager John Schuerholz. Schuerholz did not immediately return a phone call Wednesday night, though consent, should Colletti call, is expected to be a formality. Fregosi, 63, has one year left on his contract with the Braves.

“I’m definitely interested,” Fregosi said Wednesday. “I like Ned a lot. I thought he was well qualified for that job. And he did a hell of job in San Francisco.”

Colletti also is expected to consider Lou Piniella, who left the Tampa Bay Devil Rays after last season with a year remaining on his contract, along with Dodger director of minor league operations Terry Collins, who was Paul DePodesta’s choice to succeed Jim Tracy.

Neither Piniella nor his agent, Alan Nero, returned phone messages. Piniella was owed $4.4 million on his final season with the Devil Rays but, having grown weary of the under-funded club, was bought out for half of that. If Piniella accepted a position with another club, according to the terms of the buyout, the Devil Rays would pay the difference between Piniella’s salary and $2.2 million. If the contract’s average annual value was worth more than $2.2 million, the Devil Rays would receive a percentage of Piniella’s salary above that figure.

It is unknown what Dodger owner Frank McCourt would be willing to spend on a new manager. Tracy made less than $700,000 annually. Fregosi could command twice that, Piniella perhaps three times that, and another potential candidate, Bobby Valentine, has agreed to a contract in Japan that reportedly would pay him about $4 million a season. Valentine has an escape clause in his contract with the Chiba Lotte Marines.

McCourt said only that he expected Colletti to hire, “A guy that when the game’s on the line and the season is on the line is going to bring that victory home for us. ... We want to have a winner here. We want to have a winner in that dugout as well.”

In a career spent between the Chicago Cubs and Giants, Colletti has seen his share of strong-willed managers, among them Dallas Green, Jim Frey, Dusty Baker and Felipe Alou. Fregosi, who had a reputation for being demanding, fits that mold, as would Piniella and Collins.

“I’m looking for a great leader,” Colletti said.

He said he would like a manager who relates as well to young players as he does to veterans, a critical trait for the Dodgers, who expect the arrival of a handful of top prospects over the next couple of years.

“I’ve got one in mind, sure,” he said, and, “somebody else right alongside.”

Fregosi has not managed since 2000, when Toronto Blue Jay management allowed his contract to run out and, in the hopes of rallying public interest in the franchise, hired local favorite Buck Martinez. Martinez didn’t last two seasons.

“I miss the challenge of day-to-day action, managing a big-league ballclub,” Fregosi said.

Colletti left Los Angeles for San Francisco on Wednesday night and was to fly today to the Tampa, Fla., area, where he will attend Sabean’s wedding. Fregosi and Piniella live in the same area, though it was unknown if Colletti would use the trip to contact either.

Baker, who has a year remaining on his contract with the Cubs, probably would not be among the candidates. He left the Giants after the 2002 season with some rancor, most directed toward Giant management, of which Colletti was a part.

Depending on the length of Colletti’s list, it could include a handful of potential first-time managers, including Philadelphia bench coach Gary Varsho, Angel pitching coach Bud Black and Atlanta third base coach Fredi Gonzalez. Orel Hershiser was interviewed by McCourt and advisor Tom Lasorda in the first manager search, but has not been contacted since. And former Dodger coach Jim Riggleman, currently in minor league operations with the St. Louis Cardinals, and Colletti share Cub ties.

If Colletti were inclined to interview Ron Wotus, the Giant bench coach who was among DePodesta’s interviewees, the Giants won’t allow it.

“They’ve already had their chance and moved on,” Sabean said. “He was given an opportunity, and he was told he was not a candidate.”