Dodgers Interview Fregosi

Dodger General Manager Ned Colletti, three other Dodger executives and manager candidate Jim Fregosi met Saturday afternoon in Tampa, Fla., a 3 1/2 -hour conversation Colletti called “a pretty great exchange.”

Lou Piniella, citing a need to take a break from the game after being bought out by Tampa Bay last month, told Colletti on Saturday that he has no interest in becoming the Dodger manager, and it appears Terry Collins will not be a candidate after all.

Colletti met with Collins for about an hour Saturday. Collins said the subject of managing the Dodgers never came up.

“We just talked about the organization,” Collins said. “The players, staff, facilities, things like that.”

Asked whether he took that as a sign he would not be considered to manage, he said, “I didn’t take it as anything.”

He said he was not disappointed, and that from the meeting he concluded that he could work well with Colletti, if that meant continuing in his role as farm director.

On his fourth day on the job, Colletti, accompanied by aides Kim Ng, Roy Smith and Logan White, exchanged philosophies and goals with Fregosi.

“Everything went well,” said Fregosi, who has managed four major league teams and taken one to the World Series. “I thought it was a good interview.”

Colletti also said he thought the meeting went well.

He has informally contacted at least two other clubs and intends to request permission on two or three more candidates before deciding on a manager, Colletti said. Among those who could draw his interest are Angel pitching coach Bud Black, San Diego Padre hitting coach Tony Muser and Atlanta Brave third base coach Fredi Gonzalez.

“We have an opportunity to learn some more about people we know a little bit about, but don’t know a lot about,” he said.