Mattingly: bridesmaid to groomed?

Don Mattingly said his dream of managing in the major leagues is still alive.

But the new Dodgers coach said he hasn’t been given any indication that he will be managing the team the day Joe Torre steps aside. General Manager Ned Colletti said last week that he would like Torre to groom his successor.

“Nobody’s talked to me about being the guy to manage this team,” Mattingly said. “I don’t even want to start with that. I just went through that in New York.”

Mattingly worked under Torre for four seasons on the Yankees’ staff and was widely thought to be the manager-in-training. But the position that Torre vacated last month instead went to Joe Girardi.

Mattingly said Torre first spoke to him about the possibility of working together again when he was up for the Yankees’ position. Torre didn’t tell him at the time that the job would be with the Dodgers.

Larry Bowa, who was also on Torre’s staff in New York and will be his third base coach with the Dodgers, said he didn’t remember when Torre first approached him, but that he also wasn’t made aware that they could land with the Dodgers.

Bowa said he didn’t hesitate to follow Torre, but Mattingly had one reservation: his son, Preston.

Mattingly said he asked Preston, an infield prospect in the Dodgers’ minor league system, whether he would mind if his father moved to the same organization. Mattingly recalled his son telling him, “Dad, I’ve been dealing with this my whole life.”

Mattingly said he has already been looking at statistics and watching videos of Dodgers hitters. Mattingly is slated to be the team’s hitting coach, though he could be moved to bench coach, his position with the Yankees last season, depending on who else is hired.

Mattingly was New York’s hitting coach in three of the four seasons he coached there, but said the Yankees’ practice of taking a lot of pitches was never something he stressed.

“We never talked about walks,” Mattingly said. “We talked about hitting good pitches.”

Bowa said he was optimistic about the coming season not only because of Torre’s ability to unite a clubhouse, but also his ability to unite a coaching staff. Bowa said on many staffs, coaches are hesitant to voice opinions on matters outside of their specified duties. Not so with Torre’s.

“That’s what makes a good coaching staff, the ability to say anything to one another,” Bowa said.

Chan Ho Park is close to being a Dodger again.

The 34-year-old right-hander is nearing a deal to sign a split contract with the club for which he made his major league debut in 1994, a Dodgers spokesman said. Park would receive an invitation to spring training.

Park left the Dodgers at the end of the 2001 season to sign a $65-million contract with the Texas Rangers. Often hurt and erratic with his control, he never reached his perceived ceiling.

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com