Joe Torre’s going, Frank McCourt’s staying . . . what’s wrong with this Dodgers picture?

It is with a heavy, heavy heart that I bring you terrible news from Dodger Stadium.

“I’m going to own this team for a long, long time,” Frank McCourt promised Friday.

As difficult as it is, I will continue writing. There was McCourt talking publicly to someone besides a lawyer for the first time in seemingly forever.

McCourt, standing at the witness podium before a room full of media, asked Don Mattingly if he was ready to become the storied franchise’s next manager.

As cross examinations go, it was odd. You would think most sports franchise owners would ask such a question long before signing the new guy to a three-year deal and calling a news conference to announce his hiring. Maybe he figured Jamie had already covered that ground with Mattingly.

Mattingly, his voice changing when publicly challenged by McCourt, squeaked he believes he’s ready, his guesswork really no different than anyone else’s given his lightweight resume.

It may be no accident that Major League Baseball has the Dodgers opening next season on April Fool’s.

This day should have belonged to Joe Torre, 50 years of baseball as player, manager and broadcaster, the epitome of class, two more weeks on the job and plenty of time to get around to Mattingly and the training wheels he’ll require.

Why the hurry to promote and introduce Mattingly? Afraid fans might demand another look at Tim Wallach? Why not afford Torre the opportunity to sit alone at the head table and take a bow for a career well done?

Top of the fourth, and the Dodgers put up a shot of Torre, Mattingly and McCourt on the scoreboard, turning up the music in case anyone might want to boo with Aretha Franklin singing, “Respect.” Now that’s funny.

Then they went with a shot of Mattingly and Torre, the public address announcer thanking Torre for his service, everyone in the place coming to their feet and giving Torre a loud ovation. He took off his cap, waved it to the crowd and placed an arm around Mattingly. He’s always known how to play the moment.

It might look like a clean break, Torre going his way. But the McCourts and revelations of how they have conducted themselves as owners have muddied everything, and the suspicion now is that Torre’s departure is tied to the team’s uncertain future.

If true, and Torre doesn’t think the Dodgers can win next season, where does that leave Mattingly’s prospects for success in completing his on-the-job training?

We will probably never know the extent to which the McCourt mess played into Torre’s decision to retire — unless he’s managing elsewhere next season.

“I won’t be managing the Dodgers next year,” he said. “Now, am I planning on managing somewhere else? No. But I don’t know what’s out there. You don’t know if someone is going to come to you, and I’m not saying that to entice people to come to me. But I don’t want to lie to people and say that’s it.”

He said he would talk to the Dodgers about returning as an advisor, but his refusal to say he’s finished as a manager might suggest he just doesn’t want to manage a team dealing with ownership chaos.

“I’m not saying that,” he said. “I don’t know if there’s going to be a phone call and what might be said. I just don’t see any situation that would want me to do it, but I don’t know what’s out there.”

He said the same thing when he left New York, and ended up in L.A.

“Maybe it’s just the finality of closing a door,” he said in explaining something anyone nearing retirement might relate to in giving up what they have loved to do. “Maybe I don’t want to think about the fact I can’t do this anymore.”

For most Dodgers fans it’s probably not that big a deal whether Torre stays or goes, Torre still New York even though he took the Dodgers to the brink of the World Series the past two years.

He probably needed to win it all here to become really embraced, but for those who never got the opportunity to meet him, if he’s not the most decent guy in sports, then I would guess such a person would have to be his protégé.

Maybe it’s the prostate cancer he overcame, or the abuse he witnessed as a child. Whatever the reason, he seemed to take on life with unusual ease and patience, though losing burned a hole in him.

He took haymaker after haymaker in media sessions as manager of the Choking Dogs, but barked only once, later apologizing for being grumpy, the aftereffects of dad dealing with daughter before coming to the park.

It was a privilege to have the time spent with him.

He’s coached and played in more than 6,000 games, but told his wife, “maybe it would be more fun not having your day depend on winning and losing.”

Torre during spring training was in contract negotiations to remain with the team into next season, but became lonely because his wife and 14-year-old daughter were not with him, and called the negotiations off.

He said he never talked contract with the Dodgers again, but assumed the team was still interested in him returning if he so wished.

“It was great fun here,” he said. “But it’s time.”

As good guys go, there aren’t many better, and the Dodgers really aren’t in a great position to lose such character. But things have changed here, Torre asked when all the hoopla was over if he would let Mattingly manage the rest of this season.

“No,” he said with conviction. “Because this is all I have left.”

Well, maybe.

t.j.simers@latimes.com