Farewell Joe Torre: The rise of Don Mattingly means Dodgers can kiss Tim Wallach goodbye

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Say what you want about the time spent here by Joe Torre or how qualified Don Mattingly is to take over as the Dodgers manager, one thing that comes out of Friday’s announcement is clear:

Say goodbye to Tim Wallach.

General manager Ned Colletti acknowledged to The Times’ Kevin Baxter this month that if Mattingly became the next Dodgers’ manager, the organization probably would lose Wallach.

``I think the world of Tim. He’s going to be a very good big league manager,’’ Colletti told Baxter.

Just not with the Dodgers.

Wallach had a few things going for him that Mattingly did not: He’s from the Los Angeles area, he’s a former Dodger and he has spent the last two years managing in the minors at the Dodgers’ triple-A Albuquerque club.

He was also, it should be noted, previously the Dodgers hitting instructor.

Still, there’s no reason to believe this was ever a fair fight. It’s long been assumed that Mattingly had been promised that he could succeed Torre when he followed him here from New York as the hitting instructor.

There probably was no debate at all; Mattingly simply was designated the heir from the beginning. Even as a groundswell for Wallach grew, Colletti told Baxter two weeks ago, ``At this point, Donnie is probably the leading candidate.’’

Mattingly may prove to be an excellent manager. You can’t hold a couple of early mistakes against him as a career indictment.

But the most qualified choice was Wallach. And, like Mike Scioscia before him, he will ultimately get his chance to manage in the majors with another organization.

-- Steve Dilbeck