Despite a payroll of $215 million the Los Angeles Dodgers are treading at the bottom of the NL West. Days after Don Mattingly was critical of the team, team president Stan Kasten said the third year manager was in no danger of losing his job.
“I do expect things to turn around. I expect Donnie to be here for a long time,” Kasten said prior to Friday’s game against the Cardinals.
“I understand there is another side of that if things don’t go well. I don’t think of things like that. I don’t look at things that way. I choose to believe we’re going to be fine.”
Mattingly asked the Dodgers to extend his contract past this year during spring training but the team declined.
“This is not a guy who the players are trying to get rid of. These players are not coming to the front office and saying, ‘Please get this guy out of here,'” Kasten said. “It’s the opposite. This is a group of guys who love and respect Don. And I think this latest plea for a greater sense of urgency will be well received. I hope it is. It should be.”
For his part, Mattingly didn’t appear worried about his future.
“If your team doesn’t play well, someone is going to go and it isn’t going to be them,” he said. “It’s all about how we play. That’s the only thing I really stress over.”
The Dodgers have struggled to get the bats of Matt Kemp and Andre Either going this year. Kemp was hitting just .270 with two home runs prior to Friday’s game and Either was not much better with a .264 average and four homers.
