LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers manager Don Mattingly held end-of-season meetings with the front office and coaching staff on Thursday, and said he expects to return in 2015.
"I'm assuming [I'll be back]," Mattingly said. "I came to work like every other meeting. Nobody has told me anything differently."
Mattingly is under contract through 2016. General manager Ned Colletti also has a multi-year contract, but his job status is less clear. While Mattingly is done with meetings and headed home to be with his pregnant wife, Colletti is expected to continue meeting with CEO and president Stan Kasten through at least Friday, and probably the weekend.
Colletti is rumored to be on the hot seat, with Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times touting Andrew Friedman of the Rays as the team's top target as Colletti's replacement.
Whether there is a change in the front office, we will know more either by the weekend or next week. Mattingly said he would be "surprised" if there were any front office changes.
"I don't know what's been speculated, but yesterday was an off day and we came in today. It seems like business as usual," Mattingly said.
Asked if his coaching staff would return, Mattingly was noncommittal.
"I'll say this. I'm proud of everything we've done this year," Mattingly said. "I'm proud of these guys."
It was an answer he repeated a few times on Thursday.
"All year long we talked about all this stuff, whatever the circumstance of that game. It's going to come down to are we going to be able to make a play, are we going to get a big hit, or get an out when we need it. [The Cardinals] were able to do it, and we weren't."
The Dodgers won 94 games, two more than in 2013, but the team also exited one round earlier. Mattingly didn't feel like the season was a total loss.
"I don't feel like it's a bust. The 'World Series or bust' is pretty tough. I don't mind the mentality, but you have to have reality, too," he said. "Any time you get into the postseason, you get into short series and anything can happen. Over the course of the season you play 162, and the best team wins the division, I think."