Experience not necessarily required for Dodgers next manager

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers plan to have a manager in place "definitely" by baseball's winter meetings, which take place from Dec. 7-10 in Nashville, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said on Thursday.

But just what or who are the Dodgers looking for to replace Don Mattingly? That remains to be seen.

Managerial experience, something Mattingly did not have before he was hired to succeed Joe Torre, is not necessarily a prerequisite for the job.

"We'll have candidates who have managerial experience and others who don't," Friedman said Thursday. "For us to cast as wide as a net as we want to, we're going to go into it with an open mind."

We went over some candidates earlier Thursday, profiling Dave Martinez, Gabe Kapler, Bud Black, Tim Wallach and Ron Roenicke. Friedman wouldn't comment on specific candidates just yet, especially this early in the process, but it appears we can now add a few more to the speculative list, which certainly isn't complete.

Phil Nevin could be in #Dodgers managerial mix. He's been linked to every opening this winter (MIA, SD, SEA, WAS).

— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) October 22, 2015

Name I'm hearing will be in the mix for the #Dodgers managerial opening: Bob Geren, Mets bench coach. Worked with GM Farhan Zaidi in Oakland

— Mark Saxon (@markasaxon) October 22, 2015

Source: #Padres bench coach Dave Roberts had two interviews and was finalist for #Mariners’ managerial job. Possible candidate for #Dodgers.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) October 23, 2015

"Different guys have different skill sets, and we're going to keep an open mind about who is the best fit," Friedman explained. "Whatever we perceive to not be that person's strengths we'll look to fill that out around him, and figure out ways to help make it as well rounded as possible."

The next manager will definitely have input in the Dodgers coaching staff, which leaves the entirety of the current staff in limbo. Friedman said Dodgers coaches were free to look elsewhere for jobs should they so desire.

The new manager doesn't necessarily need to be at the forefront of advanced statistics to get hired, either.

"I don’t think fluency with that stuff is as necessary as just openness to ideas," general manager Farhan Zaidi said. "One of the things we enjoyed with Donnie was that he was very open to new ideas. Our communication was very good both ways. He learned some from us, we learned some from him.

"We're looking for someone that can lead."