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The Dodgers managerial search has reportedly reached the next phase, with the candidates reduced down to reportedly four finalists. The quartet includes Bud Black, Darin Erstad, Gabe Kapler and Dave Roberts, per both Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times and Jim Bowden of ESPN.
The Dodgers will reportedly hold a second interview with three from this group of four finalists next week, per both Shaikin and J.P. Hoornstra of the LA Daily News, with Hoornstra adding that one of the three interviews could come from someone outside of that quartet.
UPDATE: Erstad reportedly told a group at a Nebraska Boys & Girls Club on Friday that he was withdrawing from the Dodgers' managerial search, and later confirmed with the LA Times:
U of Nebraska coach Darin Erstad confirms he has withdrawn from #Dodgers manager search. "I love the Huskers," he told The Times.
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) November 14, 2015
Five other candidates are known to have interviewed with the Dodgers — Bob Geren, Kirk Gibson, Dave Martinez, Ron Roenicke, Tim Wallach.
With the Dodgers' coaching staff still in flux — the contracts for all coaches have expired, though pitching coach Rick Honeycutt is rumored to be close to a multi-year deal to return — it is understandable that some of the other managerial candidates might be considered for other coaching jobs on the staff.
Shaikin elaborates:
Black and Roberts are currently without contracts for the upcoming season and could be candidates for the coaching staff if they aren’t named manager. Kapler could also be part of the staff.
Wallach was mentioned specifically by new Marlins manager Don Mattingly as someone he thought would join him as bench coach in Miami, and with Wallach now reportedly out of the running for the manager spot in Los Angeles it may only be a matter of time before he takes his talents to South Beach.
Mark McGwire's name has surfaced as a possible hitting coach in Arizona, where he could reunite with team president Tony LaRussa, who was the manager in St. Louis for the first two of McGwire's three years as hitting coach with the Cardinals, and who managed the first nine years of McGwire's playing career in Oakland.
"Hey, that's a great name," Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale said of McGwire on Thursday, per Steve Gilbert of MLB.com. "I'm sure his name would be at the forefront of any list that we're making for hitting guy."