Dodgers managerial search down to 2, per report

We could know the Dodgers manager by this weekend, with reports that the club's three-man field is now down to two, per Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.

#Dodgers are doing 2nd interviews with managerial finalists and plan to make a decision by Friday or Saturday, sources say.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) November 18, 2015

Indications are #Dodgers manager job will come down to Gabe Kapler and Dave Roberts. Bud Black appears to be out of the mix.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) November 18, 2015

Bud Black, the one with major league managerial experience among the three finalist (apologies to the one game on Dave Roberts' ledger, as interim skipper after Black was fired in 2015).

For the most part there has been radio silence from the Dodgers regarding the interview process, outside of a few quotes from last week's general manager meetings in Florida.

General manager Farhan Zaidi made it a point to say last week that the baseball operations department was driving the decision-making process in this managerial search, one that started with nine candidates and was whittled down to the final three getting second interviews this week.

Though it's easy to see how this will be portrayed, with Gabe Kapler painted as the front office's guy and Roberts as the ownership choice, what is really important going forward is that whomever the Dodgers choose as their next manager will be on the same relative page as the front office. The memory of Jason Phillips getting spiteful starts at first base is still too fresh to want to revisit something similar.

As long as there is a functional working relationship, either choice is fine with me.