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Bud Black, suddenly available, will reportedly interview for Dodgers' manager position

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Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

It looks like we can add another name to the Dodgers' thorough managerial search, and it's someone who likely would have been on the list anyway if not for recent events. Bud Black nearly had a deal to manage the Nationals but that fell through, and now the former Padres skipper will interview with the Dodgers per Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.

Black was widely reported to have landed the job in Washington, but the Nationals ownership then reportedly low-balled him, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today:

The job was offered to Black on Wednesday by Nationals GM Mike Rizzo, which he accepted, and negotiations began on Thursday. They never came close to reaching a deal.

The Nationals, according to a person with knowledge of the talks, originally offered Black a one-year deal for $1.6 million, and refused to guarantee more than two years. Black informed the Nationals’ ownership several days ago that he couldn’t accept a deal, which is considerably lower than he anticipated.

Washington switched course and hired Dusty Baker instead, announcing the move earlier Tuesday.

Black, 58, is the most experienced of the known candidates for the Dodgers' job, having managed for 8½ seasons with the Padres before getting fired this June after a 32-33 start. He was also the pitching coach under Mike Scioscia with the Angels for seven years, from 2000-2006.

Black was 649-713 (.477) in San Diego, with two winning seasons to his credit, topping out at 90 wins in 2010, when he was named National League Manager of the Year. He received Manager of the Year votes in four other years as well.

Per Elias, and as noted by Bin Lindbergh at Grantland in June, Black is just the third manager since 1900 to last more than eight years with one team despite never making the playoffs or winning more than 90 games in a season, joining Jimmy Dykes (White Sox, 1934-46) and Bill Rigney (Angels, 1961-69), the latter of whom had to work through the growing pains of the first years of an expansion franchise.

In June, Rosenthal wrote about Black's term in San Diego:

I could present an endless list of pitchers who developed under his watch, from the Mike Adams-Luke Gregerson-Heath Bell relief trio to the current Andrew Cashner-Tyson Ross combo in the Padres’ rotation. But he, too, would lose patience with players. Almost all managers do.

According to one source, Black didn’t believe in Anthony Rizzo, who blossomed into a star with the Cubs after getting traded for Cashner. Even certain pitchers – Jesse Hahn, Brad Boxberger, Edinson Volquez – became more well-established once they left the organization.

For the most part, though, Black got the most out of what he had.

But the lack of relative success for Black in San Diego is all relative. He went through three team owners, three team presidents and four different general managers in his tenure with the Padres, so stability was not a hallmark down south.

One of those general managers was Josh Byrnes, who worked with Black from 2011-2014 and is now the senior vice president of baseball operations with the Dodgers. So that's Black's connection with Los Angeles, if he needs one beyond the merit of his experience.

The Dodgers have the only managerial vacancy in the majors, so they can afford to take their time, though with the risk that in-house coaches Tim Wallach or Ron Roenicke may leave for coaching jobs elsewhere should the process in Los Angeles run long.