Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times reports that Don Mattingly’s option for next season vested when the Dodgers won the NLDS, but the manager is dropping some pretty strong hints that he doesn’t want to go on without an extension beyond 2014.
Mattingly told a group of reporters that the option vesting “doesn’t mean I’ll be back” and added that “we’ll talk about it and go from there” and “I love it here, but I don’t want to be anywhere I’m not wanted.” In other words, he wants to be under contract for more than one season.
Even if the Dodgers aren’t all that interested in giving Mattingly a multi-year extension the worst-case scenario from that would be firing him with years and millions remaining on the deal and considering all the money they’ve thrown around recently it’s hard to imagine that relative chump change really mattering to upper management.
