Darin Erstad Withdraws from Dodgers Manager Search

Over the weekend, the search for the next Dodgers’ manager got a little more narrow, as Darin Erstad reportedly withdrew his name from the short list.

I was a bit preoccupied with my niece being born, but it warrants a post as it now appears that the Dodger manager search has three finalists. It’s still not fully known who they are as there may be a mystery candidate, but Gabe Kapler, Dave Roberts and Bud Black seem to be the three most likely names at this point.

Erstad was a surprise candidate from the get-go and apparently made enough of an impact to be considered a legitimate candidate, but withdrew himself from the job on Friday while speaking at the Nebraska Boys and Girls Club.

Erstad will continue coaching the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers, who have a 139-97 record during Erstad’s four years as skipper. They’ve finished in second in the Big 10 twice in his four years and made the NCAA Regionals once, in 2014.

Throughout the interview process, Erstad began to realize why he was a candidate. The following is an excerpt from Michael Bruntz of 247 Sports, who wrote in detail about Erstad and his opportunity with the Dodgers this morning.

"When you look at my strengths, from game management, a bench coach can help you through a lot of different things. You have a pitching coach to help with the bullpen,” Erstad said. “One thing I can handle well is dealing with the clubhouse, handling a culture, dealing with the media. Being pretty consistent and I think that’s one thing that was intriguing to them."

One of the biggest knocks on former manager Don Mattingly was his bullpen use, even though it isn’t completely on the manager. His best quality, however, was his management of egos and he was extremely well respected and held in high regard by most of the people that knew him.

Erstad would have been an interesting candidate, but he made it clear that his heart is in Nebraska. He was a hell of a lot better of a candidate than Kirk Gibson was, but there are a handful of names I personally would have rather seen than Erstad (Black, Kapler, Roberts, Dave Martinez, in no particular order). He called it “one of the more difficult phone calls I’ve ever had to make” according to Bruntz, but Erstad will not be in the Dodger dugout next year.

Next: Wrapping up the GM Meetings

The other three are expected to get additional interviews and all three of them could conceivably be on the Dodger staff next year. Kapler is already in the organization as the Director of Player Development, and a combination of Black and Roberts could form a solid manager/bench coach combination.