The Los Angeles Dodgers' 2015 season came to a heartbreaking finish on Thursday night when the New York Mets defeated them in Game 5 of the NLDS. Los Angeles has a lot of questions to answer this offseason, and rumors suggest starter Zack Greinke and manager Don Mattingly may not be back with the team.
Greinke has an opt-out clause in his contract that he can exercise this offseason to seek one last long-term deal. He'll turn 32 next week, so he'll need to forgo the final three years on his deal to get a new five- or six-year pact on the open market.
And that's exactly what the latest rumors indicate he'll do (even though it's been speculated for a long time now).
"Zack Greinke will opt out of a contract that has $71 million over three years remaining, according to sources, and one GM suggested he should get multiple offers for $125 million over five years, at a minimum, with the likely winning bid at about $150 million over five years, or perhaps even more," writes Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.
However, that doesn't rule out a return to the Dodgers. Greinke spoke to the media after last night's loss to the Mets and when asked if he hoped to be a Dodger next season he replied, "Yeah, that'd be nice," via MLB.com.
Greinke finished the season 19-3 with a 1.66 ERA (led MLB), 0.84 WHIP (led MLB) and 200 strikeouts in 32 starts (222 2/3 innings). He's a frontrunner for the NL Cy Young award and the Dodgers can afford to pay him whatever amount the market price is, but does Greinke feel there's another team that can give him a better chance to win a World Series?
The right-hander is 51-15 with a 2.30 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 555 strikeouts in 92 regular season starts in his career with the Dodgers.
As for Mattingly, the 54-year-old just finished his fifth season with Los Angeles and has yet to compile a losing record. He's 446-363 over that span with an 8-11 record in the postseason. He helped the Dodgers to their third straight NL West title this year, which was the first time the team achieved such a feat in franchise history.
But the Dodgers have been bounced in the NLDS in each of the past two seasons and tied an MLB record last night by failing to reach the World Series in nine straight postseason appearances.
That may not bode well for their manager.
"Mattingly says he has been treated well by Dodgers baseball president Andrew Friedman and the entire new front-office regime, but word is he hasn't been told anything, one way or another, regarding his future," Heyman added in another piece. "So it's hard to know what to think ... the new group is said to like him, he wasn't their pick (Ned Colletti hired Mattingly), and they likely expected more than 92 wins and a first-round defeat. Anyway, there may be some uncertainty.
"While no Dodgers official is speaking publicly about the situation, one person with some Dodgers connections says he sees Mattingly's status as 'an open question.' Which is nothing but what everyone figures after an early October exit, anyway."
"Dodgers people haven't said much, if anything, about his situation, and they may just keep him after weighing all these factors. But if they aren't sure he's their guy long-term, it's possible they could allow him to talk to other interested teams, and there is at least one that's interested, maybe more."
When asked about his future with the Dodgers during last night's postgame, Mattingly responded, "Seriously, you're asking me that now?" and shook his head. You can hear the clip on the Baseball Tonight Podcast at the 14' mark.
Conventional wisdom suggests Mattingly will be back because a) he's a good manager, b) the Dodgers aren't a balanced team, so he didn't have a whole lot to work with and still won 92 games, and c) he has little control over Kershaw and Greinke losing games in the playoffs. He did all he can to keep his team in this series, and it simply just didn't work out.
Stay tuned for updates on Greinke and Mattingly as we get closer to the offseason.
