Ned Colletti hasn't been perfect in four seasons as the Dodgers' general manager. But he promises he has learned from his mistakes.The team announced Tuesday that Colletti had agreed to a "long-term" extension.
"I think that some of the decisions we made that didn't work out particularly well were out of impatience on our own part," Colletti said -- referring to (not by name) -- contracts for Juan Pierre, Jason Schmidt and Andruw Jones. "I think the last year or so our deliberation and our thought process were keener, were a little bit more fine-tuned, were less impatient."
Instead, the Dodgers have blended acquisitions (Manny Ramirez, Orlando Hudson, Rafael Furcal, Casey Blake, Hiroki Kuroda) with a home-grown core.
The Dodgers have made the postseason three of the past four seasons and have the second-best record in the NL over Colletti's tenure.
"One of our core promises to our fans is championship-caliber baseball, year in and year out," owner Frank McCourt said in a prepared statement. "Ned has been instrumental in our going a long way towards fulfilling that promise. I couldn't be happier for him, both personally and professionally. The stability and continuity that extending his contract provides will further help us achieve the goal of being a consistent winner and I'm thrilled that he will continue to lead our baseball operations into the future."
McCourt and his wife are separated, raising questions about the stability of upper management. But Colletti said, "Had I
not believed that this was the right place to be, I wouldn't be here."
What went unspoken was the length of Colletti's new contract. Neither the Dodgers nor Colletti would get more specific than "long-term."
"I look forward to being here for a long time," he said. "It's a long-term deal. I'll be here for a long time and I may be here longer than a long time."
