Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly will return to the team in 2014 and given a contract extension, a high-ranking team executive told Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
The Dodgers hold a club option on the manager's contract, which they have not yet exercised. The executive seemed to indicate that the club will not just pick up his option, but will extend his contract and announce the decision at the end of the season.
Los Angeles finished the season with 92 wins, winning the NL West over the Arizona Diamondbacks by 11 games. The team started the season slowly, but rattled off an impressive 42-8 stretch that turned the season around and saved Mattingly's job; the Dodgers nearly fired Mattingly in late June.
Despite a NL West Crown and NLDS victory, there are rumblings within the Dodgers organization about Mattingly's shortcomings, according to Nightengale. Veteran players have privately complained about his managing abilities during the postseason, an anonymous Dodgers player told the reporter.
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