Joe Torre told Major League Baseball before the holidays that he was going to resign from his post to pursue a position with a group looking to purchase the Dodgers, and in the meantime, MLB will use a closer-by-committee approach to replacing him, in which "closer" is defined as "discipline czar." From Jerry Crasnick:

Joe Garagiola Jr., Kim Ng and Peter Woodfork will do Torre's job in the interim while MLB looks for a replacement.

And as far as a permanent replacement goes, Jon Heyman throws Andy MacPhail as a possible replacement, probably because of his experience meting out punishment to the greater Baltimore area.

Torre is joining forces with Los Angeles real-estate developer Rick Caruso, according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times:

"The Dodgers are an iconic franchise, and I am thrilled to partner with Joe Torre, one of baseball's all-time greats, to launch a bid for this storied organization," Caruso said in a statement. "Joe has a proven track record of fielding winning teams and I am looking forward to our group benefiting from his unique experience.

Torre joins a group that faces serious competition in their pursuit of the Dodgers. Both Magic Johnson and Steve Garvey are part of separate groups also making a similar bid.