Rick Caruso, Joe Torre talking Dodgers bid

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Former Dodgers manager Joe Torre has discussed teaming with one of Los Angeles’ most prominent real estate developers in pursuing the team.

Rick Caruso, whose signature project is the Grove but who has not run a sports franchise, could strengthen a potential bid by aligning with Torre.

The discussions between Caruso and Torre were first reported Tuesday by the New York Times and subsequently confirmed by the Los Angeles Times.

Charles Sipkins, a spokesman for Caruso, declined to comment. Torre could not be reached for comment, but he told the New York Times earlier that he had not joined any bid for the Dodgers.

‘There’ve been a number of people who’ve reached out and inquired, but I’ve made no alliance, no commitment, as of this minute,’ Torre told the New York Times.

Torre managed the Dodgers from 2008-10, following a 12-year run with the New York Yankees that included four World Series championships. He now works for the commissioner’s office.

Caruso, who is considering a run for mayor, recently resigned from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission.

In a 2005 Los Angeles Times story that considered the possible development of the land surrounding Dodger Stadium, Caruso said he had not discussed the topic with Dodgers owner Frank McCourt but could envision ‘a little community that could be pretty spectacular’ on the property. In that interview, Caruso laughed off the notion that Dodger Stadium was so isolated that shops and restaurants would not be able to attract customers on days the Dodgers did not play.

‘It would be,’ he said, ‘like the people who said, ‘You can’t build the Grove because it’s in an old Jewish neighborhood with no freeway access. Who’s going to go?’ ‘

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-- Bill Shaikin