Joe Torre has resigned from his job with MLB to explore opportunities with a group that will pursue ownership of the Dodgers, according to a press release. Torre's group is headed by real estate magnate Rick Caruso, according to a statement. Richard Sandomir and Michael S. Schmidt of the New York Times first reported Caruso's interest in Torre in November. Torre served as the Dodgers' manager from 2008-10 and was appointed the executive vice president of baseball operations for MLB in February last year. Joe Garagiola Jr., Kim Ng, and Peter Woodfork will assume Torre's responsibilities as MLB searches for a replacement.

According to Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times, the deadline to submit opening bids for the Dodgers was recently extended to January 23rd. Owner Frank McCourt and MLB reached an agreement last year for McCourt to identify a winning bidder by April 1st and complete a sale of the Dodgers by April 30th. The list of prospective bidders includes Steven Cohen, Magic Johnson, Mark Cuban, Dennis Gilbert, Tom Golisano, and Steve Garvey and Orel Hershiser, according to Shaikin and Bill Plaschke on December 2nd.