On the Yankees beat

A perfect reflection of both of these men.

We've really been fortunate to have these two people in our organization for as long as we did.

Diane and Jeff said a mouthful. I expected nothing less from the captain, Mr. Jeter with his statement about his feelings for Joe Torre.
As much as I believe its time for a change. It does not remove what Torre did for this organization.

Exactly Larry. Sometimes you don't know what you've got until it's gone and something tells me we will be lamenting the absence of Joe Torre at some point next season.

You know what could be really fun about having Don Mattingly as manager? Now I doubt he will be able to hire his own coaching staff, probably not the bench coach at least, but if he's allowed to hire other coaches it will be fun to see who he picks. I'd try to think back to all the players he played with but there were so many
it boggles the mind. Steve Kemp could be the first base coach; Steve Sax the infield coach; Andy Hawkins the pitching coach and of course you got bring back "Hair Gel Mel" Hall in some capacity.

I know he will have Eiland as his pitching coach and an experienced bench coach, but the other spots might be interesting.

Jim A.

The next manager will have an uphill battle next year with comparisons to Joe T.

I hope Yankee management has a great winter with its player moves especially improving the bullpen and SP. The dominos are ready to fall with each succeeding move.

You're right, Larry. DJ becomes Mr. Jeter now; he'll have to, even if no one calls him that.

Neither Girardi nor Mattingly should be put in the position to have to have the other as bench coach. Whoever gets the job should choose his own staff, and the other one should have enough self respect to go elsewhere -- Girardi to the next good team that offers to hire him if Mattingly wins, and Mattingly to manage a minor league team if he stays with the Yankees in case Girardi is selected.

Marianne: Somehow I believe this organization will have the Torre influence as long as his boys are still playing or Cashman is GM. It will be a criteria for employment.

Come on now, if the next manager brings us as far as the ALCS, no one will be missing Torre. You guys have been reading too many Wallace Matthews dirges. It would be nice if someone could shoot that guy and put him out of his misery.

Marianne,
I agree, I don't think either candidate will have the other as their bench coach. It just doesn't make sense. I can see Pena being the bench coach though, as he is older and more experienced so he could help either one.

Diane: Nice of you to stop in for a visit!

Anon,
Very true, a few wins here and there and all will be forgiven/forgotten without a doubt.

ESPN.com is reporting that Mattingly is the front runner for the job and the Yankees may name a manager this Friday.

Jim A., I agree, Pena would probably be a good candidate for bench coach under Mattingly. He might be Donnie's Zim.

I'm not sure about the match with Girardi.

I never, ever read Matthews. In fact, there's nothing I read in Newsday other than you guys. By the time I reach Newsday I have already the Times, the sports sections of the Daily News and the Post, and often other blogs, so by that time there's not much in the way of news or opinion that Newsday is going to break.

"A few wins here and there" won't buy much forgiving, and no forgetting.

By the way, is anyone else wondering about who our next pitching coach should be?

Mazzone just got fired by the Orioles. Maybe the Yankees can get him.

Mazzone didn't thrive as a transplant. His pitchers had terrible ERA for both seasons.

One thing on the Boss's and the little bosses' minds is the same thing that was there when they tied up Girardi at YES. How soon will he be managing against them if they don't hire him now?

NY Times- Hank Sounded off like his Father

[quote]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/24/sports/baseball/24chass.html?ref=baseball

Sounding Like a Chip Off the Old Boss

Perhaps the Yankees have only themselves to blame for this revolting development, this idea of the Red Sox playing the Colorado Rockies in the World Series. If it weren’t for the Yankees, after all, the Red Sox wouldn’t be there.

On the eve of the World Series, that was basically the view of the man the Red Sox might see as the son of Darth Vader. He is really Hank Steinbrenner, and he is half of the brother team that is replacing their father as chief of the outfit known in Boston as the Evil Empire.

Twenty years ago, in his first tour of duty with the family jewel, Hank Steinbrenner did not talk with and had no use for the news media. He didn’t care much for the players either, leaving him little to like about the job, which is why he went back to the family horse farm in Ocala, Fla.

But now that he is on the verge of joining his father, George, and his brother, Hal, as general partners of the Yankees, Hank Steinbrenner is taking a more assertive role, privately and publicly.

In a telephone interview Monday night, for example, Steinbrenner suggested that the Red Sox are where they are because of the inspiration they took from their rivalry with the Yankees. His comments came in response to the question of whether the Red Sox had passed the Yankees because this is their second World Series in four years.
[b]
“No, nobody would think that,” Steinbrenner said. “If you look at the last 12 years, we’ve won four and they’ve won one. We’ve been in six; they’ve been in one. No, they haven’t passed us. They’ve done a great job, don’t get me wrong. They’ve done what they had to do to keep up with us.
[/b]
“You have to admire what they have accomplished. Let’s face it. In order to compete with us, as they have lately, they’ve had to pretty much do things like us. You have to admire them for that.”

The two teams are “stuck with each other,” he said, adding: “I think other divisions can count their blessings that they don’t have to compete with us or the Red Sox. We do things to spur each other on.”

The teams have long had a fierce rivalry, though the rivalry slipped into hibernation when one or the other, or both, had poor or mediocre teams. The rivalry has escalated under the current Red Sox ownership led by John Henry, a former minority partner of the Yankees.

The desire to keep up with or eclipse the Yankees prompted the Red Sox to spend $103 million last winter to get Daisuke Matsuzaka and sign J. D. Drew for $70 million and Julio Lugo for $36 million. They have competed with the Yankees for other players, including José Contreras, whose signing by the Yankees sent Theo Epstein, the young Red Sox general manager, into a tantrum and prompted the Evil Empire comment by Larry Lucchino, the team president.
[b]
“The Red Sox,” Steinbrenner acknowledged, “have become a popular team,” then he added, “If it wasn’t for the rivalry with us, they’d be just another team.”[/b]

And he put the team’s relative popularity into perspective, at least from his point of view.

“They talk about Red Sox nation,” he said. “We talk about Yankee universe. As bad as they want it, they’ll never be the Yankees with their brand.”

Here he mentioned all of the Yankees paraphernalia that is seen throughout the country — caps, shirts, jackets, license plates. “But you have to admire what they’ve done in becoming our biggest rival. In the past it was in name only.”

Steinbrenner recalled that Randy Levine, the Yankees’ president, once accused the Red Sox of “riding our coattails.”

“What would they be if they were in another division?” Steinbrenner asked. “They’d still be good, but there are other good teams in baseball. The bottom line is the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is the best thing baseball has going for it.”

But the reality is the Red Sox are playing tonight, and the Yankees are not. A year from now, Steinbrenner suggested, the scenario will be reversed.

[b]“We’ll do what we have to do to win, just like the Red Sox have done,” he said, explaining that the Yankees will continue spending as they had under his father, who, he said, “for the most part is retired.”
[/b]

The brightest part of the Yankees’ future, Hank said, is their young pitchers, including Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy. “We have the best young pitching in baseball,” he said, “not just in the majors but in the minors coming behind them. As long as we keep adding young position players like Cabrera and Canó, we’re going to be tough for 10 years,” he said in reference to outfielder Melky Cabrera and second baseman Robinson Canó

Will Alex Rodriguez be part of next year’s team? “We’ll see what happens,” he said, “but of course we want to keep him.”

Rodriguez can opt out of the remaining three years of his contract 10 days after the end of the World Series.

“We’d like to get together with him before he makes a decision,” Steinbrenner said. “Whatever happens after that is up to him.”

Could he see Rodriguez becoming a free agent and signing with the Red Sox, who tried to trade for him four years ago before the Yankees got him?

“I don’t think of it that way,” Steinbrenner said. “It’s been made clear to Scott Boras that if he opts out we won’t pursue him. That’s not a bluff.”

With the Red Sox in the World Series for the second time in four years, could they replace the Yankees as the Evil Empire?

[b]“You mean us all of a sudden becoming the underdog? Steinbrenner said. “I hope not. I hope we can win enough in the next 20 years that we’ll continue to be Darth Vader, if that’s how they want to portray us.”[/b][/quote]

Grampa, I think you're right, Girardi will continue to get managing offers.

Mattingly is the one whose career would be hurt most by not being selected now by the Yankees. Other teams would be unlikely to take an interest after a show of 'no confidence' by the Yanks, and it would not be good to keep him with the big team along with a new manager for whom they passed him over. He'd be in the minors with no place to move up in this system unless the next guy fails pretty quickly.

Girardi and Pena have both shown their stuff elsewhere and, with Mattingly openly spoken of by Hank Steinbrenner as the favorite going in, they would be undamaged by losing to the sentimental favorite.

IMO.

They will hire Girardi.

As soon as Mattingly's agent had to make a statement about managing in the minors I felt he would not be hired. I can't say why.

Pena is bilingual, yes?

You need coaches who can speak Spanish, and Japanese, and Taiwanese and maybe soon Chinese ...

Pena was a good player and a catcher, so he knows how to run things ... I think he could compliment Girardi. Why not?

I wonder who Girardi's coaches were in Florida?

Very nice statement by Jeter. Classy. The team needs more of that.

I got a copy of the New York Post on Anna Maria Island last Sunday and it has all the Torre coverage. I am still reading it ... obviously it was big news. The Post even ran an editorial about Torre.

I hope they announce Girardi ASAP as the new manager. A safe choice.

They will interview Pena to soothe Bud Selig and his nauseating politically correct illness (PC is a denial of reality at the core) but they won't hire Pena, not after he quit in KC. (Divorce? Nothing against him, I am sure he had his reasons.)

It has to be Girardi.

But I hope Pena stays, as I said. If Girardi faulters then who is next in line? Maybe Tony.

Who knows what the future holds?

ACL,

Be careful what you wish for, for you might just get it.

Hank S.

I can count better than you...Boston is now in TWO world series in the past 12 years....I know you'd love to forget this season happened but it did.

USA Today - Red Sox are following in footsteps of Yankees

QUOTE
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/l...ox-status_N.htm

By Mike Lopresti, Gannett News Service
Meet the new Yankees.

As empires go, the Boston Red Sox have everything they need, except for maybe pinstripes.

They do not spend as much of the GNP as George Steinbrenner, but more than anybody else. Nearly three times more than the Colorado team they are about to play in the World Series.

Their postseason aura is not quite Bronxian, but they are working on it. They're 14-3 since 1999 in elimination games, with one 11th-hour escape after another, and whom does that sound like?

Their ballpark is foreboding and frantic. Yankee Stadium with a green wall.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: World Series | Yankees | BOSTON | New York Yankees | Boston Red Sox | Indians | Fenway Park | Yankee Stadium | Curt Schilling | Terry Francona

The zealotry is every bit as intense. Win now, win it all, or someone must pay.

The roster is just as laden with star power. Only with more Japanese pitchers.

The American League has turned into Orwell's Animal Farm. The Yankees are the humans and the Red Sox are the animals, and suddenly, you can't tell them apart.

One thing the Red Sox are that the Yankees are not, of course.

Still playing.

Forget the idea of long sufferers, and the anguish passed from New England generation to generation. This is post-curse Boston.

You want that, go to Cleveland. The Indians' implosion — not just three losses, but by a staggering 30-5 — is a reminder that the purest form of sport pain lies on the shores of Lake Erie.

Chicago mourns its Cubs, but also had its Michael Jordan Bulls. New England's vigil for a Red Sox title lasted nearly a century, but meanwhile the Celtics kept putting up banners.

Cleveland's wait is now more than four decades ... in everything. Nothing is drier than an across-the-board drought.

Now Boston is on fire (noticed the Patriots' scores lately?) and the Red Sox are in the middle of it.

As they explain their flair for survival in October, they sound just like ... the Yankees.

"I do think that in games of a high magnitude, our guys don't get overwhelmed," manager Terry Francona said. "It doesn't assure you that you're going to win, but it is a good feeling."

When they speak of the burden of expectation they carry, they sound just like ... the Yankees.

"Things have gotten a little skewed around here," Francona said last week. "It is a fight sometimes to keep perspective. I mean, we're sitting at 101 wins, but people don't seem to be very happy very much of the time."

When they describe the voltage of their ballpark, they sound just like ... the Yankees. The Indians just spent The Lost Weekend in Fenway Park — a 12-2 pounding, followed by 11-2.

"I will argue that you'll never hear home-field advantage being pooh-poohed again in this city," Curt Schilling said. "The fans are relentless, passionate and they don't allow us to let up for an inning, a minute. If we do, we hear about it."

Chimed in Francona: "You get into the seventh inning and the opposing pitcher throws ball one, and you can feel the place shaking. There's not too many places in baseball where you really feel like that."

Oh, there's one down the East Coast, but they're a little busy right now, trying to find a manager and piece together their mystique.

The Yankees are not the bully, anymore. The Red Sox are. Now the upstarts are coming in from Colorado. The Rockies whipped through Fenway in June and won two of three games, beating Schilling and Josh Beckett by a combined score of 19-3. And that was even before the Rockies turned into Batman and Robin.

But teasing with regular season hope and then dropping the hammer in the fall is an old Yankee trick.

Now the Red Sox could win a second World Series in four years, and how could we know when they finally put Babe Ruth behind them back in 2004, they'd try to make this a habit?

Just like the Yankees.

And if they do, what then, a new Broadway play?

D*mn Red Sox.

If Jeter & his cohorts would've showed up against the Cleveland Indians Torre would still be here.

If Jeter & his cohorts would've showed up against the Cleveland Indians Torre would still be here.

If Jeter & his cohorts would've showed up against the Cleveland Indians Torre would still be here.

Larry ... I have been thinking of your book and sent you a mini-treatment ... so do look for that ok?

Talking the Walk
By Larry M. of Fla fame

Larry M. spent XX years of his life in the service of others.

Now Larry M. has stitched together the fabric of that career in his new collection of short stories. Stories that will make you laugh. Others that will bring tears of both sorrow and joy. The gritty details and abject realism will make you feel as if you had been ... bla, bla, bla, yada, yada, yada ...

(You may want to list a few of the better stories, I say make a definitive personal list of 20 and then list 5 or so of the very best for the query letter to the publisher! Outline first, then write the ending. Yes the ending, otherwise you will feel like you are writing into infinity. My stupid book on the Kurds is in every library in the US or so it seems. Now that we are going to bomb the PKK with cruise missiles even more people will buy it, hoping to learn about who we are bombing this this time. If I can do it, you can do it better!)

Since I passed on the misinformation here, let me pass on the correction from the NY Times as well:

Correction: October 24, 2007

A sports article on Tuesday about the latest developments in George J. Mitchell’s investigation of performance-enhancing drugs on behalf of Major League Baseball referred incorrectly to his role with the Boston Red Sox. As a director, he is a paid adviser to the team’s ownership group; his compensation does not include future equity rights and, if the team were sold, he would not receive part of the sale proceeds.

How about Bernie as a coach?

Sorry, I made this comment on the wrong thread by accident.

I happen to like Girardi but he should NOT be the manager of this club.

Do we really want the manager and new ownership fighting on the back pages everyday? Girardi couldn’t get along with the timid Jeffery Loria, so how is he going to like taking marching orders from the Steinbrenner/Levin bunch?

Sometimes, the manager has to rise above all the bickering and do what’s best for his ballclub. The infamous incident with Loria happened in May of 2006 and it lingered all season.

As the leader of the club, Girardi should have done something to clear the air with Loria and put the issue to rest.

Instead, he let it become a distraction for 5 months until they fired him. He also stopped talking to the front office because he was getting too power hungry and didn’t want upper management to tell him what to do.

Despite a successful season, the ownership chose to fire him because they didn’t think he was worth the trouble. People often tend to see his MOTY award and think he’s the guy to now run the Yanks. There’s some baggage that comes with him as well.

Many of the Marlins’ fans blame him for his overuse of the young arms like Johnson and Sanchez, who both were forced to have TJ and missed most of 2007 and will miss most of 2008.

I think we can learn a lot from Marlins’ fans because they were the people watching Girardi closely on an everyday basis. Yankee fans did not.

Girardi wanted a lot more vets coming out of Spring Training with the Marlins. That is well-documented. The problem is that the Marlins' front office wouldn't let him and wanted the young kids instead.

Girardi is often viewed by people here as some great young talent evaluator, but that simply isn't true.

There’s some startling downside to him that people don’t know about or tend to downplay. Do the research on him instead of looking at his one season as manager and award.

If Mattingly and Girardi were battling it out for the Cubs' job - Girardi would be your man.

However, Mattingly is the better fit to manage the Yankees.

How about Rudy Jaramillo as bench coach? Highly disciplined, great work ethic, strong mentor to young players, best hitting coach in the business outside of Kevin Long, bilingual, ran second to Willie in the Mets managerial selections so we know he's open to NYC, well respected in baseball.

And I forgot to add, his contract with Texas is up in a week.

I predict Mattingly gets the job. Ant says Girardi is the safe option but I think in terms of keeping a peaceful clubhouse Mattingly is the safe option.

I'd actually prefer to see Pena given the job but I don't think that will happen.

Ant- You can't hold Pena's divorce against him, that's just ridiculous. You could actually respect the man for leaving the job to take care of his kids after he caught his wife cheating on him.
If you try to hire the perfect person for the job, you will be looking for a very, very long time don't you think? People have flaws, that's what makes us interesting.

How about you all shut up! I have never heard a bigger bunch of babies talk about usless stuff. Don't worry about who the manager is. It won't matter anyway. You will be losers as long as you have A-Clod. Make sure you watch the best team in baseball tonight in the WS. Thats right the best team in baseball. Look for a sweep of those hapless Rockies. Sox rule!

Plus A-Rod loves him, if anyone cares about making A-Rod comfy.

That's the keyboard right in front of you, Anon, use it for your exit whenever you're unhappy here.

Anon,
Your team is in the World Series and you're spending your day on a YANKEES blog posting the same crap over and over again and you're telling us to stop worrying about useless stuff?

On the predictions front:

I'm going with Tyler Kepner (NY Times) -- Rockies in six.

Viper,

I like your take on Girardi. However I really dont see what qualifies Mattingly to be anything other than a coach. Doesn't anyone want to see him manage something first? Can he win a game somewhere? Are these guys to big to spend a season in the Farm System managing to actually show they have a clue?

I dont get it. If I want to hire a new business manager I dont interview the old ones personal assistant. I interview those with Manager on their resume.

Marianne,

Bold prediction. I like the guts!

Thank you, Nudge. I've never made a prediction here before, and I may never make another one!

Marianne,

If you read the posts here long enough over the course of the season you will see there is no pressure to be correct! If someone reminds you down the road of a bad prediction made....they are probably guilty of bad predictions themselves.

Jim,

I just love to come on here and listen to you guy's all cry. It is so awsome to listen to you little spoiled crybaby Yankee fans. You are the wors fans in the world. All a bunch of cry babies. Maybe you should come ovewr to the other side where the real men are. Hey Marianne, if you ever want to meet a real man, I am right here. Stop talking to these pansy Yankee fans and talk to me. You will see what a real man is!

Anon, I'm afraid the Grillmeister in my life would object very strongly to my seeking out any other 'real men', but thank you.

Are you sure you are happy here? Wouldn't you find others more like you on other boards? I'm afraid there are very few of your kind here for you to associate with and it must get lonely.

Nudge,

Clearly, I don't think Mattingly is the most qualified man in the world to manage the Yankees. However, I do think he is the better fit for this team as opposed to Girardi.

Let's face it, I like Tony Pena but he's not getting the Yankee gig. The two real candidates are Girardi and Mattingly.

Mattingly is the better fit between the two because he's basically been the manager in training since he came back to coach. He wouldn't have come back otherwise and has said so on several occasions.

He's been with the current crop of guys for 4 years and knows the players well and they all respect him.

He's also not a guy who is going to butt heads with the owner or management and that kind of stuff is always a distraction to the team. Girardi has his hard-nosed and stubborn personality and that may work well with young kids but it won't work well with a team like the Yanks with a lot of vets.

Finding a manager is not just about getting the manager available with the best resume. It's about hiring a guy who will be the best for their team.

Like I said, if this were the Cubs, Girardi would be my choice. But the Yankees are a different story.

That stubborn tough guy image often wears thin very quickly within the organization. Those guys usually don't last very long.

Jeter's comments regarding Torre, and the possible hiring of Mattingly as the nest Yankee Mgr. are exactly why this team has failed in the 1st round of the playoffs 3 straight years. No competitive "fire", no winning above everything else. "The Boss", whether it be just old age, Alzheimers, dementia, etc. is now plain old "Grandpa George". And Jeter regarding Torre as a "friend for life" is nice, but certainly not the type of environment that will produce a players absolute best effort, and a championship as a team. The Jeter\Torre relationship was akin to that of a father coaching his son. We have all seen this at the Little League level and how it effects both the player and the team as a whole. It's obvious why the "fire in the belly"\Paul O'Neill Yankees have vanished. The last several years this has not been the New York Yankees, it's been "The Love Boat".

Jim A.,

Yes you are so right my friend as always ... but as I said and maybe it was not clear, why Pena quit in KC, the divorce ... it is nothing against him. He did what he had to do. It must have been a hard time.

I say keep him. He was a catcher. He speaks Spanish. He knows the game. He seems to be a good influence.

To me though, this is a team that needs fire.

My to do list ...

Hire Girardi

Hire Mazzone

Leave Eiland to work with Horne and Sanchez and the other pitchers in the minors till they are all ready ...

In 09 make Eiland the auxilliary pitching coach.

Trade for Kazmir

Trade for Jeremy Sowers

Trade for Josh Hamilton

Trade for Ludwick

Get rid of all the dead wood. Eat the bad contracts. Sell more jerseys in Japan to make up for the difference. Mussina, Clemens, Pavano, Igawa, Giambi, Damon, Farns ... bye bye.

Keep Matsui for the Japanese TV rights and marketing thingy till you find a new star from Japan.

Find good lefties for the bullpen

... a few questions ...

What is going on with Brackman? Why draft him if he was hurt, or did he get hurt after the draft? He is big like Randy Johnson ... maybe he will intimidate when healthy?

Has anyone seen Horne pitch? Is he really that good? I hear he is great.

Roy -

Once again you give us a post with a lot of quotations that are supposed to enforce your awful opinions that extend from nothing but nonsense.

So you agree with this motivational incentive contract for Torre because you do not think there is any fire or passion to win?

So Jeter must be sick of winning too. Thats why he doesn't try either.

It is not the passion or fire we have been lacking. It is the big game pitching we have been missing.

Mariano not being lights out the way he was back in 96-00.

Wang not being the 19 game winner ace we thought he could be in the playoffs.

Ever since 2001 we have not had a true guts and glory pitcher to stop the momentum of other teams before they roll right over us.

You will see how amazing Torre was at bringing these ball clubs together after having awful starts due to injuries and big ego's. This team played with more passion the 2nd half of the season then just about any other team in the league.

Go McCarthy.

Shocking, but Roy is wrong again.

This team doesn't lack fire or passion because they wouldn't be going to the postseason year after year.

They can't get past the ALDS because of their starting pitching.

I don't know how many times we have to watch Yankee starters get pounded in October before some people understand that.

It has nothing to do with passion. It has to do with the horses in key areas.

Stack the rotation with a stable of arms and postseason success will follow. It really is that simple.

I didn't say Jeter "wasn't trying". No where in it did I even mention the Torre "incentive" contract offer. If you feel compelled to address my post, it would probably help if you actually read it. 1 "Ace" pitcher would not have saved this team the last 3 yrs. The major problem with the Yanks is "attitude\desire" from the top down.

Roy,

Become a Sox fan and you won't have to listen to these little cry babies!

A better attitude doesn't address the 6.31 ERA (and only 4.2 IP per start) by Yankee starters in the postseason from 2005 to 2007 -- a span of 13 games.

Get some horses and some stability in the rotation and they will be far more successful in October.

Boycott the World Series

So I guess nobody noticed the clear cut shady Bo Sux situation. Announcing Paul Bird's hgh use at the most inopportune time. The guy who leaked it works for the Sux. The ALCS was completely rigged. The Media Blitz on Cleveland, the umpires in the last 2 games, and the mysteriously cocky red sox organization that was still completely sure that they were going to win while they were 3 games down. Somethings not right. Their attitude suggests that their either juiced or crooked....but the Sux are even protected from that now too.

The World Series are fixed..I think Mlb wants Redsox to win the World Series in 2007 this year because Bud Selig and John Henry ..... What a joke...

Roy -

I read your post.

You said they lack all this mental stuff and that is why they do not win the world series every season.

Well they had enough fire and passion to make it all of these year (as well as the payroll).

But they must not really care once they get to the playoffs then is the point I am making????

IF WANG pitches 2 games in the Indians series the way he is fully capable of pitching we are going on to face the Sox and things could be totally different.

What I see happening is Mattingly becomes manager (not the correct choice) and the older Pena becomes his bench coach (teacher). They'll also probably want Girardi out of here too so he won't be hovering overhead in the YES booth analyzing every move Donnie makes.

If A-Rod hits like he did all year the Yanks would have won. Once a chocker always a chocker!

So are we in for another bout of Yankee upstaging?

If it's true, as some published reports have said, that they expect to make a decision by Friday, does Buddy Boy think the news will keep for a week?

Does he even believe a team that has important FA matters to pursue that may be affected by the managerial choice OUGHT to keep it secret and postpone significant team business until he okays the announcement?

Friday is an off day. Maybe he'll be pressured into seeing reason if the decision is ready by then.

Upstaging coming?

Everybody has a short memory. The Yankees haven't won a World Series in 7 years or made it past the first round in the last 3 years. Joe Torre never changes. He overused is relievers and ended up ruining the careers of Scott Proctor and Tanyon Sturtze among others. He always plays the game of lefty against righty and righty against lefty both on offense and defense. He has had the highest paid team for his whole career as Yankee manager and I am sure he has had input over the past decade on the teams roster. Why did he rest Wang, a sinker ball pitcher, for 8 or 9 days before the playoffs? Couldn't he tell in the first two innings that he didn't have it? Why did he pinch hit a pathetic and inept Giambi for Duncan in the final game against Cleveland? There are many decisions you can question, but the bottom line is he hasn't won a Championship in 7 years. Players get one year contracts and have incentives built in. Why can't Joe Torre? He was a below .500 manager before the Yankees provided him with the best team money could buy. He will get into the Hall of Fame as a manager because of the Yankees, not because of his lifetime record and managerial skills.
Also stop blasting Randy Levine. Do you for one second think that it was solely his decision to offer the contract to Torre, and not the consensus decision of the Yankee brass. If Torre was as great a manager as he thinks he was, he would have taken the contract and showed everyone how good he thinks he is.

Anonymous the Sox fan doesn't get that these issues we're 'crying' about are much more important than the outcome of the WS this year.

Ask Terry Francona how to win. He will tell you. Maybe you should have him talk to your new manager. Go Sox! Sully and Casual Observer are my heroes!

We all want better players\pitchers, but when most of them board "The Love Boat", their intensity "wanders". First thing the Yanks must address is the general atmosphere surrounding this team. I don't believe "Grandpa George" is up to this task, nor is Mattingly. Girardi will immediately address this issue and change the "climate" in the Yankee clubhouse if given the opportunity.

Hey Gampa. Get back on your walker and get out of here. There is nothing more important then watching the best team in baseball in the WS!

Too much hyperbole to make any sense out of your rant, but tell me exactly how Torre ruined Scott Proctor?

He pitched in 31 games for the Dodgers in Aug and Sept with a 3.38 ERA as opposed to a 3.83 ERA with the Yanks.

Great 11:23 post Roy!

Barry -

It is very easy for you and anyone else to 2nd guess a manager after the dust has cleared.

Wang may be a sinker ball pitcher but he throw a gas sinker ball in the mid 90's. He was showing signs of fatigue down the stretch and Torre made a reasonable move in giving his arm some rest.

He has not always been the best at managing bullpens but he has not had much to manage with since 2000. Mariano is the only solid pitcher they have had so it makes it hard to not overuse setup men in situations where you need someone to rely on.

Torre brought another element to the game as a manager. Players came to NY asking Torre what they can do for him and the team instead of coming to NY and doing things their way. He commanded the respect of his players and the fans and brought class to the game. Which also rubbed off on all the players that grew up under him such as Jeter, Pettitte, Mariano and Posada.

Randy Levine is a weasel who should not have any decision making power when it comes to deciding the fate of a manager like Torre.

It was an insult to only offer Torre a one year deal where he could potentially be fired at any point in the season. Torre and the players would have to go through the same media crap all year just like this year. It was also an insult to say Torre needs motivation in the form of money in order for him to do well in the playoffs.

COMMISH-
Mattingly\Pena=Edgar Bergen\Charlie McCarthy. I hope not.

Barry,

Joe Torre has already shown everyone how good he is.

Perhaps the next manager will be just as good, of course, but it will take twelve years to know whether he can pilot the team to the post-season as unerringly as Joe Torre did.

Levine has also shown the world who he is -- the backstabber who sat in the press box 'amusing' the media with his diatribes against his team's manager DURING THE PLAYOFFS -- and he hasn't dared to deny it.

Roy -

The "climate" of the Yankees was not the issue this year.

We needed Wang to be a Josh Beckett type pitcher.

That did not happen. That is why we finished our season.

Also, wasn't it you who also said we should get Gagne for Kennedy?

Wow am I glad you do not have control of the Yankees.

Roy - your comment of 11:23 is the sort of inane ramblings I've come to love and expect from you.

Jeter's comments do not reflect a lack of competitive fire or any such nonsense - if there are any players more passionate in the game than Jeter, Andy and Posada when it comes to winning I have yet to see them. Jeter's comments though do reflect a great respect for the only manager for whom he has played and who helped him grow not just as a player but also as a young man learning how to deal with great success under bright lights that have wilted or destroyed other great young players (see Strawberry and Gooden).

I see nothing in Jeter's comments that even have to do with baseball - it is more of a statement about Torre the man then Torre the manager.

Anon, we're Yanks fans on here. This WS means much less to us than the crucial decisions Yanks have to make.

Marianne, it's not upstaging, it's paying mind to what matters instead of sideshows.

Yea, and we needed Melky to be Babe Ruth. That did not happen either. We have now gone from "The Love Boat" to "Fantasy Island". Please return to reality.

CHIP-
Thanks for that "back handed" complement.

Roy,

The reality is we have a very good team next year if we are able to hold on to Arod, Posada, Mariano, Pettitte and Bobby.

Which is obviously a lot we need to do but with this rush of young pitching I feel really good about next year.

Mcaarthy -

Why is it an Insult, Should'nt a boss Be insulted that his 200 mil investment cannot get pass the 1st round should ,nt he be insulted that the greatest choke in SPORTS history took place, should AROD have been mad enough to make a big stink and be insulted for batting 8th ?? should Arod have been insulted and approached (and slapped the sh*t out of Torre) for the sports illustrated story??

The issue is the man did not make ANY improvements since his last contract and the yankees was being creative in trying to rev up this team who is plain and simple DEAD when it matters LIKE THEY ARE NOT MOTIVATED. that is the way they played.

Never not once has Torre ever taken blame for ANY of our playoff losses BUT You can see him TAKE CREDIT for the victorys.

Hey Roy when do we bcome the "Dukes of Hazzard"? Haha