I Don't Care About Torre... Bring In Girardi
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by Ibearg
My title is not meant to disrespect Torre. He won 4 championship titles with the Yankees and as a fan I will always appreciate him for that. He will be elected into the hall of fame based on his accomplishments as a manager and was more than amply compensated for his troubles. So my point is i don't care if they bring him back, if they do fine, but if not I'm fine with that too. He's been there 12 years which is a loooong time nowadays and he isn't going to be around forever. Manager of the Yankees isn't a lifetime gig and i'm fine with him not being rehired. I believe they won't bring him back, so i've moved on to what they should do next and the first and best name to come to mind is one Joseph Girardi. The three names really being mentioned are Larussa, Mattingly and Girardi. So why do I want Joe?
1) He has experiance. Granted he only spent one year as manager of the Marlins, but it was widely viewed as very successful. He took a very young team and kept them competitive and in playoff contention, showing he could handle young talent which is important with all the youngsters that will be on team next year (Melky, Hughes,Chamberlain, Kennedy at a minimum) How'd they do this year without him? Additionally before that he was bench coach for the Yankees. Larusa has more experiance but it does give him an edge over Mattingly in this area who has only been a bench coach and batting coach.
2) He was a catcher. Catchers tend to be good managers because when you play the position you have to be smart, you're involved in every play defensively, you hit, and you handle a pitching staff. Torre was a catcher, Mike Scioscia was a catcher, Bob Melvin was a catcher, so was Eric Wedge. Granted the other four playoff managers were outfielders so it's not necessarily a prerequisite but i think it helps. Larussa wasn't and neither was Mattingly.
3) He was a Yankee in 1996. When Posada, Pettitte and Rivera were breaking into the league in 1996 who was the Yankees starting catcher? Joe Girardi. One would assume he has a good relationship with them as he was Posada's mentor and worked with Pettitte and Rivera. This of course is important because if the Yankees want to be successful they need to resign these guys. Mattingly would also help in this area, but Larussa would not.
I could go on with more reasons, but it's late and i'm tired. so, in short... he'll help you keep your veterans, he knows what he's doing and he can develop the young talent. He also should be able to handle the NY media better than Larussa. Ideally you'd have both Girardi and Mattingly on the bench next year, so I hope Mattingly will agree to stay on as bench coach, but i would understand if he chooses not to.
