Thursday, October 18, 2007

So Long, Joe.

Time to go, Joe. While I've been advocating this for a while, it's still a sad when it actually happens. He's been all class at the helm for twelve years. A true beloved Yankee legend. He was definitely the man for the job in the late 90's / early 00's. A perfect fit for that time/place/team. But he's just not the guy for the job anymore and a change has been overdue. Sometimes baseball teams just need a change. Sometimes they need a manager whose bullpen management is slightly better than atrocious. The current media Torre worship would have you believe that he was a saint and a baseball genius who has never done wrong and the contract offered to him was an inexcusable insult by the Evil Empire. He's unquestionably a nice, classy, good man, and will be missed, but give me a break. Without the confluence of young Yankee home grown talent and veterans purchased with the Steinbrenner bankroll, they don't win those 4 World Series. Torre or no Torre. Right now we're witnessing a similar situation of young Yankee talent emerging alongside Steinby bought veteran talent and Torre's not getting it done. Time to try something else. This was the right decision. And I have to give the Bomber's Brass credit for setting up a situation in which he could walk away on his own terms rather than being released or retiring.

Who's next? The good folks over at Bronx Banter have provided a comprehensive analysis of the candidates. Almost everything I've read puts Mattingly - Girardi 1 - 2 as the likely selections, which is good because they're my number 1 and 2 choices, though reversed. No one loves Donnie Baseball more than me (I wear my 23 shirt on a regular basis), but his inexperience scares me a little. As dewy24 pointed out, "I don't care who you are, your first managing job cannot be the New York Yankees". True that. I think Mattingly will be a great manager, hopefully a great manager for the Yankees, hopefully a few/several years down the road. If they fall short of playoff glory in his first and/or second year, he may not survive it and may not get the second chance when he reaches his managing prime. Speaking of managing prime, everything points to Joe G being on the precipice of his managing prime. He's a young, smart, experienced baseball mind, who won NL manager of the year in 2006, pays attention to the modern baseball reality of sabermetrics, and has a Yankee pedigree himself, as the catcher of the 1996 World Series Champions. He's widely considered to be a managing star in the waiting. The knocks on him are that he might be too much of a taskmaster for this veteran crew of players and that it might be a difficult dynamic managing former teammates, batterymates, proteges. There's also the question of how he'd be able to navigate the choppy waters of managing the New York Yankees, which is not for everyone. Keeping an even keel amidst the storms of management and media is a tricky task, one that Joe Torre was masterful at. If Joe Girardi can handle all the outside and inside pressures, I think he could be the guy to lead the Yanks to Number 27.

Well, fat nosed Brooklyn Joe, It's been great. It really has. All the best.

6 comments:

Dearest Cupcake said...

Blah blah, sports, blah blah... but I did hear that the Red Sox are going to the world series. Because you love the Yankees does that mean you hate the Red Sox and are not excited for them to make it this far? Or are you getting ready to tip over cars at the Fenway next week?

Dan Nolan said...

I am not a Red Sox fan. But I do love a good car tipping.

Dewy24 said...

God damn! I've been quoted in VTK! Thanks DN. I believe I have arrived.

Dan Nolan said...

You're welcome. And good luck to your team in that little series they've got coming up. Are we heading down to Fenway on Wednesday to roam around pre-game like last time?

Also, did the Indians' 3rd base coach get fired yet? Did they even let him finish out the game after holding Kenny Lofton at third in the eighth in a one run elimination game on the road? Granted, it ultimately had no effect on the outcome, but very well could have at the time.

Dewy24 said...

That 3rd base coach should buy Dustin Pedroia a car.

I want to soak up the World Series atmosphere but I'm a little concerned of what I'd do if we saw Buck and McCarver again. It is cliche to complain about McCarver but he reached new lows on Manny's homerun that wasn't.

Regarding the Yankees next manager I agree with the nomaas guys that Valentine should be their number one choice. I love that one of their main gripes with Torre was that he was lazy. I think they are right in that this is what Cashman really wants but could never say it.

Dan Nolan said...

True. That would have gone down as one of the worst calls of all time, if Peddy hadn't overshadowed it.

It was as if Manny's not going to second was a terrorist act. We at the 86 Norfunk Compound have actually made a drinking game out of stupid Tim McCarver comments. Still, you should bring the kid down to the Fens, so you can tell her she was there. People have been spoiled in Boston over the last 6 years or so. Championships don't happen to a city this often.

Valentine's apparently not even getting an interview. I'm not sure I agree with you and nomaas on him. I can see him having a problem getting along with a lot of people that have spent a lot of time with the Torre Way. I know a change is what they need, but he's the type of guy who could lose this clubhouse very easily. But then again, he is a good manager, and nothing makes for a happy clubhouse like winning.