Girardi Accepts

Buster Olney reports that Joe Girardi has agreed to terms with the Yankees to become the team’s next manager. The former catcher will receive a 3 year contract worth $7.5 million.

This is an exciting day for this franchise. Girardi is a talented young manager. He does come with some baggage and other questions about his philosophies, but I am confident that he will learn from his mistakes with the Marlins and become a better manager because of them. Joe understands the New York media and will work well with it. Some might question how his fiery and demanding attitude will play in a veteran clubhouse, but he will probably mellow a bit. With the Marlins, he had to be overbearing because the team he was leading was so young. He had to teach them how to play and conduct themselves in the Majors, which at times led to him being too demanding. He will not have to be that way with the Yankees.

I will not repeat any of my other thoughts on this hire for the time being. I said most of what I had to say in my profile of Joe a few weeks back.

Torre and Mattingly to the Dodgers

The Journal News reports  the Los Angeles Dodgers will fire Grady Little and hire Joe Torre as their new manager. Joe will bring Don Mattingly with him as his bench coach.

The Dodgers were 82-80 this season under Little and were beset by clubhouse unrest. Owner Frank McCourt, a Boston native, decided Torre is best suited to quell that situation.

Torre turned down a one-year offer to remain as manager of the Yankees on Oct. 18. He had been with the Yankees 12 seasons, winning four World Series championships.

This is great for all parties involved. If there is one thing at which Joe Torre excels, that is building a cohesive clubhouse. Joe gets to continue his managerial career with another of baseball’s flagship franchises and a more laid back owner and fanbase. Even those who would normally criticize his in-game decisions will not complain because he will represent a major upgrade over Grady Little tactically. The team he takes over has enough talent to win now. He also is likely to make less than the $5 million the Yankees offered, proving his decision to walk away was about more than money. There will be no more critics claiming his ego would not allow him to take a paycut. It will be strange to see Don Mattingly in another uniform, but this is great for him. He gets to continue his Major League coaching career with his mentor and go to the organization where his son plays in the minors. Everybody comes out a winner here, except Grady Little and the Yankees.

Girardi Offered Job

Jon Heyman of SI.com reports the Yankees have offered their managerial job to Joe Girardi.

As reported here yesterday, it is believed the Yankees are offering Girardi a three-year contract for about $6 million to take over for Joe Torre, whose contract expired this season after three straight first-round losses in the playoffs.

It would be difficult to imagine Girardi turning down this job. It seemed like one of the reasons he sat this year out was to see whether he might be able to land a marquee job like this one. The Dodgers would also fit that criteria, but speculation of Girardi landing that job is just that right now. Even with the ridiculous expectations, he will be hard-pressed to find a team with more talent.

Valentine Unlikely

The Associated Press reports that the Yankees are unlikely to interview Bobby Valentine to take over as manager.

Hank Steinbrenner said four or five people will be interviewed, but Valentine wasn’t on the list. Valentine, former manager of the New York Mets and Texas Rangers, currently is managing the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan.

“I would say at this point probably not. He’s certainly a smart guy, but probably not,” Steinbrenner said.

Valentine’s salary is reportedly $4,000,000 in Japan. That means luring him to back to the United States would likely take at least what the Yankees offered to Joe Torre and quite possibly more. The Yankees already have a public relations nightmare on their hands without offering a less accomplished manager what they were willing to give a Hall of Famer. This is probably for the best. Valentine is a good manager, but the Yankees have enough distractions to deal with during the season. They do not need a manager adept at creating more.

My Revised Wishlist

This is a list of potential successors to Joe Torre in order of my preference. Trey Hillman and Tony La Russa have been taken off from the last list because they are no longer on the market. John Farrell has been added as his name has surfaced as a candidate.

1. Tony Pena

2. Joe Girardi

3. Bobby Valentine

4. Buck Showalter

5. Lou Piniella

6. Don Mattingly

7. John Farrell

8. Larry Bowa

I have bumped Pena past Girardi. The more I have thought about it, the more I like Pena. Hiring him would leave the most stability as the players love him. He could probably talk most of the coaching staff into returning, and his great working relationship with Jorge Posada would make the catcher more likely to return. These are all reasons that some argue Don Mattingly should get the job. Unlike Mattingly, though, Pena also has a track record of managerial success.

La Russa Stays in St. Louis

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Tony La Russa has agreed to a new contract to remain manager of the Cardinals.

The Cardinals this afternoon will announce that Tony La Russa has agreed to a multi-year contract to remain as the club’s manager, club sources confirmed Monday morning.

La Russa traveled from Oakland to St. Louis on Sunday to attend today’s 1 p.m. press conference at Busch Stadium.

Complete terms of the deal were not immediately known, but the contract is guaranteed for two years, with possibly an option for a third year.

Several players were contacted Sunday night about the development and may be on hand for La Russa’s formal acceptance.

Now Yankees fans may exhale. The temptation to replace Joe Torre with this big name is now gone. La Russa would have been a horrible fit in New York, but the franchise could have cushioned some of the P.R. blow it took in its handling of Joe Torre by hiring a man with La Russa’s track record. The Steinbrenners now will not have the chance to make that buzz-creating, yet dumb decision.

2008 Managerial Candidate: John Farrell

Since Joe Torre has decided not to return, it is time to profile some of the men whom the Yankees will look at, whom they could look at, whom they should look at, and whom they should not look at. Now we will look at John Farrell.

The resume: Pitched for three teams in the Majors from 1987 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996. Served as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State University from 1997 to 2001. Worked as the Director of Player Development for the Cleveland Indians from 2002 to 2006. Served as Red Sox pitching coach in 2007.

Strengths: Farrell has been successful everywhere he has been. Fourteen pitchers were drafted while he was at Oklahoma State. USA Today twice named the Indians as its Organization of the Year while Farrell worked in their system. Boston led the American League in team E.R.A. in Farrell’s only season as pitching coach. He is a terrific communicator and is well-respected. Players love him, and he has a great mind for the game. The young players on the team would be in good hands, given his track record. He also would bring inside information on the Red Sox.

Weaknesses: Next to Farrell, Don Mattingly looks like Joe Torre in terms of experience. Farrell has only one season on a Major League coaching staff. A team expected to win now is not a good environment for somebody to learn how to run a team. He will have to learn all of the intricacies of strategy and running a clubhouse on the fly under the microscope of the Yankees.

Outlook: ESPN’s Buster Olney says he is a candidate. I have not heard anything about him from anybody else. He will have his work cut out for him to pass more experienced and better-known candidates. The Red Sox going to the World Series hurts his chances. Farrell now will have to wait longer to interview while other candidates get a head start. If the Steinbrenners want to tweak the Red Sox, Farrell has a shot.

My take: This would not be a very logical hire. Farrell seems to have all the tools to make a successful Major League manager some day, but that day is not today. It is certainly not in a big market with a team expecting to win a World Series within twleve months. He still needs to learn more about dealing with Major League players on a daily basis. He needs to develop his own style and philosophies. It is best to not have to work these things out in the midst of pennant races. There is an unfair institutional bias against pitching coaches in baseball for managerial positions, but that has nothing to do with why Farrell would be a bad choice. Farrell’s communication skills and work ethic will make his successful at some point, but the Yankees would not be a good fit at this point in time.

Hillman to Kansas City

Cross Trey Hillman off the list of possible successors to Joe Torre. The former Yankees minor league manager was hired today by the Kansas City Royals to become that team’s next manager. Consider this another score for the Tampa braintrust. While it took them three days to think of a way to dispose of Joe Torre, the Royals took the opening and jumped on a highly qualified manager. Had the Yankees not been worried about covering their rear end by not just firing Joe, they could have talked to Hillman and gotten him to delay any decision on the Royals job. By the time this team was officially in the market for a manager, Hillman was deep into negotiations with Kansas City.

My Wishlist

I recently put together nine profiles on potential candidates to succeed Joe Torre. If I had to choose among them, this would be my wishlist.

1. Trey Hillman

2. Joe Girardi

3. Tony Pena

4. Bobby Valentine

5. Buck Showalter

6. Lou Piniella

7. Tony La Russa

8. Don Mattingly

9. Larry Bowa

2008 Managerial Candidate: Lou Piniella

Since Joe Torre is without a contract and unlikely to return, it is time to profile some of the men whom the Yankees will look at, whom they could look at, whom they should look at, and whom they should not look at. Now we will look at Lou Piniella.

The resume: Played with the Yankees from 1974 to 1984. Managed the Yankees from 1986 to 1988, the Reds from 1990 to 1992, the Mariners from 1993 to 2002, the Devil Rays from 2003 to 2005, and the Cubs from 2007 to the present. Won the American League Manager of the Year Award in 1995 and 2001 and the World Series in 1977 and 1978 as a player and in 1990 as a manager. His relationship with Alex Rodriguez might make it more likely for A-Rod to stay if Piniella got the job.

Strengths: Piniella has a long and distinguished track record as a manager. He would come in and demand immediate respect. He is yet another candidate with a Yankees pedigree who understands the unique culture surrounding the team. Since he has already managed the Yankees, he has a good idea of what would be in store.

Weaknesses: Piniella has a very volatile personality. When his team loses, he explodes, giving his players more pressure. In bad times, the instability of the organization and the scrutiny of the New York media would break him. The Yankees already have more than enough to deal with from the media and the fans. Additional tension coming from the manager would cause the team to press in bleak times. He shows great impatience with his players and has ripped into them mercilessly. He also has been known to openly speak to the press in criticism of his players. He is a miserable handler of a pitching staff. His bully tactics can undermine the confidence of young pitchers, which would not be a good attribute, given the potential makeup of the roster in the near future.

Outlook: George Steinbrenner wanted to hire Lou before Chicago hired him last offseason. The Yankees are likely to call the Cubs to ask for permission to speak with him. There is little chance that the Cubs will let a manager who took them to the postseason in his only year with the club depart. If they do, Piniella would love to come to the Yankees, but that scenario is not very likely.

My take: Piniella is not what this team needs. Veterans do not like getting belittled in the manner which Piniella operates. There is enough pressure in being a Yankee these days without the manager flipping out and adding more. The Yankees have pitching jewels within the farm system that Piniella should get nowhere near. Sweet Lou is a terrific manager, but this would be a bad fit.