The feeling in this space, as uttered by this writer on "The Scott
Ferrall Show" on Sirius Radio both this past Friday and subsequent
Monday was that New York Yankees' general manager Brian Cashman
preferred to keep Joe Torre in place as skipper. It would appear, as
the smoke clears, that club president Randy Levine -- despite his close
relationship with Torre pal Rudy Giuliani -- and the Steinbrenner clan
did not share that sentiment.
"Brian (Cashman) feels Joe (Torre) is totally on board with the whole 'build from within' concept," an industry source told Gotham Baseball Magazine on Thursday. "It's hard to find a veteran manager, especially in that environment, that trusts his GM that much."
Despite that friendship and the young players that have successfully risen through the system -- in yearly pennant races, no less -- and flourished under Torre (Melky Cabrera, Robinson Cano, Chien-Ming Wang, Joba Chamberlain, Philip Hughes), the Yankees' brass still managed to concoct an offer that their 12-year, six American League pennant-winning and four World Series ring-wearing manager would find easy to turn down.
Meantime, everyone seems to be missing who the perfect fit is, and he's currently managing a team that should help him shake off his rustiness. The guy is Davey Johnson, who's getting ready to manage Team USA for the 2007 World Cup in Taiwan.
As of yesterday, none of my colleagues has mentioned his name yet. So we will.
Before we get into how much smarter a Davey Johnson hiring would be (oh, and if you didn't get the Gee, Davey reference, shame on you. If you did, email me your address and I will send you a Gotham Baseball T-Shirt), let's talk about the current candidate list and what's wrong with it. First, according to this writer, none of those guys have the complete package to take this job that Torre has made the most important job in baseball. Oh, you disagree with that last statement? Tell that to the helicopter pilot hovering over Torre's house the last few days, or to the Editor-in-chiefs of the local tabloids who have put Saint Joe's mag on the front page (and back page) for the last week.
Secondly, the majority of them have some really serious drawbacks, considering the enormity and stark reality of what the After Torre Era will entail.
The popular opinion seems to be that current bench coach Don Mattingly, YES broadcaster and former Yankee catcher Joe Girardi, St. Louis skipper Tony La Russa or former Met skipper Bobby Valentine would be the top choices to replace Torre.
Mattingly? Great guy. From a business standpoint, (especially for this magazine) a Mattingly hire would be superb. He's a homegrown Yankee, an All-Star Yankee, and MVP Yankee and the one guy that has accomplished all of the aforementioned things that everyone likes. He might be, outside of Mickey Mantle, the most universally liked Bronx Bomber ever. The problem is that he's never managed a day in his life, and is a younger version of the guy he's replacing. Go ask Willie Randolph how that first year of dealing with pitchers worked out. Sure, Randolph had a solid rookie campaign with the Mets in 2005, but he admitted in more than one intereview that he had underestimated how much of a task manging a pitching staff would be.
From a front office standpoint, hiring Mattingly means you're stuck with him -- no matter what happens -- for the next 4-5 years. Somehow I think they are tired of dealing with a Teflon skipper.
As for Girardi, there are those (like this writer), who think that this tough, clever, old-school scrapper is a great skipper-in-waiting. He already has a Manager of the Year on his mantle, as well as a well-earned reputation of having a short fuse with foolish front office and ownership types. The former is a huge pro, the latter is a huge con, especially considering the growing "Kitchen Cabinet" management dynamic that it looks like poor Cashman is going to have to endure. (Psst, Brian, give good ol' Jim Duquette a call when you get a chance. He's still recovering from the Kazmir ambush. Oh, and don't trade Hughes for anyone coming off Tommy John surgery and likely to be non-tendered at the end of the year). Plus, you always have to consider what effect a Girardi hiring would have on a Mattingly decision on whether to stay on as a loyal No. 2.
I know La Russa has won a couple of World Series, and is a Hall of Fame skipper in his own right. However, his poor relationship with the media in a one-horse, pom-pom town like St, Louis does not bode well. Aside from the fact that his candidacy is more of a one-sided PR spin from La Russa and his agent than a Yankee reach-out, the caveat of pitching coach Dave Duncan coming along for the ride (most places think that's a plus, not this one) makes this decision easy. Let's just say that current Triple-A pitching coach Dave Eiland is a far better option if Ron Guidry is not retained. Sorry, Shelly.
Also, before we get to Bobby V, let's throw Larry Bowa's name right out of the mix. Everyone loves him, and believes that he's probably the best third base coach in the game. Make him the skipper and you lose Cano's "life coach" and the base running will suffer. Tony Pena, who almost replaced Torre in mid-season when things were at their worst, has neither the media skills nor the resume required to be a real candidate.
As for Valentine, his only major drawbacks are his desire to be more involved in the player procurement business (he likes to have "his guys" around) and would be less than likely to allow a GM to pick his coaches. Other than that, he's a Steinbrenner favorite, a media lightning rod (both in good times and in bad) and is a well-respected ( if not well-liked) in-game skipper. Though it may get written about, his "testy" relationship with veteran players has always been overstated. Unlike the guys in the room whose desire and passion for the game had long since deserted him, players like Mike Piazza, Robin Ventura, John Olerud, Al Leiter and even Carl Everett played their guts out for him."
Bobby V -- who grew up in Stamford, Connecticut as a rabid Yankee fan -- always made do with less, and if the Yankees are going to re-tool with a younger core going forward, can't get a better guy than Bobby. The fact that the teams he brought into postseason play in 1999-2000 were underdogs in each first round matchup with 100-win teams, and won each of them will help. His inability to ever win a World Series with the Mets would hurt, but unlike La Russa, would be able to defelect any team criticism his way. (Bobby has won a NYBBWAA "Good Guy Award", you know).
Still, as much as Going Nine would love to see that happen (if nor for any other reason than to see if Steve Phillips would take credit for it somehow), we just cannot envision Cashman making that move.
We could however, see him hire Davey.
Johnson has always been a favorite of the Boss, and according to some team insiders, was Steinbrenner's first choice to replace Buck Showalter in 1996, before Arthur Richman talked him into hiring Torre.
Johnson, who hasn't managed in the majors since leading the Dodgers to a 86-76 record in 2000, good enough for second place in the NL West, is a seamless replacement. His teams - the Mets, Reds, Orioles and Dodgers - all finished first or second in 11 of his 12 full seasons. The funny thing is that he was fired after two years in L.A. for not winning a World Series with a roster full of malcontents (who were there way before Johnson) assembled by Kevin "There's a New Sherrif In Town" Malone.
A tad more naughty than Torre, Johnson is a proven winner, communicates with players young and old equally well and can sure as heckfire handle the NY press corps (who rightly believe that he's been screwed over several times in his career).
Managing Jeff Karstens on the national team will help (oh, I had to find at least one Yankee connection) and look at it this way, hiring Johnson will make the veins in Peter Angelos' head pop out. Imagine if the Yankees win the 2008 World Series? Cal Ripken might finally get his chance to buy the club.
I kid.
But I'm not kidding about Johnson. Hiring him allows you to have a skipper who can handle the demands of a "win or else" philosophy in his first year on the job. Also, if you can work for the late Marge Schott, the aforementioned Angelos and the FOX-owned Dodgers, you can work anywhere.
Make it easy on yourselves, guys. Hire Davey. If he screws up, you tried. If he doesn't, well, it'd be great to see a guy like Davey succeed in the game that's treated him like crap for the last seven years.
The feeling in this space, as uttered by this writer on "The Scott
Ferrall Show" on Sirius Radio both this past Friday and subsequent
Monday was that New York Yankees' general manager Brian Cashman
preferred to keep Joe Torre in place as skipper. It would appear, as
the smoke clears, that club president Randy Levine -- despite his close
relationship with Torre pal Rudy Giuliani -- and the Steinbrenner clan
did not share that sentiment.
Before we get into how much smarter a Davey Johnson hiring would be (