Joe Girardi
The Yankees today announced that Joe Girardi is their choice to manage the team now that Joe Torre has turned down an offer he was probably meant to refuse. Having had some experience making hiring decisions in a variety of contexts, I must say I find the announcement odd. Girardi and the Yankees have yet to agree to terms, and it is possible that they won't. If they don't, then the Yankees will have to go to someone else who will know that he is not their first choice (and not even their second choice, if one credits the offer to Torre as serious, which I don't). And more importantly, the players and the public will also know that the manager was originally passed over.
Perhaps Girardi has already provided assurances that he'll accept the offer. That would explain the decision of Don Mattingly, the other leading contender, to quit the team. Or perhaps the Yankees figured that the Girardi news would leak anyway, so they wanted to get ahead of the curve. But if not, one would think that the appropriate way to handle such matters would be to wait until a deal has been offered and accepted before going public. Maybe the Yankees were simply desperate to make some news on the day after the Red Sox completed their second World Series sweep in four seasons.
Posted by Mike Dorf
Perhaps Girardi has already provided assurances that he'll accept the offer. That would explain the decision of Don Mattingly, the other leading contender, to quit the team. Or perhaps the Yankees figured that the Girardi news would leak anyway, so they wanted to get ahead of the curve. But if not, one would think that the appropriate way to handle such matters would be to wait until a deal has been offered and accepted before going public. Maybe the Yankees were simply desperate to make some news on the day after the Red Sox completed their second World Series sweep in four seasons.
Posted by Mike Dorf
posted by Michael C. Dorf @ 5:07 PM
3 Comments:
At 9:47 AM,
Caleb said…
Perhaps the Yankees hoped to convince Girardi that they were serious about him. Publicly announcing their offer would show that they're not looking very closely at anyone else, no?
At 10:44 AM,
Craig J. Albert said…
What of Tony Pena? It seems to me that he was put on the list as window dressing, to fulfill the Commissioner's edict that "owners . . . consider minority candidates for openings in five positions, including general manager and manager, and to give him their list of all candidates for the jobs." (from a NYT piece in 1999)
''If a club has an opening in any of these positions, the club owner must notify me personally,'' Selig said in a letter to owners. ''In addition, your list of candidates must be provided to me. I expect the list to include minority candidates whom you and your staff have identified. I will provide assistance to you if you cannot identify candidates on your own.''
So, if talks with Girardi break down, is Tony Pena a shoo-in? Or do the Steinbrenner children open a new search?
Two more questions regarding the Steinbrenner kids, who have now managed to send a Hall of Fame manager, a Hall of Fame player (that's A-Rod, not Donnie Baseball) walking in the same week, all by playing a silly game. First, on the nature versus nurture debate, do the Steinbrenner children provide any evidence one way or the other? Second, would these kids be able to hold down a job anyhwhere if their father weren't willing to hire them?
At 9:21 AM,
egarber said…
Great line from Torre's appearance on Letterman the other night:
"There are still outstanding issues with our divorce (he and the Yankees). The biggest question is who gets custody of Billy Crystal." -- Joe
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