Bright side: We got one of the best (formerly) untaken managers out there. (For those of you who have been living in a closet for the last two weeks: source.)
Other bright side: You’ll never have to hear Girardi say “Mikey Lowell” on YES again.
Filed under: Baseball Strategy, Top Lists | Tags: David Riske, Jeremy Affeldt, Mike Lamb, Milton Bradley, Ramon Castro
1. Mike Lamb – Lamb will be just 32 next season, and plays passable defense at the corners – 3B, 1B, LF, RF. Three of his past four seasons have been above average in terms of OPS, and he represents a good bargain in that there is little interest in him. He could make for an excellent backup and if needed provides a passable starting bat, and he will probably come pretty cheap.
2. Ramon Castro – Castro will be 32 next season and provides passable defense for a catcher. Though he has mostly been a backup for his career and has never really stood out in his career, there is reason to believe that he could be worth a shot as a starter. Last season he hit 11 homers in 144 AB, and provided a 127 OPS+, 27% better than an average hitter. Though it might be unreasonable to expect him to hit quite so well, he is a good bargain because there is little interest in him, if he does well he could be a good starter, and if not, well he’s a decent backup.
3. Milton Bradley - That’s right. The outfielder with the attitude problem. He’s turning 30, and he’s only had one fully healthy season. However, his 110 OPS+, and his 153 OPS+ in ‘07 mean that he is a good bet to be above average, if not better. Most teams are wary of his attitude and his injury problems, but any team that takes the risk on him has a good chance at a high reward.
4. Jeremy Affeldt - Turning 29 next year, the Rockies reliever posted a 137 ERA+ in the tough environment at Coors after being fully converted into a reliever. He could make for a bargain set-up man.
5. David Riske - If the Royals don’t exercise his option for 2008, Riske, who will be just 31, makes for an excellent set-up man at a good bargain. He posted a 191 ERA+ in ‘07 and for his career has a 131 ERA+. Though he has a below average strikeout rate, he still consistently performs well. I’m not sure what the Royals plan to do, but if he is made available, he could be a great bargain set-up pitcher.
Filed under: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees | Tags: Adrian Beltre, Alex Rodriguez, Coors, Crede, Eric Chavez, Garrett Atkins, Luis Castillo, Mark Ellis, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Lowell, robinson cano, Tadahito Iguchi, Troy Glaus, Wilson Betemit, Yankees
I’m going to start off right now with a little bit of honesty: I despise A-Rod. When he was on the Yankees, I had to root for
him, because it’s hard not to root for such a great player. Things were looking up, too. There was a time when I honestly thought that I was starting to like A-Rod (right). He was talking about how he was going to stay on the Yankees, and NYC was his home. He hit his 500th homer, and had such a great season, and kept on talking about how he was definitely staying. When the Yankees clinched the playoffs, he said that it felt like he had never been on any other team!
Now the truth comes out. Pay-Rod is, always was, always will be a selfish, money-grubbing player. I hope that he goes into the Hall of Fame not with a team logo on his hat, but with a dollar sign. He disrespected the game of baseball by making a selfish announcement that he was leaving the Yankees during the potential clincher of the World Series. Maybe this is my strange old-school way of thinking, but that disrespects the game.
A-Rod also disrespected the Yankees and his teammates. Robinson Cano mentioned in an interview that A-Rod didn’t even call him to let him know that he was leaving, despite all the talk about how A-Rod was trying to mentor Cano, etc, etc.
That brings me to the Yankees. How can they possibly replace the best player in baseball? (more…)
Filed under: Alex Rodriguez, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees | Tags: Alex Rodriguez, red sox, Yankees
Sunday, October 28th, 2007: Alex Rodriguez, the best player in baseball history, opts out of his contract and cripples the Yankees just hours before the Red Sox won their second World Series in the past three years and Sox Nation became the most insufferable fanbase on the planet.
Any more contenders?
Filed under: Alex Rodriguez, Baseball Strategy, Joe Torre, New York Yankees | Tags: A-Rod, Brian Cashman, Chien-Ming Wang, Dave Eiland, don mattingly, Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain, Joe Girardi, Larry Bowa, Leo Mazzone, Mariners, Marlins, Phil Hughes, Rockies, Ron Guidry, Scott Boras, Tony Peña, Wilson Betemit, World Series, Yankees
The Yankees apparently have reached a decision on a new manager, which they are prepared to announce Sunday or Monday, and there were increasing signs Saturday night pointing to Joe Girardi.
As has been stated by Yankee ownership, GM Brian Cashman is the one who will make the recommendation to ownership based on his interviews with all three candidates – Girardi, Don Mattingly and Tony Peña – along with advice from all his baseball people.
The recommendation then would need to be given final approval by the Steinbrenner family.
While nobody in the Yankee high command was prepared to speculate on Cashman’s favorite, sources familiar with the GM’s thinking pointed out that Girardi had all the characteristics – an analytical approach, organizational skills that come from having already managed (the Florida Marlins) and a proven ability to handle a pitching staff – Cashman is thought to be looking for.
Filed under: Boston Red Sox, Colorado Rockies, MLB, Playoffs, Red Sox Suck | Tags: Bobby Valentine, don mattingly, Joe Girardi, So Taguchi, Tony La Russa
From mlb.com:
ST. LOUIS — Tony La Russa agreed to a two-year contract with the Cardinals on Monday and will return as the team’s manager for a 13th season. The deal was announced by the club and La Russa during a press conference at Busch Stadium.
Thank god that’s over with. La Russa is not only a lackluster strategic manager, I can defenitely see some personality conflicts with some of the guys in the Yankee clubhouse. Now it’s probably narrowed down to Mattingly, Girardi, and Valentine. For me, all three of them would do, though I think I’d prefer Mattingly and Valentine a bit more than Girardi. Girardi just seems to manage young and/or bullpen arms the way Joe Torre did a bit too much. Still, anything for a breath of fresh air.
And yet, like all victories, this one comes with a hint of sadness – my condolences to Cardinals fans. I often wonder if La Russa was drunk during some of the games too. You know it’s bad when you’ve got So Taguchi batting cleanup. (Though incidentally having the pitcher batting 8th was actually a good idea, but not for the reasons La Russa thinks. It was a bad idea because the reason he batted the pitchers eighth was actually sort of dumb and didn’t make sense, but it technically is a good idea, because it worked for an entirely separate reason than the one he thought. If that makes any sense.)
And day now / Any day now / A press statement announcing the new manager for the Yankees shall be released…
————–
In other news: World Series, Sox vs. Rox.
God, I hate the Red Sox. Sorry, I just do. Actually, I take that back, I’m not apologizing: I just do, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Hey, that’s what a good rivalry does to you. 
-Red
Filed under: Joe Torre, MLB, New York Yankees | Tags: baseball manager, baseball managers, Bobby Valentine, Brian Cashman, don mattingly, Joe Girardi, Ray Schulte, Tony La Russa, Tony Larussa
From mlb.com:
Mattingly to interview for managerial job
NEW YORK — Don Mattingly will travel to New York next week to interview for the Yankees’ managerial vacancy, his agent has confirmed.
Ray Schulte said that general manager Brian Cashman reached out to Mattingly on Friday to express the club’s interest in him for the position, which officially became vacant when Joe Torre turned down a one-year contract on Thursday.
I think that Mattingly has the edge for the job, just because he’s already in the organization, he’s trusted, he was the greatest Yankee 1B since Gehrig, he was given the bench coach job for a reason, Girardi hasn’t been directly involved in the orginization the last year, Tony La Russa is an idiot, Bobby Valentine probably isn’t coming back to the states and the Yankees don’t seem to be that interested in him anyway… I could probably go on, but most things just point to Mattingly and seem to say he has the edge.
When pondering whether Mattingly is best for the job, you’ve got to ask if experience specifically managing a club is important; All the managerial experience Mattingly is only one year as a bench coach, but then again Girardi has only one year managing a club too. Honestly, I think experience is quite overrated when it comes to managers. These guys have been playing baseball and been in the game forever, they won’t suddenly not know how to run the game or deal with players. With Mattingly especially he was almost the on-field manager for years, the leader of the club. I think Mattingly would probably make wiser managerial moves than Girardi overall, and it’s really up in the air as to which influences the best “clubhouse chemistry.” If I had my way, I would take Mattingly – as I said, though there are no standout pros, there are no real cons either. That, combined with the fact that he’s familiar with the organization, and that he is after all Don Mattingly, makes him the most likely candidate.
So, umm… good luck?
-Red
Filed under: Alex Rodriguez, MLB, New York Yankees, Sportswriting | Tags: crappy sportswriting, derek jeter, hideki matsui
Just your anti-A-Rod-statement-not-backed-up-by-a-single-fact of the day…
It also may explain why Manny remains nice and relaxed in the postseason unlike, say Alex Rodriguez, who has trouble swinging the bat while also balancing the weight of the world on his shoulders.
It’s been said time and time again, but they just don’t get it:
2007 ALDS Individual Statistics
Alex Rodriguez: 4-15 (.267 AVG), .353 OBP, 1 HR
Derek Jeter: 3-17 (.176), .176 OBP
Hideki Matsui: 2-11 (.182), though he did have a .438 OBP with 5 BB
Really, I’m just sick of the same sort of comments being said time and time again, what don’t they realize about this? I’ve often wondered how these people get these jobs, so many of these writers just write the same stupid arguments every time. They just don’t listen…
Hey, that just means we’ve got more articles to ridicule. Good for site traffic.
-Red
Filed under: MLB, MiLB, New York Yankees, Phil Hughes | Tags: Dave Eiland, Joe Torre, Ron Guidry
This is Red speaking. TheFallenPheonix has stepped in for a moment for his take on a few things:
There seems to be a consensus developing in the media and the blogosphere that Ron Guidry is likely not to be returning next year, and furthermore, that Ron Guidry should not return next year. I’m a little skeptical, since this does not seem to be leaked information, but (admittedly reasoned) speculation.
The replacement who keeps coming up would be AAA pitching coach Dave Eiland. I’m…well, I’m not so sure this is best, although it does stand to reason he’d do a better job with the pitching triumvirate than Guidry might. On the other hand, the kids (especially Hughes) have spent more time with other coaches than Eiland (actually, I recall reading some blogs from earlier in the year that argued Eiland might have had a negative influence on Hughes, but I’m not taking a position there one way or the other), so it’s not as if he’s best for all the kids (though I do think Neidi Contreras would be a better fit with Hughes, for example, after teaching him that curveball). On the other hand, there is some benefit from keeping good pitching coaches in the minor leagues, since that can better facilitate the development of the other good, young pitchers in the Yankee organization. (more…)
So that’s it. According to ESPN, Joe Torre has turned down an offer by the Yankees.
The Yankees offered Torre a one-year deal with a base salary of $5 million and incentives that would have increased his salary to $8 million based on postseason performance. Under that offer, if Torre reached the World Series in 2008, an option for 2009 would have vested.
“We felt we needed to go to a performance-based mode,” team president Randy Levine said. “We thought it was very fair. It clearly was at the top of the market, but we respect Joe’s decision.”
…Bench coach Don Mattingly is the leading contender to replace Torre. Yankees broadcaster Joe Girardi, the NL manager of the year with Florida in 2006, is another top contender.
Cashman said there will be a full search for a replacement.
All I can say is that I’m glad Torre specifically turned it down and wasn’t fired, so that Mo and/or Jorge and Pettitte won’t suddenly hate the Yankees for it. So, it’s gone from George and Joe to Hank and… Don/Joe/Tony. If they sign La Russa, I will seriously question my loyalty to the Yankees, he’s just the worst possible manager not only in the market but probably in baseball period.
Well, maybe that Norse prophecy is coming true.
