Girardi obviously is a baseball person who has a heckuva lot more knowledged about the game than me...but it seems that he cannot get this team to live up to their talents...the Yankees don't have any fire up their ass...
So with that being said, the clock is ticking on Girardi...since Billy Martin has been dead for the last 20 years and Joe Torre out west, let's look over, in no particular order, the list of some possible replacements... (those who are currently serving on a Major League coaching staff are listed as replacements after the season concludes)
Don Mattingly - Mattingly (photo, right) was the runner-up to replace Torre...Mattingly is
Yankees Baseball...he epitomizes everything that is good with the game of baseball...he is currently the L.A. Dodgers hitting coach and it just kills me to see him in any other uniform but the Pinstripes...the knock of Mattingly is that he has no managerial experience...Tony Pena - Pena is currently serving as Girardi's bench coach...he has managerial experience with the Kansas City Royals - which basically explains why he is now a bench coach and not a manager...but remember, Torre was considered a failure as a manager when he first took over in the Bronx...I'm not sure how the team responds to Pena...
Bobby Valentine - even though he does not call the shots anymore, The Boss was always intrigued by Bobby V...he would surely change the atmosphere in the clubhouse...Bobby V is over in Japan, but I have read that he would like to manage one more time in the Majors - but in the right situation...he loves the attention and the limelight of New York...
Willie Randolph - he is another favorite of The Boss...Randolph is the Brewers bench coach...he has managerial experience and is a well-known commodity within the current Yankees team...Randolph was canned last year by the Mets at mid-season...the Yanks would love nothing more than to bring him back to the Big Apple and have him stick it to their cross-town rivals by winning a World Series...
Davey Johnson - Johnson (photo) has been out the Major League managerial game for quite awhile...he served as the U.S. Olympic and World Baseball manager...he is a proven winner...and if Jack McKeon can win a World Series in his 70s, who's to say that Johnson can't get back in the saddle at a much younger age?...
Buck Showalter - Torre gets all the credit for the Yankees turnaround, and rightfully so...but people forget that Buck was the one who brought the Yanks back to respectability...the Yanks had the best record in baseball in the strike shortened season and he led them to the playoffs in 1995...he understands the Yankees way of doing things...
Dave Miley - Miley is the manager of the Yankees Triple A farm club in Scranton-Wilkes Barre...the Yanks have called up a minor league manager before in Stump Merrill...highly doubtful that he gets the job, but at least I thought his name should be tossed in the mix...
Paul O'Neill - this is a guy who would have the fire...I'm not sure if he wants to manage...he has zero managerial and coaching experience...however, it is a name that should not be forgotten for the future...O'Neill as manager and David Cone at pitching coach...that would be my pick for 5 years from now...
No comments:
Post a Comment