Joel Sherman, Post:Joe Girardi called being named Yankee manager his "dream job" and insisted "this is where we [he and his family] wanted to be. This is where we wanted to end up."This is going to be fun.
Which is interesting since even after the Yankees offered him the "dream job," Girardi was strong-arming the Yankees for more money by using the Dodgers for leverage. ...
Girardi lasted just a year on a three-year managerial contract in Florida, encountering difficulties with the front office and the media because essentially he was a football coach in a baseball uniform. He wanted not only the regimented structure, but the unquestioned authority given to an NFL head man. But the Eric Mangini thing isn't going to work, not in baseball, not in New York. ...
The manager meets with the media daily before and after games, and is asked to explain every critical move. And he cannot say he has to watch the game film first. ...
So when Girardi is asked if he thinks the playoffs are a crapshoot and responds, "I am a big believer that the best team wins," then he should expect a follow-up like this: So that means you think the Indians are better than the Yankees?
He was asked that. He responded by getting annoyed at the questioner. He then said the Indians were better for four games. When told that means it is a crapshoot, he got more annoyed, and the uneasy give-and-take went like that for about one minute.
Also, Bob Raissman of the Daily News, on Michael Kay and the other morons at YES:
"There are things about Joe Torre, if I wanted to come out and say, would show how cold and calculated he really is," Kay fumed. "... Joe Torre is for Joe Torre. ... The graveyard of Yankees coaches is loaded with bones of coaches Joe Torre did nothing about." ...
If Kay felt so strongly about this, why didn't he offer the information as either opinion - or fact - during a Yankees telecast?
Stop laughing. While Torre was managing the Yankees to 12 straight playoff trips - and four World Series titles - there would be no criticizing, and very limited second-guessing, the manager on YES.
Any stabbing was done behind Torre's back. The "truth" - or any particular broadcaster's version of it - is not a priority to the stooges running Al Yankzeera. ...
Girardi worked at the network last season. He now owns an Al Yank diploma. Does anyone really think his former booth buddies (some of whom he played with) are going to offer an honest analysis of his managerial skills, especially if the Bombers don't get off to a fast start? ...
This is why, during YES' coverage of Girardi's coronation, neither Kay or Bob Lorenz asked the new manager about his fractured relationship with Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and the Florida front office.
Nor did they inquire (most everyone else has) about Josh Johnson's arm injury. And they didn't even ask Girardi about his rather strange encounter with respected Marlins broadcaster (and former Yankees radio voice) Tommy Hutton in the Marlins players' lounge.
Instead, Kay and Lorenz went Charmin with questions such as: "What was it like putting the pinstripes on?"
is not a priority to the stooges running Al Yankzeera
ReplyDeleteGood stuff, but no need for this. By all reports, we *wish* sports media - owned by the teams they cover - were a thorough and professional as Al Jazeera.
If Girardi can't fly in Miami with owners who don't give two damns about their team, how well is he going to work with the Little Tyrant? I give him till the All-Star Break before an all-out media-frenzied catfight breaks out.
ReplyDeleteInteresting sub-header on the Daily Sports News there...
ReplyDelete"Torre manages to steal spotlight from Girardi as deal with LA is announced"
...Kind of like your player, A-Rod, announcing his opt-out during the 7th inning of game 4 of the World Series? Douche bags.
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On the topic, should we start up a contest once the schedule comes out about what date Girardi is gonna quit/get turfed?
Girardi couldn't fly in Miami? It seems more like ownership wanted a puppet who was afraid to assert his authority.
ReplyDeleteWho cares what Raissman thinks? I'm sure, if he had a gripe against his employers, that he would blast them in a column, right? Please, what a goofy-looking hypocrite.
Torre was 894-1003 when managing any team other than the Yankees, and did earn the nickname "Clueless Joe". Was he the right fit for the Yankees? Yes. Is he a great manager? Hell no! He's made many a mistake is his tenure as Yankees skipper, only difference is back in the Dynasty run he had the horses to cover those mistakes. No more Cone, Key, Stanton, Nelson, O'Neill, Tino, or Brosius to bail him out. He deserved to be fired after the Collapse of 2004, so in my eyes, he got a free pass for the last three years. Time to move on.
I love the comparison of the way Torre and A-Rod handled things recently. Douche bags is quite accurate; we all knew A-Rod was a self-serving douche(who can't get it done when it counts), but it's funny how Torre has become so indignant towards the organization that made him a Hall-of-Fame manager, and his attitude does nothing but prove he did need motivation and incentives. He was obviously expecting to be handed a three-year guaranteed deal, and was ready to return to his morose, emotionless style of managing.