October 29, 2007

A-Rod walks, Girardi on deck for Yankees '08

The Yankees have offered their vacant managerial position to their former catcher, Joe Girardi, which he will almost certainly accept. This news comes roughly 14 hours after Alex Rodriguez effectively severed his ties with the Bombers.

Girardi is the best choice for the job, one that he's coveted since he joined the Yankees in 1996. He's smart, prepared and passionate about the game and did a great job in winning the NL Manager of the Year Award with the Florida Marlins last season. The only concern about him may be that he wasn't able to get along with Florida management and got fired for it. How his strongheadedness will play with fils Steinbrenner remains to be seen. It's likely that General Manager Brian Cashman will provide the necessary buffer.

Nonetheless, the future of Yankees rests on the arms of Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, and an ex-catcher is a far better choice to shepherd those kids to greatness than an ex-first baseman.

For the Yankees, the biggest problem with choosing Girardi is the loss of the Don Mattingly, who has already made it clear he will not stay with the team as a coach. Mattingly is the most beloved Yankee of the last 30 years and he will be sorely missed by fans of a certain age. But Mattingly won't get offered another managing position, further evidence that the Yankees chose the right guy.

With the possible exception of Commissioner Bud Selig, agent Scott Boras is perhaps the most hated man in baseball. He outdid himself last night by announcing A-Rod's intention to opt out of his contract with the Yankees during the late innings of the Red Sox' victory over the Rockies. To try to grab the headlines away from a World Series coronation was crass, arrogant and dumb.

In his statement issued to the Associated Press, Boras said Rodriguez's decision "was one based on not knowing what his closer, his catcher and one of his statured pitchers was going to do." The choice of the possessive pronoun "his" is a telling one that speaks to egos of the both men. Further, Rodriguez had until ten days after the end of the World Series to exercise his opt-out clause. Would the Yankees have cleared up all three contract issues in that time? No, but they could've been a lot closer to settled.

Finally, by opting out during the World Series, Boras has manged to no doubt anger the Red Sox, one of the few that can afford Rodriguez.

Rodriguez's was owed $27 million annually over the next three years and the Yankees were rumored to be offering him another five years at $30 million a year. Now Rodriguez is a free agent presumably looking for roughly 8 to 10 years and $240 to $300 million, and he's already dissed the two teams with the money to make it happen.

-- By NewYorkology contributor Scott Ross

Earlier: Joe Torre Era (almost) officially over in the Bronx

October 29, 2007 08:11 PM in Sports

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