The New York Times
Published: October 31, 2007
New York Yankees coach Joe Girardi (L) and manager Joe Torre look out from the dugout in the ninth inning of their game against the Cleveland Indians at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Ohio in this August 2, 2005 file photo.
All along, it was going to take an extraordinary candidate to make the Yankees say no to Don Mattingly as their next manager. Mattingly is probably the most beloved Yankee of the last 25 years, and his passion and knowledge of the game are unquestioned.
“It was extremely difficult,” General Manager Brian Cashman said yesterday. “It was not a conversation I wanted to have. Donnie is a special individual, a terrific baseball mind.”
Yet when he recommended a successor for Joe Torre, who led the Yankees to 12 consecutive playoff appearances, Cashman turned away from Mattingly. He picked Joe Girardi, and said Girardi’s managerial experience was a factor.
Girardi, who signed a three-year, $7.8 million contract, was the National League manager of the year for the Florida Marlins in 2006. Mattingly has four years of coaching experience, but he has never managed.
“Being a coach is one thing,” Cashman said. “But actually having to make the tough decisions and live with the consequences, whether they work or not, those are all learning tools he has benefited from.”
In replacing Torre, who won four World Series in his first five years, Girardi faces a task that Mattingly, despite wanting the job, had called a “no-win situation.”
As a player, Girardi joined the Yankees in 1996 as the unpopular successor to Mike Stanley, a catcher who hit with more power. Three championship rings later, Girardi had forged his own legacy, and he plans to do so again.
“I can’t be Joe Torre, because I’m made up different,” Girardi said. “I’m a different character. I don’t really worry about how I’m going to replace someone. I’m more worried about being myself and getting the most out of the guys.”
Girardi’s contract will pay him $2.5 million each season, with a $300,000 signing bonus spread over the three years. The deal includes bonuses that could reach $500,000 a year if the Yankees make the World Series.
Tony Peña, the other candidate interviewed last week, will remain with the Yankees as the first-base coach, and the hitting coach Kevin Long is close to signing a three-year, $1 million deal.
Three newcomers are expected to join the staff: Dave Eiland as the pitching coach, Mike Harkey as the bullpen coach, and Bobby Meacham as the third-base coach.
Rob Thomson, a special assignment coach, will inherit Mattingly’s job as the bench coach. The Yankees had offered to let Mattingly stay in that position, but he turned down the job.
“I don’t think it would be fair to anybody who got the job if I were on the coaching staff,” Mattingly said. “Because there’s going to be a stretch of three games and people would start talking, and that’s just not right.”
Mattingly could have a spot on Torre’s staff if the Los Angeles Dodgers hire Torre as their manager. The Dodgers were negotiating with Torre after they and Manager Grady Little cut ties yesterday.
Mattingly did not refer directly to the Dodgers’ opportunity, but he said his departure from the Yankees was liberating, in a way. Mattingly has worked for no other organizations, but he said he still burned to manage and looked forward to challenging himself in another setting.
Yet while Torre left with bitterness, questioning whether he would even want to return to Yankee Stadium, Mattingly said he had no hard feelings.
“Trust me, I’m not going to all of a sudden start rooting for the Red Sox,” Mattingly said. “I’m from Indiana, but I’ve really always believed that I grew up in New York. I consider myself a New Yorker in those terms. That’s how I’ve gotten to this point. I would never look back and say it’s unfortunate.”
Mattingly said it was not true that George Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ principal owner, promised him he would someday be manager when he hired him as the hitting coach for the 2004 season. Mattingly said he would not have wanted to be handed a job without working for it.
“I think I’m ready right now, but somebody doesn’t,” he said. “The Yankees didn’t think that I was the guy for that. So, in a sense, it’s a self-evaluation. You do it as a player. If you’re not getting the job done the way somebody thinks, you look at it honestly. It doesn’t deter me.”
The Yankees put the candidates through an exhaustive process in which they had separate meetings with ownership and with Cashman, who included nine of his staff members in baseball operations.
Cashman said they discussed everything from game strategy and player evaluation to advance scouting and dealing with the news media. Girardi, the Yankees’ bench coach in 2005 and a YES Network broadcaster last season, was extremely well prepared and impressed Cashman.
“He’s been a world champion player, he’s played in this environment, he’s been a coach, he’s been a major league manager, he’s meticulous in his approach,” Cashman said. “I know about him from his playing days to his coaching days, and we followed his career down in Florida. He likes to compete all the time. It’s not just what happens at the first pitch. It’s team first, individual second. We dissected game strategy; we believe he’s mentally tough. Ultimately, a lot of things came up right to help me gravitate to Joe Girardi.”
Hank Steinbrenner, who is running the Yankees with his brother, Hal, was on the conference call with reporters and said he was “in complete agreement with Brian” on Girardi. Hank Steinbrenner has asked that fans be patient with the new manager, but he has also said that he agrees with his father in that only a championship can be considered a success for the Yankees.
“I understand the expectations, and I think that’s the advantage of being a player in New York,” Girardi said. “You understand what’s expected, and I expect it as well.” Then Girardi added the sentence that the Steinbrenner family probably most wanted to hear: “I expect to be playing in the Fall Classic next October.”
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