Torre to Manage Dodgers

The Journal News is reporting tonight that Joe Torre has agreed to manage the LA Dodgers next season and Don Mattingly will join him as bench coach. An announcement could come as soon as tomorrow.

The Dodgers had to buy out current manager, Grady Little, who lost his last job with the Red Sox, in part, due to Joe Torre.

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Sign in Triplicate Please

Joe Girardi will be the next manager of the New York Yankees. According to several sources, the Yankees officially made a contract offer to GI Joe. The contract will be for 3 years, with the money ranging from a reported 4.5 to 6 million in total.

Where does leave Don Mattingly? Possibly in Los Angeles. The Dodgers are reportedly working on a buy out of Grady Little and then will offer a deal to Joe Torre. If that happens, there's a good chance Mattingly could end up on Torre's staff.

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The Manager is...

JoeDon Girardingly...or is it DonJoe Mattinardi? Depending on whose opinion you read, Don Mattingly will definitely be the next manager of the Yankees. Or Joe Girardi is definitely the next manager. The King and his pretenders to the throne, related and unrelated, need to make an announcement soon so that the collective press can stop spinning their wheels.

Brian Cashman knows how much Don Mattingly means to the Yankees tradition, so he's behind Mattingly for manager.

Brian Cashman knows the Yankees need an experienced guy who knows about decision making and leading a team, so he's clearly backing Joe Girardi.

And so it goes.

Whomever is named manager will be subject to a plethora of second guessing once the season starts, as will ownership. Get off to a good start, we told you we picked the right guy. Get off to a bad start, we told you, you should have picked the other guy.

As of early Sunday, neither Mattingly or Girardi had been contacted by the Yankees. At least that is what their public response is. With the World Series a very strong possibility to end this evening, the announcement of the new manager could come as early as tomorrow.

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A Name with a Spark

One name you don't hear brought up too often when teams are looking for manager is Sparky Lyle. The former Cy Young (to Sayonora) winner has managed the Somerset Patriots of the independent Atlantic League since 1998. He's won 3 pennants and has good success in terms of players getting deals with major league affiliates.

Sparky was one of the biggest characters to ever don a Yankees uniform and his performance on the field was outstanding. He helped turned the poor 1970s teams into pennant contenders and champions.

It's possible that Sparky doesn't want to manage at the big league level, but it would be cool if the Yankees considered him. Then again, King George may still be upset about, "The Bronx Zoo". At the very least some consideration for a bench coach position should be given.

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Donnie Baseball Steps Up to the Plate

Don Mattingly completed his lengthy interview with the Tampa boys yesterday. Click here to hear his post-interview press conference with reporters.

Tony Pena gets his turn today, and unless there's candidates we don't know about, that's it for the "process".

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Now Batting, #23, Don Mattingly, #23

Don Mattingly gets his turn before the Yankees brass today in the interview "process". I cringe every time I hear that word. Joe Girardi met with the suits yesterday for about 5 hours. He and Brian Cashman met with King George at the royal palace between 2 meetings at Legends Field.

The plan is for each of the candidates to do a Q&A with reporters in the evening. Girardi came off very polished and sincere in answering each of the questions posed to him. You can go to Pete Abraham's blog to hear the full audio.

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Bowa Out of the Picture

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Manager John McLaren says he is "very close" to finalizing his coaching staff.

From all indications, Mel Stottlemyre will become the pitching coach, Eddie Rodriguez the first-base coach, Norm Charlton the bullpen coach, Jim Riggleman the bench coach, and probably Larry Bowa the third-base coach.

The Mariners are expected to name the entire staff when all the pieces are in place. As of Thursday night, all but one of the selections had been finalized.

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Fall Out Boys

The repercussions from yesterday's poor attempt to sway Joe Torre into returning are already being felt. The Yankees brain trust, and we use that term lightly, is taking a beating today, from both the media and from the fans. The family von Steinbrenner and Jeri-curl Randy Levine fooled no one with their "respectable" contract offer to Joe Torre.

We said before the season that it was time for a change. That the Yankees were going as far as they could with Joe Torre at the helm, and we still feel that way. But we also know what Joe Torre did for the franchise. Not since the 1950s had a manager won 4 world series in 5 years. And yes, he was handed the players by George Steinbrenner, but he still knew how to cajole, manipulate, ride, appease his way to one division title and one playoff berth year after year.

If the Yankees really wanted Torre back they simply would have guaranteed him 7 or 8 million for next year. Why should a guy who has made 12 straight playoff appearances have to hit incentives? The anti-Torre sect's argument of, "Hey, I work for a living, and I don't get my money handed to me", is absurd, because no one ever mistook sports for real life. As Peter Abraham shrewdly pointed out, look at the percentage of the pay cut instead of the actual dollars. If you are a financial analyst making 50 grand a year and for 2008, your boss says, your salary next year will be $32,500 with the chance to earn 50 grand, would you be happy? We didn't think so.

For the pro-Torre faction, you should remember what happened in 1995. Fans were furious at the handling of Buck Showalter. We were even more furious when Joe Torre was hired (you know you were). The headlines screaming today that Joe got screwed were the same ones that called him "Clueless Joe" back then. So keep in mind that this may work out all right.

We'll hear Torre's side of things today on a 2:00 conference call that will be carried by ESPN and other outlets (we're sure WFAN will carry it).

So what happens now? Obviously the first matter at hand is finding a manager, and doing it quickly with pending free agents. Brian Cashman can drone on all he wants to about "the process", but the Yankees need to move quickly for damage control.

The Candidates

Don Mattingly - Says he's not ready, though he denied that. We don't think he's ready either.

Joe Girardi - We would love to see him in there, but the front office is supposedly concerned about Girardi's control freak personality.

Trey Hillman - He was highly thought of while managing in the Yankees farm system and is currently managing in Japan. But do you really see a non-experienced guy, other than Mattingly, being hired?

Larry Bowa - We've never loved him as a manager, but he did do a great job as 3rd Base coach and working with the infielders, especially Robinson Cano. We would like to see him get a 2 year deal, with Mattingly staying on as bench coach, set to take over in 2010 (in 2009 if Bowa spits the bit next year).

Tony Pena - Did a good job in KC before quickly resigning. That may have left a smudge on his resume. We would like to see him stay on the staff though. It could certainly help in trying to get Jorge Posada to re-sign.

Bobby Valentine - Smug. Arrogant. Self-centered. NOT the right man for the job.

We won't even mention the bad haired, DUI guy in St. Louis.

Free Agent Impact

We've been really surprised at the reaction of the fans towards mainstays like Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada for their allegiance to Torre. Mariano was already feeling bitter towards the Yankees for not giving him an extension prior to the '07 season. The handling of Torre didn't help the Yankees cause any. Andy Pettitte has a big decision ahead of him. Will Pettitte's decision be swayed by a new manager coming in?

Forget about what A-Rod has to say. He professed his love for Torre after the ALDS, but do you think it's genuine? Torre batted the man 8th in the '06 ALDS. A-Rod and Boras will go where the money is. Period.

This is why the Yankees have to get a manager that will help get these free agents to come back.

What remains to be seen is whether or not this will be the winter of our discontent.

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Torre Turns Down Yankees

1050 Radio played the conference call. Torre was offered $5 million base, plus $1 million bonuses for each playoff round. If they made the WS, he would be guaranteed a base of $8 million for 2009.

And Torre said NO.

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1 Year and an Option

That's what it looks like Joe Torre will be getting to return as Yankees manager. The story was leaked out by an "official" and will include a pay-cut, per WFAN.

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Torre set to Return?

Update - WFAN is reporting a conference call at 4 PM

From PeteAbe:

"Accompanied by Brian Cashman, Joe Torre arrived at Legends Field about 70 minutes ago and is now meeting with the Steinbrenners.

Obviously he did not go down there to get fired in person. It is evident the Yankees are finalizing a contract extension for him to return as manager.

More on this story as it becomes available."

From Mark Feinsand:

"Joe Torre is now in Tampa, apparently negotiating a new deal to remain as the manager. Torre arrived in Florida today with Brian Cashman and Lonn Trost, and the three of them have now headed to the ballpark to meet with the Steinbrenners.

It certainly looks like Torre will be back in the fold, possibly as soon as today. The end is in sight. Then all we'll have to watch will be A-Rod, Mariano and Jorge."

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Life of Brian

Is there a more boring speaker, outside of Joe Lieberman, than Brian Cashman. "It's a process" and other biz speak is all we hear from the Yankees GM. And he was spewing the same rhetoric yesterday at the conclusion of the 2nd day of Yankees org meetings.

Cash flew home yesterday and will continue to participate in the meetings via phone. Perhaps he'll be personally meeting with Joe Torre. Why else fly home?

"Hello Joe. This is Brian from the Bronx. 1st time, long time."

Cash also re-iterated that the Yankees will not negotiate with A-Rod if he opts out. Cashman obviously has Steinbrenner's backing of this plan. Now Scott Boras, aka "resident evil", must decide if he can do a big time deal without the Yankees participating.


photo courtesy of yankees.com

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Mattingly: "I'm not ready"

According to a report in today's Newark Star-Ledger, Don Mattingly has told a friend that he doesn't think he's ready to manage and does not feel comfortable replacing Joe Torre.

With the Steinbrenners and friends meeting today, this could have a direct impact on the outcome. The feeling here is that Torre will be offered a 1 year deal, possibly with a mutual option for a 2nd year and Mattingly will remain the manager in waiting. If Torre says no, then Mattingly is SOL and Joe Girardi should get the call.

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Dust in the Cincy Wind

Dusty Baker waited 1 season before returning to the managerial ranks. Yesterday, he agreed to a 3 year deal to take over as skipper of the Cincinnati Reds. You wonder why Baker didn't wait longer to see if other openings arose, considering the Reds current state and the ownership's lack of interest in putting a competitive team out there.

Glad to see Dusty managing for a couple of reasons. Always liked him, even as a player- the only player on the dreaded Dodgers that I really liked when the team was filled with a-holes like Garvey. He's also a class act. Maybe the most important thing is we will no longer have to hear him kiss Barroid's ass on BBTN.

Good luck Dusty!

photo courtesy of Cincy Enquirer

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Hanging with Mr. Cooper

Congrats to Cecil Cooper on being named full-time manager of the Houston Astros. Coop got a 2 year deal after taking over from Phil Garner on August 27th.

Coop gave the Yankees trouble back in the '70s and '80s with as a sweet swinging 1st Baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers. He had 3 top 5 finishes in the AL MVP race.

Good luck to a class guy!

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Odd Rumor of the Day

From the NY Post via Yahoo Sports. Tony Pena is being considered for the Houston Astros job. Pena refused comment when asked about it. Okay, that's now the odd part. Here it is.

The rumor is based on the fact that Pena is the godfather of one of Tim Purpura's children. I guess the Post didn't get the memo that Purpura was fired as GM when Phil Garner got let go.

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Girardi Just Says No

WBAL-TV in Baltimore is reporting that Joe Girardi has turned down an offer to become the manager of the Baltimore Orioles. Girardi was interviewed almost as quickly as Sam Perlozzo was fired.

The Orioles hired Andy McPhail to run their baseball operations, but one has to wonder if Girardi was concerned with too many cooks stirring the pot. That was an issue when Lee Mazzilli and Perlozzo were manager. On top of that you have one of the worst owners in sports, Peter Angelos, as the main man in charge.

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