It’s Soooo Going to be Mattingly
Uncategorized October 23rd. 2007, 9:51am
Can we stop with the rampant speculation about the Yankees coaching vacancy? It’s a complete waste of time. Here is what will happen: Randy Levine and George’s bumbling sons will meet in Tampa. They will say, ‘you know what, we need to get a puppet in here. Someone we can control. A figurehead.’ Then, they will cross Joe Girardi off the list. Too much of an independent thinker. To much of a pot-stirrer. Or, as the landlord on Seinfeld called Newman, an ‘agitator.’ Which leaves first base coach Tony Pena – hey, he’s a former catcher, he’s well-liked, and he can connect with the Latin players, since we all know they’re taking over the game! – and the people’s choice, Don Mattingly (full disclosure: Our favorite player growing up).
Bring Donnie Baseball in, have Levine pull the strings behind the scenes, and watch this franchise die a slow death. Fun for everyone!
OK, no more Yankees talk until the Red Sox win the World Series and A-Rod packs his bags for Anaheim. (You MUST read this. It’s tremendous.)
Joe Girardi impresses Yankees brass; Don Mattingly next (NY Daily News)
27 Responses to “It’s Soooo Going to be Mattingly”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:04 am
What is the difference between Joe Torre calling 5 million dollars with a chance to make 8 million an insult and Sprewell saying “I have to feed my family” at his contract offer? None, other than media manipulation and more personality whoring. To describe Steinbrenner’s sons as bumbling is a total mis-read. Obviously, they didn’t want Torre back, and in spite of the many protestations by many, they had good reason not to want him back. How many first round exits, combined with the greatest post season collapse ever should Torre have been allowed?
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:22 am
Darrell – well, probably because Sprewell was stupid enough to ACTUALLY SAY “I need to feed my family.”
And also, I think starting pitching has a HELL of a lot more influence on a season/playoff series than a freaking manager.
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:28 am
I think it was an insult considering all the BS he has to deal with on an annual basis.
That being said, it will be Girardi. Just off the strength that Steinbrenner wants somebody in there to create the sense of independence.
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:30 am
I appreciate the fact that TBL has kept the Yankees coaching “saga” posts to a minimum, but even this post is one too many. I think all yankees stories should be relegated to the Roundup.
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:40 am
Sportsgal116 – just like the guy who complained about the political links last week, don’t read it if you are tired of the Yankees and their managerial cattle call. It’s a big story right now, possibly bigger than the Sox-Rockies Series coming up, and alot of people are interested in it. Besides, this isn’t your website and it’s certainly not mine, so let TBL post what they want. I’m so tired of people complaining about having to read a story that’s on here! No one is forcing you to read anything.
ANYWAY, I hope it’s Girardi. He is more of a personality change from Torre, which is what the H’s seem to be striving for, and no matter how much you like him, he has zero experience. I, too, grew up a Mattingly fan, followed closely by Mike Pagliarulo.
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:43 am
I agree with sportsgal116 here. In fact, I’ll go further. There should be zero stories about any baseball teams other than the Rockies and Red Sox until the World Series is over. I don’t care if the Cardinals fire LaRusa or Steinbrenner picks his nose.
The freaking World Series is starting tomorrow. Let the fans in Colorado and Boston enjoy the limelight. As a Tigers fan, I enjoyed the postseason last year like no other year. Just stop any talk about the band of idiots in NY and their interviews. Nobody outside of Yonkers gives a rats ass.
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:47 am
So Chelsea Chris, if Leyland had been fired and the Tigers were interviewing managerial candidates, you wouldn’t want to see any stories here about it?????
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:57 am
If Leyland were fired, it would be covered ad-nauseum locally and that would be fine.
I would not care if ESPN did around the clock coverage on it or if Fox discussed it during the broadcasts. I wouldn’t care if it were discussed on this blog or others during the WS.
My local radio stations and local news would be sufficient for me. Is that so crazy? Why isn’t that enough????
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:11 am
“Can we stop with the rampant speculation about the Yankees coaching vacancy?”
I agree, TBL, but seriously, what else is ESPN supposed to talk about this week? The World Series. And let me guess. The Yankees will “anonymously” drop some rumors about the coaching gig to ESPN Insiders about an hour before Game 1 because the Yankees soooo can’t stand it being not being all about them.
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:12 am
Baseball manager is the most overrated coach in sports. I mean the freaking manager talks to the broacasters IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAME!!!!!
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:28 am
Hoping for Pena, will settle for Mattingly, praying against Girardi (if he couldn’t handle the media or owner in Miami….)
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:28 am
Hoping for Pena, will settle for Mattingly, praying against Girardi (if he couldn’t handle the media or owner in Miami….)
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:30 am
I agree with Chelsea (Tiger Fan), keep the slurping to a minimum. Unless a nuclear bomb goes off at Yankee Stadium, and the whole roster and management are there, there is no reason to talk about them. It’s bad enough that Joe Schmuk and Tim McGayass will probably keep talking about the Tankees during the World Series.
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:30 am
Hoping for Pena, will settle for Mattingly, praying against Girardi (if he couldn’t handle the media or owner in Miami….)
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:35 am
There should be a post about that traitor Kevin Millar throwing out the first pitch for the Red Sox while he is a member of the Orioles. What a bitch.
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:54 am
I think all the complaining on blogs about Yankees coverage is actually worse than the fact that ESPN and other big name media outlets continuously cover the Yankees instead of other big time sports events (the World Series).
Im not sure if i hate the big name media or the whiners more.
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:57 am
The complaining on blogs, about Yankees coverage, is coming dangerously close to the amount of Yankees coverage on ESPN and other big name media outlets.
Im not sure if i hate the big name media or the whiners more.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Going to be Mattingly. Should be Girardi. It can’t be anyone but Mattingly because they’d only be holding down the managerial seat on the bench while Donny Baseball waits in the wings. Girardi or Pena can’t be expected to manage with their go to guy doubling as the near future replacement.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Just finished reading the Boras article. Thanks for the link TBL. I recommend it to everyone else. It is a big long, but I think it accurately depicts the guy. I never heard anything good about him before, and now I know why. Teams like the Yankees and Red Sox, actually should thank him because he is essentially pricing all the younger talented players out of the small market teams budget.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:03 pm
I live in the Baltimore area, so I’ve heard a great deal about the “traitor” Millar throwing out the first pitch for the Sox. My response is “Are you F***ing kidding me?” The Orioles have been dying a slow death for the past decade, their ownership puts out a shit team full of re-treads and has-beens year after year (which is why Millar is in an Orioles uni in the first place), and now all of a sudden O’s fans are up in arms about something?
Kevin Millar was part one of the best sports stories of our time, so what if he throws out the first pitch for the team that he is most remembered as part of? It isn’t like he took off his Orioles jersey and took a dump on it. The guy is one of the few players on the O’s that actually hustles and give a damn. Maybe he should be cut so the Orioles can pick up Jeff Conine for the 20th time and placate the B-More fans and their raging inferiority complex.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:07 pm
It’s important to remember that Torre wasn’t insulted by the amount he was being offered, he was bothered by the incentives clause. Sure, players frequently have these clauses, but they’re keyed to individual performance, such as $40,000 for hitting 50 HR, or something. It doesn’t seem reasonable to me to key a manager’s salary to a team’s win total, because in baseball the manager cannot affect the game at the same level of the individual player (for one), nor at the same level as say a football or basketball coach (for another). I mean, what if the Yankees had lost 300 man-games to injury in 2008, leaving them with 71 wins? I’d love it, but how would that be the fault of the manager?
Torre knew he didn’t have to take the contract. It ain’t even in the same ballpark, pardon the pun, as Sprewell’s comment. Torre could sit an entire year, or he could join BBT, or he could – gulp! – manage the Pirates. I just don’t get the sense it was about the money for him at all.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:11 pm
By the way, I’m not sure why anyone would want Tony Pena as the manager, considering he wasn’t terribly good with an admittedly bad Royals team.
What about Davey Johnson? Heh? Sparky Anderson’s still alive. Yogi Berra?
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Baseball requires teams to interview minority candidates for manager spots right? Does Pena fill that need or do the Yanks need to go find someone else to interview to avoid the bad PR and nominal fine.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:22 pm
tedkerwin – MLB/NBA/NHL do not require anything for interviewing people. Only the NFL does.
October 23rd, 2007 at 4:56 pm
It is also important to note that Sprewell never made the ” I got my family to feed” quote in regards to not being offered enough money as has often been portrayed. The quote was made regarding taking the chance of playing out the season, helping Minnesota try to win a championship and negotiating afterwards. He said: “Why would I want to help them win a title?” he said. “They’re not doing anything for me. I’m at risk. I have a lot of risk here. I got my family to feed. Anything could happen.” So, he was insulted by his contract offer like Torre was insulted by the terms of his contract. All this talk about Baseball Managers not being important or not having much to do with whether a team wins or loses is ridiculous. Who decides on who to pitch in a playoff game? Who decides when to pull the pitcher? Who decides the pitch count? Who decides to hit and run? Who decides to bring in the infield? Who decides to sacrifice bunt? Just because a manager isn’t calling plays on every play doesn’t mean the position is less important or doesn’t involve strategy.
October 23rd, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Dirty Sanchez, you haven’t noticed the pathetic attendance at Camden Yards unless the Yankees or Red Sox are in town? I would say that is a sign of Orioles fans having enough.
I don’t care what your past is, you don’t throw out a first pitch for a team you don’t play for, especially when that team is in your God damned division!
Basically, your post is hypocritical because on one hand you are saying since the Orioles are basically dead their fans shouldn’t give a crap, while at the same time chiding them for giving a crap.
I also don’t understand how picking up Jeff Conine would placate any inferiority complex, A-Rod on the other hand….
October 23rd, 2007 at 6:30 pm
49er – The O’s fans should give a crap, but they should care about their lack of a real baseball person to make their personnel decisions for the past decade (although hiring McPhail is a positive step) or how Angelos takes them for granted by fielding AAAA quality teams and not even trying to compete with the Red Sox and Yankees. Angelos crying poor about those two while banking serious $$$ from MASN’s rights (a gift from MLB) is not only incorrect, it’s an insult to their fans.
I’m glad that fans aren’t just flocking to the ballpark to see David Segui and Sidney Ponson or whatever scrap heap garbage that’s fed to them by management. My point was that it seems petty to bitch about Millar throwing out a pitch when there are much greater problems at the Warehouse. I mean, I’m a Pirate fan but I wouldn’t care if Matt Morris went back to STL and threw out a pitch for a playoff game. But I guess every fan will have their own take on it.
I realize Matt Morris is a poor comparison to the Millar incident, but what do you want. I’m a Pirates fan and their team sucks.