Let the speculation begin

So that's that for the Yankees' 2007 season. Last night's defeat is a little too fresh for me to do a look back at what went wrong and what went right in the season, so I'm going to place my focus on the future for now. The big story for the future right now is, of course, who will be the manager next season. It seems almost certain that it won't be Joe Torre. The only real question about that is whether he will announce that he's not coming back, or whether the team announces that they're not re-signing him.

As for his replacement, Peter Abraham is reporting that the short list consists of Tony La Russa, Bobby Valentine, Buck Showalter, Joe Girardi and Don Mattingly. Its a pretty weird list to me, consisting of two guys who'd be good picks, and two who I don't think would work out, and one who would be an absolute disaster. Let's go over them individually.

The disaster is Tony La Russa. One of the biggest challenges of being manager in New York is dealing with the media, something at which La Russa is incredibly bad. This is a guy who nearly got into a fistfight with a reporter in St. Louis. I really can't imagine that he'd make it through spring training with the New York media without having to serve jail time.

Then there's his actual managerial style. La Russa really seems to believe he's some kind of genius, and makes all sorts of wacky little moves to prove it, not caring about how it might affect his players. In his book Three Nights in August, journalist Buzz Bissinger starts with a story about one of La Russa's more insane decisions. Albert Pujols, who is as valuable to the Cardinals as a player can possibly be, has an arm injury which allows him to swing a bat, but not throw a ball. A doctor has informed La Russa that throwing a ball could result in a career ending injury for Pujols. Any sane man would bench Pujols until he was well enough to play, but La Russa decided he had a better idea. He played Pujols in left field and told him to just underhand the ball to the shortstop if he has to field a ball. This is not a man you want to entrust a team to.

I'm actually a fan of Bobby Valentine's. I think he's a smart man who amuses with some wacky antics. However, those wacky antics are a lot funnier when they're coming out of someone else's clubhouse. He's just not a good fit for the Yankees.

Buck Showalter is the other guy who's a perfectly decent manager, but wouldn't fit in with the Yankees. I'm actually surprised that he's even being considered for the job, or at least reported to be considered, in light of his acrimonious relationship with George Steinbrenner. Managing the Boss is as big a part of the job as managing the team, and Showalter just can't do it.

Joe Girardi, I think, would make a good pick. As the manager of the Marlins in 2006, he did a very nice job in bringing a team with the lowest payroll in the majors into playoff contention. Granted, he didn't have a good relationship with the team's owner, Jeffrey Loria, which is probably what got him fired. Loria, however, is a very different kind of owner from Steinbrenner. Where Steinbrenner can be an ass because of his obsession with winning, Loria is an ass who is obsessed with making money without regard to any kind of ethics or the law. I could write a whole piece about this, but I'll just say that Girardi understands proffesionalism, and I think would fit in with the Yankees as a manager as well as he did as a player.

Finally, there's the obvious choice; Donnie Baseball. He's certainly proven that he can handle the New York media, has a good relationship with the boss, and a lot of respect in the clubhouse. However, since he's never managed at any level, we've got no idea what his managerial skills are like. Heck, I couldn't even tell you if he's a good bench coach, since its never been clear to me what it is a bench coach does. However, he is, at least, a smart man who knows as much about baseball, especially the art of hitting, as anyone. His three seasons as the hitting coach were filled with so much success and praise that I was actually against making him the bench coach because I thought he was more valuable where he was (though, again, I have no idea what a bench coach does, so its possible that that was where he was more valuable).

Personally, I'd lean more towards Girardi. The Yankees are a team who will be relying on young pitching going forward, and I think a former catcher would have a leg up in helping them along. However, its a small leg up, and Mattingly would certainly be a fine choice. Just please don't let Tony La Russa anywhere near the Yankee clubhouse.