Joe Girardi was so impressive during a 10-hour interview last week in Tampa that he is likely to receive an offer to manage the Yankees today.
When Brian Cashman makes his recommendation to the Steinbrenner family today, the GM is expected to ask Hank, Hal and George to accept Girardi as Joe Torre’s replacement.
Entering the interview process that included Yankee icon Don Mattingly and first base coach Tony Pena, it was believed Cashman favored Girardi. Girardi’s preparation and baseball intellect – items Cashman already felt positively about – were strongly reinforced during the interview. Ownership was said to also feel positive about those traits in Girardi.
While Hank and Hal appear ready to rubber-stamp Cashman’s recommendation of Girardi, there could be resistance from The Boss, who has long wanted Mattingly to manage the club. However, the strength of Girardi’s interview, which The Boss was part of for an hour, is expected to override Steinbrenner’s loyalty toward Mattingly.
Last week Hank Steinbrenner said the decision would be made today and announced tomorrow. It’s likely Cashman will make his recommendation this morning and an offer made to Girardi in the afternoon. If the process moves quickly, the Yankees could announce the hiring on a conference call today and hold a major Yankee Stadium press conference later this week.
Mattingly, who interviewed Tuesday in Tampa, hasn’t heard from the Yankees since. Girardi, who was working for Fox during the World Series, is in the same boat as Mattingly. Representatives for Mattingly and Girardi didn’t return messages.
“Nothing has changed,” Girardi said in Denver last night.
Asked if he would like to see closure, Girardi said, “We all like to see resolution in life.”
Going into the process, Mattingly was perceived as the favorite. However, Girardi bowled over the Steinbrenner family, especially Hank and Hal.
His one year of experience managing the Marlins is a plus, too. And when Hank said last week that he and Cashman were on the same page, Girardi was perceived to have moved ahead of Mattingly.
When Hank said the Yankees were looking for a leader and not so much a father figure, many believed he was endorsing Girardi.
Mattingly’s friends don’t believe he will stay as the bench coach if passed over for the managing gig. He had set his sights on being the Yankees manager since taking over as hitting coach four years ago.
There remain concerns about Girardi’s aggressive style of handling people – he isn’t afraid to bruise feelings. Will he be accepted by the core players after Torre’s low-key approach? Will Girardi over Mattingly lead to free-agent defections, notably by either Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera.
Former Yankees coach Don Zimmer, who was instrumental in bringing Girardi from Denver to The Bronx in 1996, believes the ex-catcher has what it takes.
“He knows the game, he played the game the right way,” Zimmer said of Girardi, a Yankee for four years and part of three World Series winners. “He wasn’t a great player but was a good player on championship teams. To me, he is a winning type baseball person. He went to [Florida] and won a lot of games with kids. You know when you go to New York you are going to win more than you are going to lose. The question is how much more.”