Don Mattingly is still perceived as the favorite to replace Joe Torre as Yankees manager, but the order in which the team will interview candidates has been altered.
Joe Girardi will go first today, ahead of Mattingly, who likely will talk to the Yankees brass tomorrow. Tony PeÑa is slated to follow Mattingly. All three interviews are scheduled for Legends Field in Tampa, Fla., where club president Randy Levine spent the weekend preparing and where GM Brian Cashman will be on hand.
Asked about the schedule order and whether Girardi was interviewing today, Cashman said, “I wouldn’t say.”
Although Mattingly, Girardi and PeÑa are considering the top three candidates by the Yankees, Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell’s name has surfaced and the Yankees have heard good things about the Jersey Shore native, who isn’t that well-known to the club’s brass. It’s believed Farrell, who came out of the Indians’ front office to take the Red Sox job, is a candidate to fill the Pittsburgh managerial opening because new Pirates GM Neal Huntington worked with Farrell in Cleveland.
Mattingly remains the choice of George Steinbrenner and his sons, Hank and Hal, hold the former Yankees icon in high regard. Mattingly was moved from hitting coach to bench coach this past season to groom him as Torre’s replacement. From a PR standpoint, naming Mattingly the manager would take some of the sting out of Torre turning down the Yankees’ one-year deal worth $5 million with the chance to make $8 million next year if the Yankees reached the World Series. Many viewed the Yankees offer as a low one so Torre would reject it and end his 12-year stay in The Bronx.
However, Mattingly doesn’t have managing experience at any level and the task of replacing someone like Torre in his first managing job could be daunting.
Girardi, currently a broadcaster, is a former Yankees catcher and bench coach and Marlins manager (NL Manger of the Year in 2006) who was fired for clashing with Florida ownership. Girardi is organized and heavily involved in the data gathering that is a large part of baseball in the 21st century. Like Mattingly, he knows the brutal Yankees landscape and understands what is expected. He turned down the Orioles’ job this past summer, but there are rumblings Baltimore still wants to talk to him. Girardi is slated to work the World Series for FOX.
PeÑa, a former Royals manager (AL Manager of the Year in 2003) and the Yankees’ first base coach the past two seasons, has impressed Cashman with his positive and upbeat attitude and teaching skills.
Additional reporting
by Joel Sherman