Yankees manager Joe Girardi fielded some questions from Post columnist Steve Serby before his team begins spring training.
Q: What is your overall assessment of your ballclub on paper right now?
A: I think we’re a much improved club from last year, because offensively we added a tremendous amount of support to the cast that we already had, and we’re also getting some guys back that we didn’t have last year. So I think offensively, we’re way ahead of where we were last year.
Starting pitching, obviously, there’s some roles to be worked out, not too many. The bullpen is probably a situation that we will have to concentrate and work on the most in leaving spring training, where last year it was probably a little bit more set than it is this year. But this year, with David Robertson more than likely assuming the closer role, we expect him to fill that need, you have to solve somewhat of your eighth-inning guy, and some of the guys that are vying for that fifth position could also be in the bullpen.
Q: Describe catcher Brian McCann.
A: I’m very excited about having him just because of what he brings to the table offensively, but more the personality that he brings behind home plate I think will be very important. And he’s worked with a wide variety of pitchers in Atlanta and has continually molded a very good staff.
Q: Do you think his signing could have influenced Masahiro Tanaka signing?
A: I’m sure it’s possible. … I think whenever you’re a player looking at where you’re going to go, I think you look at the people that are around you that you possibly could be playing with. Obviously, the catcher’s very important because it’s someone that you’re going to be dealing with on a pretty constant basis — knowing that your catcher had a lot of experience, he’s been in the playoffs. … He obviously takes a lot of pride in what he does back there. … I’m sure it has some influence on him.
Q: Your initial impressions from afar on Tanaka, and does he remind you of anybody?
A: From the video that I’ve watched, his stuff is similar, in a sense, to [Hiroki] Kuroda’s, and it’s similar, in a sense, to a [Yu] Darvish. He’s got a little mixture of both of these guys. And I think that physically he’s a workhorse. I think that he is a guy that wants the ball, loves the big stage, and I think that’s probably part of the reason that New York appealed to him so much. … This is a guy that would go out and be a starter and then want to work out of the bullpen at the end of the year to help his team clinch a position in the playoffs and to win. So this is a guy that’s hungry to win, and I think that will really help him in New York.
Q: How hungry is Joe Girardi to win?
A: Oh, I’m always hungry. Whether it’s watching a youth basketball game that my son’s playing in (chuckle), or the Yankees. I mean, obviously, we have not been to where we wanted since 2009, and it gets frustrating, because we work very hard to get to where we want to get, and when you don’t get there, there’s frustration. And there’s obviously a lot that you can take from every year and that you’re proud of what guys have done and you enjoy it, but … we play for championships.
Q: Does missing the playoffs fuel that hunger even more?
A: I think every year we don’t win fuels that hunger — whether you don’t make the playoffs or you lose in the American League championship or you lose in the first round. It’s a bitter taste in your mouth at the end of the year, and it’s something that, as Yankees, we don’t enjoy, and we look forward to the next challenge, and that’s this year.
Q: How is Jacob Ellsbury different from Brett Gardner, and what kind of a luxury is he for a manager?
A: I think he’s a huge luxury for a manager, especially when you have both guys. When you look at Ellsbury, this is a guy that’s hit, I think, 30 home runs in a year, he’s stolen over 50 bases. He’s a little bigger in stature than Gardy, but a lot of their game is somewhat similar. But I think that he probably has a little bit more power — now you might ask Gardy that, he might tell you something different. He’ll probably have some fun with it when he reads this article. They’re two guys that can really create a lot of problems. For me it’s exciting to have both of ’em on the team.
Q: Life After Mo.
A: I think every year there’s a lot if change. It was Life Without Jorge [Posada]. Then it was Life Without Andy [Pettitte], and now it’s Life Without Mo, and it’s kinda the nature of the game. I know [Mariano Rivera’s] stature is iconic, and it’s something that we haven’t had to deal with really since 1996, Mo not being here. We had to deal with it a little bit in 2012, and maybe that somewhat might have helped David Robertson in a weird way, that Mo wasn’t there. But I really believe that Dave is capable of handling — and I think what David’s gonna have to deal with in a sense is … he’s gonna blow a save. It’s going to happen, it happens to everyone. And Mo would blow five or six saves a year. It happened. He blew seven last year. But he’s always gonna be compared to Mo, and that’s something where he’s just gonna have to have a thick skin, and I’m gonna have to remind him, “Mo blew saves, it happens, get back out there and do your job.” And I think it’s important that we’re very supportive of this kid.
Q: Life at 40 for Derek Jeter in June.
A: Obviously we missed him tremendously last year, and people a lot of times have said, “Well, this is it, this is it,” and I’ll never believe it’s it until he tells me it’s it. I’m excited to have him back. All the reports that we have have been very good. And obviously once we start playing games, I think he’ll get a better idea of exactly how he’s doing and how he’s responding. But I’m pretty upbeat about it and positive about it because everything I’ve heard is good.
Q: The Core Four is now the Core One.
A: Derek’s gonna do everything he can to be out there every day. I know, like I have in the past, I’m gonna have to give him some days off, but that’s all part of managing this club, and he has responded pretty well to that, but I feel good about where he’s at.
Q: Do you think 120 games at shortstop is reasonable or realistic?
A: I don’t want to put a number on it, because I think he will determine what’s realistic, how he’s doing, and how he’s doing physically. It could be more than that. I don’t want to put a number on it because I think I’m gonna let the way he’s playing in a sense determine, and how he’s feeling, how many games we run him out at shortstop.
Q: How is Mark Teixeira’s wrist?
A: Guys have come back from this, and have done pretty well. I think you have to be patient with it. I think we’ll have to watch him closely, and if he needs a day off here and there because of it, we’ll do it. But I feel pretty good about the surgery, and where he’s at, and … spring training, maybe we take it a little bit slower with him, but I think he’ll be ready Opening Day. I don’t have any concerns about that. I think for every player, when you come back from a pretty serious injury, there’s always gonna be that in your mind, “Is it going to happen again?” And he’ll have to go through games and drills and let go swinging in a sense where he lets it go. And then he’ll get over those hurdles. It was kind of the same thing that Mo had to go through with his knee. Mo got over those hurdles, and he never looked back.
Q: How is CC Sabathia’s velocity?
A: I think CC will come in and have a much better year this year. I think it’s a year where he’s been able to physically do the things that he needs to do in the offseason, and he has not been rehabbing, and I think that’s important, I think he’ll have a much better year.
Q: What happened to cause Kuroda’s late-season swoon?
A: I think the knee probably played into that, and that’s part of him being a little bit older, and hopefully that we won’t get in a situation like we did last year where we had to push the guys a little bit harder. But I’m not really concerned. I think he’ll come back and have a really good year. I mean, he had a good year for us last year.
Q: How are you going to address the holes at second and third base?
A: We got Kelly Johnson, and we got Brian Roberts and we have Eduardo Nunez, and we have a number of guys that have come in and will compete for those spots. … Sometimes there are years where your infield is locked down, you know exactly who it’s gonna be and there’s questions in your outfield. … This year it’s a little bit of the opposite. But we’ll figure that out.
Q: Describe your bench.
A: I think our bench will be pretty strong, because I think we have a lot of depth with some of the people that we’ve signed to help out, and I think we’ll be able to rotate our outfielders and keep them all fresh.
Q: What reports have you gotten on Michael Pineda?
A: So far, so good. Everything looks pretty good, and I’ll obviously be down there very shortly and start seeing his bullpen. Sometimes my biggest concern in spring training is, when you have spots open, guys try to do too much. I really don’t care what you do Feb. 25, I really don’t. I just want you to prepare to compete, basically from March 12, March 15 on, and that’s when you’re going to be truly evaluated.
Q: What would you say the single most important trait the manager of the New York Yankees has to have?
A: Wow. … The most important trait is your relationships with your players. Because that’s how you are able to get the most out of ’em, if you’re able to relate to them.
Q: What is it like being manager of the New York Yankees?
A: I love what I do. I truly do. I know there’s cities that are a little bit more uncomfortable than others, but I love what I do. I love being a Yankee, I love what that entails, I love being around these guys and our front office people. … I love what I do. I love the competition.
Q: You enjoy the big stage, too?
A: I’m kinda quiet. I don’t necessarily look for a big stage … but I love the big competition is what I love.
Q: Are you recognized around town?
A: Oh yes. Yes.
Q: What is that like for you?
A: It’s really not a big deal. … I think anytime that you’re part of the Yankees, you’re recognized, whether it was when I was a player or not. And I’m pretty much a creature of habit, where I’m in the same places pretty often. I don’t go to a lot of new places, in a sense, so people are used to seeing me.
Q: Do you think last year was your best managerial job?
A: I don’t ever really think about that. I think maybe when I retire from managing, maybe I’ll sit back and look at it. It was probably one of my most interesting managerial jobs … interesting ’cause of all the [Rivera sendoffs] that we had all the time, and it was something that i really hadn’t dealt with for the most part, in New York. But I enjoyed it. Obviously, I didn’t enjoy where we finished up, but what our players last year fought to accomplish, I was very proud of ’em.
Q: How do you see the division?
A: I see the division being very competitive, as always. It just seems that there’s a lot of depth in out division, and there are no easy games. … You beat up on each other, it’s just kind of the nature of our division. You look at the teams that finished in front of us, they’re very good. You look at the teams that were even with us, and that’s Baltimore, they’re very good. But Toronto’s very good, too. Toronto had a lot of injuries that they had to deal with as well last year, and I think probably they weren’t where they thought they would be because of that but … I think our division is very tough again.
Q: Are the Red Sox the team to beat in the division?
A: I think [they are] until someone beats them, because they won the World Series, and they’re pretty close to the same team. In a sense, whenever you won the World Series, you’re gonna have a target on your back. But I don’t ever look at it as one team that you have to beat, because you can go 14-5 against a team and not do well against the other teams, and that really hurts you. … The big thing is that we play extremely well in our division, and we play extremely well out of our division.
Q: What would you want to say to Yankees fans?
A: I’m excited about this team. I’m excited about what we’ve added to this club, and what some of these new players are going to add to our club, and I think it’s going to be an exciting year. And we look forward to the competition, and we know where we want to be at the end of the year.