Kuzul

The New York Yankees have to divert whatever attention is left from all the Cliff Lee drama, but there is no denying the painful disappointment still lingers.

Losing Kerry Wood to the Chicago Cubs was unexpected, but the signing of former Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Russell Martin gave the first ray of hope thus far in this offseason.

Why is signing Russell Martin such a positive? For two reasons:

1.   From veteran Jorge Posada to top prospects Austin Romaine and Jesus Montero, as well as current back-up Francisco Cervelli, Yankees have a plethora of uncertain players to fill the catcher position. In 2009, Posada, with 16 seasons and 39 years of age under his belt, had it all catch up to him. Cervelli was a productive hitter at the start of last season, but like Posada couldn’t hold runners on base, throwing out 14 percent of attempted basestealers. That’s only one percent difference from Posada, who never was known for his throwing arm, but who made up for it with his power bat. Martin brings a big upgrade defensively, throwing out potential basestealers at a 31 percent clip for his career, and 39 percent last season. Adding Martin to the mix gives the Yankees necessary breathing room to bring up the two up-and-comers, Romaine and Montero, at an acceptable pace.

2.   Russell provides General Manager Brian Cashman room to dangle Romaine and Montero as trade bait; with the hopes to fill the spot left open by Lee. It is no secret that the Yankees need to attain another starting pitcher to finalize the rotation. Word is that Andy Pettitte is actually going to return in 2011. Pettitte’s return brings reinforcement because the Yankees can afford to wait for the best trade before the season’s July 31st trading deadline. A retired Pettitte would leave another vacant spot that could be Sergio Mitre’s–God-forbid. No matter what, Martin gives the flexibility and Pettitte allows for patience. This could result in a better option down the road, as there are always teams that want to unload by the All-Star Break.

Martin doesn’t come without concern. Even as a two-time All-Star with the Dodgers who ranked atop all NL catchers in 2007, hitting .293 with 87 RBIs and 19 home-runs, there is cause for worry.

Martin’s production declined in 2008, followed by a season-ending hip injury in August of 2009. He does tend to draw a lot of walks at the plate.

Martin seems determined to get back to the hitter he was at 25, making him a young 27, which means Cashman is bringing a baby to the Bronx. Plenty of room to grow considering skipper Joe Girardi and bench coach Tony Pena were both successful catchers during their playing careers.

GM Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner know that many things have to happen before and during the 2011 season to keep the team on top.

Cashman has asked Yankee fans to remain patient, a tall tale to petition for of such an eager group.

I don’t think Yankee fans have a better option. Still, a lot of trust has been earned with the recent 2009 season, and the Yankee fans always believe their team is good to go. That is because the players won’t accept anything else.

In the words of new Yankee catcher Russell Martin:

“Talent doesn’t go away. I know that I can hit. I just want to get back to that consistency.”

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Today’s baseball players simply have no idea the leverage and position they hold in negotiations thanks to sacrifices of some of the game’s greatest players such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays.

Before Curt Flood and the reserve clause, players either played or sat out.

Ownership held all the cards and ownership wasn’t afraid to clench its teeth when it came to salary negotiations with some of the game’s most loved and important icons.

The very frugal Horace Stoneham, who owned the New York and San Francisco Giants, demanded Willie Mays take a salary cut in 1961 after the team finished fifth.

Despite filling the stands with his taxpayer-built Candlestick Park to the tune of 1.7 million fans, Stoneham fired Bill Rigney and looked to his new Latino players such as Juan Marichal and the Alou brothers to lead the team with smaller salaries, despite the fan allegiance to the great Willie Mays!

In 1938, Joe DiMaggio asked for a pay hike to $40K only to settle for $25K and just a $5,000 raise. He would be booed by Yankee fans at his first at-bat of the season.

In 1959, Mickey Mantle batted just .285 with 31 homers and 75 RBI. General Manager George Weiss asked Mantle to take a $17,000 pay cut from $72K to just $55K!

Negotiations with Mantle had become so strained that trade rumors with Cleveland rocked the Bronx as it seemed Mantle would be shipped to the Indians for pitcher Herb Score and Rocky Colavito!

In the end, Mantle would absorb a $7,000 pay cut in 1960 after all.

In fact, even former New York Yankee shortstop, teammate and color man Phil Rizzuto would go public against Mantle and side with Weiss and Yankee management in these tense negotiations.

With just 10 homers, 67 RBI and a .270 batting average, how does an aging Derek Jeter justify a $22.6M salary in these waning days of his career?

Yes, Jeter will become the first Yankee to reach 3,000 hits in 2011, but where is the market for an aging shortstop with limited range and a 60-point drop in his batting average?

Consider the fact that the game’s best player, Albert Pujols of the St Louis Cardinals, led the National League in homers (42) and RBI (118) while flirting with a Triple Crown run most of the 2010 season only earns a mere $14.5M and has finished first or second in MVP voting six times, the most since the legendary Ted Williams.

So who is Derek Jeter negotiating with?

Will the Yankees offer their captain a ridiculous salary increase and extension simply to keep him in a Yankee uniform?

The great Eddie Matthews hit 493 homers as a Brave in Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta only to be shipped to the Houston Astros, where he would eventually hit his 500th homer in 1967 and end his career in the American League with the Detroit Tigers in 1968.

When the New York Yankees acquired the contract of DiMaggio, they moved Gehrig in the lineup to accommodate their new hitting star despite Gehrig’s Hall of Fame resume in pinstripes.

Manager Joe McCarthy announced DiMaggio, not Gehrig would hit third.

For better or for worse, Derek Jeter’s greatest days are now behind him.

The popular Yankee captain and arguably the fifth greatest Yankee of all time (Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle and Berra before him), he needs to understand his new role as the team’s elder statesman and behave accordingly.

It will be how Derek Jeter conducts these negotiations and how he’ll be ultimately perceived as one of the finest Yankees ever to wear the uniform.

His No. 2 will be retired and he will go to Cooperstown. The question is will his exit be graceful and memorable or undignified and disruptive?

That is a decision for Derek Jeter to make.

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Immediately following the World Series, the New York Yankees announced the termination of pitching coach Dave Eliand, which came as no surprise.

There were many guessing games of who might be Eiland’s replacement. The front-runners looked to be current bullpen coach Mike Harkey; Rick Kranitz, who has worked with Yankees skipper Joe Girardi before; and Scott Aldred, who currently serves the role in Triple-A Scranton for the last two seasons.

Fans were suggesting that David Cone, Al Leiter or Mike Mussina might bring their experience on the mound to the other side. Since none of the three have ever coached, the likelihood was slim.

Then the decision was announced that Chicago Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild was now bringing his talents to the Yankees.

It was a tad confusing because minimal interest had been expressed about Rothschild coming to the Bronx, as the Cubs had him signed through 2011.

The Cubs let Rothschild out of his contract stating that Rothschild wanted to spend more time near his Tampa, FL home. Since the Yankees train in Tampa, this move for Rothschild was exactly what he was looking to make.

No doubt Yankee fans should be elated to get Rothschild, who comes with 36-years of professional baseball experience and also coached Girardi as a player in Chicago back in 2002.

Rothschild has a reputation of being a noteworthy communicator, who does his homework but continually does the extra-credit. A lot of the qualities that Girardi brings as a manager, so Rothschild should fit perfectly on the staff.

As part of the interview process, Rothschild had to analyze video on AJ Burnett and give in detail how he would fix the Yankees pitching staff’s black sheep.

Considering Rothschild had just finished his eighth year helping the Cubs, last season’s correlation of hotheaded and unpredictable Carlos Zambrano might have helped in his answers.

Rothschild also made it clear that his motto is “repeat deliveries,” as it leads to better location and control. Well, lucky for Rothschild that Burnett is the poster child for disaster on the mound and his theories will be tested from every situation.

This move is a positive one for the Yankees, as obviously Eiland was having off-the-field issues that were more important and distracted him from doing his job.

Rothschild has coached twice on World Series Championship teams in 1990 for the Cincinnati Reds and in 1997 for the Florida Marlins. This definitely played a factor for the Yankees, who like guys who have been to the big stage and had success on it.

In his first day in pinstripes, Rothschild called each pitcher to schedule training dates prior to the start of 2011 Spring Training.

Hey, nothing feels better than hiring a real go-getter. It would seem that Rothschild wasn’t going to waste a minute.

Trust me, Rothschild has his work cut out for him with Burnett alone.

Without a doubt, all we know is that Rothschild knows how to win, and that is what Yankee Universe likes to hear.

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It’s official.

Joe Girardi will remain the New York Yankees’ skipper for three more seasons.

Many Yankees fans have been quick to blame Girardi for the team’s failure to repeat as World Series Champions. Fans were frustrated all season with Girardi, blaming any loss on unnecessary pitching changes or playing it by the book/binder.

I personally didn’t agree with the hyper-criticism most of the time. It isn’t going to accomplish anything. In 2009, Girardi was praised for moving Derek Jeter from the two-hole to the leadoff spot. This season, fans constantly complained about getting Jeter out of the spot, blaming Girardi and not Jeter’s problems at the plate.

Winning a World Series, followed by a trip to the ALCS is an excellent track record by my standards. Does that mean I agree with every move Joe Girardi made? No, it doesn’t. There are always going to be questionable moves, particularly when it comes to being the skipper of the New York Yankees.

It would be one thing if Girardi was lazy and his decisions were effortless, but that is not the case. Girardi wants to win as much as any fan or player. Girardi treats all the players fairly, not asking them to do anything he has not done or would not do himself. I trust him as a skipper, but more importantly as a person.

Being used to Joe Torre’s laid-back mannerism for so many years, it was hard to let go and move on. Torre’s shoes were the hardest to fill in baseball in 2007, no matter who replaced him.

Joe Girardi has brought the Yankees back to the forefront of baseball again. The team hasn’t been this fun to watch since 1998, because Girardi believes in every single player and truly wants him to succeed. This is a sentiment Torre did not share as Yankee fans learned from his book, which is not a quality characteristic in a manager, or any leader, for that matter.

Girardi isn’t perfect, but find me a better man more suitable for the Yankees. As of today, Joe Girardi is the right man for this job and I am happy he is around for three more seasons. I am looking forward to seeing  numbers 28, 29 and, god-willing, 30 on the back of his jersey.

Congratulations on a job well done!!!

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With the New York Yankees and manager Joe Girardi having ironed out a new three-year deal, general manager Brian Cashman can focus on finding a pitching coach. After firing Dave Eiland, the Yankees priority will be to find his replacement.

It appears Cashman and Girardi will have options as they begin their search. A handful of names have been mentioned as possibilities, some with ties to Girardi and others with plenty of experience.

Three in-house options will likely be considered.

Mike Harkey could be promoted from his current role as bullpen coach. Harkey was a member of Girardi’s coaching staff in Florida in 2006 and came with him to the Yankees in 2008.  In between those jobs, Harkey was the pitching coach for the Iowa Cubs, a minor league team. The former major league pitcher filled in for former Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland this year when Eiland left the team for personal reasons.

Harkey appeared in 131 games and ended his injury riddled career with an even 36-36 record and 4.49 ERA. A former first round pick, Harkey pitched for the Chicago Cubs, the Colorado Rockies, the Oakland A’s, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and Los Angeles Dodgers throughout his career.

Triple-A pitching coach Scott Aldred is another option. Aldred has been coaching in the Yankees minor league system since 2007. He was the Trenton Thunder pitching coach in 2007 and 2008 before being moved up to Triple-A in 2009. 

Find out the other candidates and continue this article at Double G Sports.

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There was little drama to the negotiations that led to the three-year contract extension Joe Girardi reportedly agreed to with the Yankees on Thursday.

It kind of makes all the second-half speculation about Girardi’s future seem a bit silly in retrospect. I’m not innocent—on more than one occasion I joked that Girardi did postgame interviews this summer while looking over blueprints of Wrigley Field’s manager’s office.

As it turned out, the rumors tying the manager to his hometown Cubs turned out to be a lot of loose-ended chatter. The Yankees wanted Girardi and Girardi wanted the Yankees. An agreement was inevitable.

I would say “collective shrug” is the best way to describe how the fanbase feels about Girardi’s return. Whether it be a little post-Torre hangover or a personality so tightly-wound that Tony Pena is contractually obligated to do daily checks for a massive stroke, it’s clear Girardi will never be the fan favorite his predecessor was.

Perhaps it’s not fair to compare the two. Torre was the ultimate example of right guy, right place, right time. He took the job at a later stage in his life and fully embraced the spotlight—some would say he craved it—and he knew exactly how to handle both the media and George Steinbrenner.

On the strength of four World Series titles in five years, Torre became an icon in New York. He’s on the Mount Rushmore of Yankee managers, his bulbous nose carved into stone alongside Miller Huggins, Casey Stengel and a two-thirds-in-the-bag Billy Martin.

Girardi and Torre are polar opposites in some ways. Where as Torre had to be poked with a stick just to see if he was alive on the bench, Girardi stands firmly at attention, always focused and alert. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him sitting down.

And while one of Torre’s strengths was the easy-going nature in which he handled both streaks and slumps, every loss seems to destroy a little piece of Girardi. By the end of this season he looked like he had been in a POW camp for a decade.

The final three years of the Torre era started to seem like Groundhog Day, with 95-win teams going out quietly in the ALDS. Girardi’s first three years have each been distinct.

Year One was all about transition, not just from the managerial sense, but in the bridge from the Giambi/Mussina Era to the Teixeira/Sabathia Era. The Yankees failed to make the postseason for the first time in 13 years in 2008, but Girardi escaped any real blame.

Year Two brought real expectations, and Girardi’s job seemed to be in danger when a team buoyed by $400 million in free-agent acquisitions was struggling to stay above .500 in June. Luckily for Girardi, the Yankees snapped out of their early funk and started a roll that culminated with a World Series title.

Year Three returned the Yankees to the familiar post-dynasty ground of postseason failure, though I think most fans agree that just getting to Game 6 of the ALCS was a small achievement considering the gaping holes in the roster. Thanks Cash!

That the Yankees gave Girardi three years tells you a lot about the faith they have in him. This could be another difficult transition year, but barring a Spitzer-esque meltdown, the Yankees will put their trust in Girardi to guide them.

And while his in-game managing skills sometimes make you want to beat him over the head with his own beloved binder, there is a reassuring way to how he carries himself: Steady, disciplined and relentlessly focused. In a time where many aspects of the franchise are up in the air, there’s something to be said for that.

Dan Hanzus writes the Yankees blog River & Sunset and can be reached at dhanzus@gmail.com. Follow Dan on Twitter @danhanzus.

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Hello there! Perhaps you recognize me? You’ll often see Joe Girardi, manager of the New York Yankees, bent over me in the team’s dugout, flipping through my pages and perusing my invaluable information.

You know, they say experience is the teacher of all things. That’s what Joe has me for. I hold all the past experience he requires to make the appropriate decisions regarding various game situations, such as who should bat against who and who he should bring in from the bullpen in certain situations.

Who cares if information ascertained in the midst of summer heat is not necessarily applicable in the midst of the October chill of the pressure-packed playoffs?

My repeated counsels to Girardi to put David Robertson in the game has become a topic of much derision.

What! must I hold a candle to my shames?

Truth is truth to the end of reckoning. Putting Robertson in was not a sin! Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful. Fortune, which has a great deal of power in other matters but especially in baseball, can bring about great changes in a situation through very slight forces.

It matters not that Robertson pitched to a 20.25 ERA in his four appearances, bad fortune does not make a decision incorrect. In hindsight, those of less knowledge can strike forth at me for if to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men’s cottages princes’ palaces.

Now all blame for this appalling defeat falls on my shoulders, a binder who spent his formative years on the shelves at Oxford!

Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit and lost without deserving. So now I have borne this reputation of evil without deserving.

Still have I borne it with an ancient shrug, for sufferance is the badge of all our tribe. You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog and spit upon my binding. And all for use of that which is mine own.

How am I then a villain. To counsel Girardi to this parallel course, directly to his good?

Of course my pages contained no common sense. It said nothing of the fact that Dustin Moseley had pitched two no-hit innings against the Rangers in Game 1, striking out four in the process.

A fatal flaw indeed!

To be a slave to reason and unfettered by the better parts of passion is a curse of binders, as we are a most academic lot.

I, who am not shaped for sportive tricks, nor made to court an amorous looking-glass; I, that am rudely stamped, and want love’s majesty to strut before a wanton ambling nymph; I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion, cheated of feature by dissembling nature, deformed, unfinished, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up, and that so lamely and unfashionable that dogs bark at me as I’m placed before them.

Who am I kidding? This heinous defeat is all my fault!

My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, and every tongue brings in a several tale and every tale condemns me for a villain.

I shall despair. There is no creature loves me; and if I die, no soul will pity me: nay, wherefore should they, since that I myself find in myself no pity to myself?

I pray you, in your letters, when you shall these unlucky deeds relate, speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice: then, must you speak of one that advised not wisely but too well.

The die is cast.

Demand me nothing: what you know, you know: from this time forth I never will speak word.

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According to a source on ESPN, Joe Girardi and the New York Yankees have reached agreement on a three-year contract that will pay him $3 million per season with a $500,000 bonus for winning the World Series.

According to the report, Girardi never even considered joining the Cubs as manager. He apparently told Yanks’ GM Brian Cashman in August that he wouldn’t leave such a good thing in New York for Chicago, despite this being his home.

Unofficially, my sources tell me that Jim Hendry was never interested in Girardi anyway, but that owner Tom Ricketts wanted Hendry to hold off on a manager until Girardi was officially free to discuss the opening with other teams.

But the Cubs got word through back channels that Girardi wasn’t coming to the Cubs, even if the Bombers didn’t bring him back. And Ricketts didn’t want to be used as negotiating leverage for Girardi.

So the Cubs went ahead and named Mike Quade as their manager and Girardi will be returning to New York as expected.

There are those in New York who maligned Girardi for his misuse of the bullpen and his strategies. One such decision that drew the fans’ ire occurred late in the season when he decided to rest several veterans in a pivotal game against the Rays.

But while many Bronx fans are mixed in their support of Girardi, he was the top choice of many Cubs fans.  However, that interest was never reciprocated by Girardi, despite rampant speculation to the contrary.

Girardi won the World Series in 2009 with the Yankees, after ending his stint with the Marlins as NL Manager of the Year in a dispute with Florida ownership. His record in three season with the Yankees is 287-199.

Hendry, meanwhile, never had interest in Ryne Sandberg as a Major League manager, either. His first choice was Freddi Gonzalez, who declined to interview because he knew he was taking over for the retiring Bobby Cox in Atlanta.

In the end, perhaps it was destiny for Chicago to have another Coach Q.

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Not to sound awkward, but it’s a good thing George Steinbrenner wasn’t here to witness the disintegration of his New York Yankees.

And not just in the ALCS—They looked off their game more or less since September. 

In fact, if not for the catastrophic injuries to the Red Sox this year, they may not have made it to the playoffs at all. 

The Core Four (Jeter, Rivera, Posada, Pettitte) and Alex Rodriguez will all be past their mid-30s next year. If they hope to return to contention and win a title, there are (at least) five issues they need to tackle.

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In the end, the Rangers were simply better than the Yankees in every facet of the game.

During the six games of the American League Championship Series, Texas outscored New York, 38-19, outhit the Bombers, .304 to .201, and outpitched them, 3.06 to 6.58 in the ERA category.

The Yanks were also outmanaged.

New York was the highest-scoring team in baseball this year and had the third-most home runs, but Joe Girardi’s resistance to using small ball sent the Bombers into offensive droughts when the homers stopped coming.

The Yankees ranked just eighth in the American League in steals and sac flies and 11th in sacrifice hits.

The downfall of station-to-station baseball was never more evident than in the ALCS, when the Rangers stole nine bases and laid down three sacrifice bunts, while the Yanks stole only two bags and had just one sac bunt.

But Girardi’s biggest blunder came when he pulled Phil Hughes during the fifth inning of Game 6. The right-hander had just surrendered a two-run double to Vladimir Guerrero, but he was still pitching well.

At the time he was taken out, Hughes had allowed three runs on four hits and two unintentional walks with three strikeouts over 4.2 frames.

He had thrown only 83 pitches and retired 12 of the previous 18 batters he had faced, with two of those six men reaching via intentional walks.

This was a complete panic move by Girardi, who bought into the myth that you have to immediately pull your starter at the first sign of trouble in an elimination game.

So with the season on the line and 16 outs for the bullpen to get, did the manager go to Mariano Rivera (who he had been saving all series allegedly for this very spot) or Kerry Wood or even CC Sabathia? No, he went to David Robertson, who yielded five runs in one-third of an inning in Game 3.

Girardi brought the right-hander in to face Nelson Cruz, who smacked a two-run single off Robertson in Game 3, and the outfielder quickly put Game 6 on ice with a 425-foot two-run blast.

What’s even more confounding is that the skipper brought in Wood to pitch the sixth. If Wood is allowed to pitch as early as the sixth and he’s been better than Robertson over the prior two months, why not bring in Wood in the fifth?

Because that’s not allowed.

Managers must follow a strict regimen that dictates that you have to bring in your middle reliever first, then your setup man, and then your closer, even if your season is on the line in the fifth inning, not the ninth.

This is why, despite Girardi’s bonehead decision, I’m not calling for his head. Because, after all, who would replace him?

Joe Torre made the same mistakes, so I was excited when Girardi, a small ball manager with the Marlins, came over to replace him. But the new Joe fell into the same patterns as the old one.

There are only a few managers in baseball these days that have the guts to think outside the box, and since Joe Maddon, Mike Scioscia and Ozzie Guillen are all currently employed, the Yankees can’t really do anything but bring Girardi back. After all, he did help lead the team to a World Series title last year.

You just have to hope he learns from his mistakes.

Follow me on Twitter at JordanHarrison. Jordan Schwartz is one of Bleacher Report’s New York Yankees and College Basketball Featured Columnists. His book Memoirs of the Unaccomplished Man is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and authorhouse.com. Jordan can be reached at jordanschwartz2003@yahoo.com

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