Today in the Journal News
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Feb 25, 2008 
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Alex Rodriguez lost some of the people from his inner circle and will have to change his routine this season.
LaTroy Hawkins has impressed Joe Girardi. This notebook also has word on a BP near-miss and some pitching plans.
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If you missed it on Sunday, check out the Joe Girardi story that looks into how he developed his style as a manager.
Nice little story, Pete. Please do an update down the road.
With Hawkins looking good in camp, and Brad Lidge down with arthroscopic knee surgery for 3-6 weeks, I wonder if the Phillies would want to take a flyer on Farnsworth to fill out their bullpen a little.
“Comfort Zone Hotel, Casino and Theme Park”
Great line Pete.
“I believe in working hard and getting in the best condition will help win games,” he said during a recent interview in his office”
much of the focus for 2008 has been on bringing in the young arms of the big three of hughes,joba,and kennedy and an emphasis on keeping young players like cano and cabrera, but i think girardi’s emphasis on conditioning will revitalize the veterans like jeter, abreau,damon, giambi, mussina,and matsui. having all these veteran players in shape is just important as adding young players.
getting more out of the veteran players for a whole season is huge. the yankees came out of spring training in 2007 totally not ready to begin the season. getting into a hole the first month forced them to rush hughes and have to sign clemens and basically have to play like their hair was on fire for the rest of the season to catch up.
by the time the playoffs came, the yankees were spent from having to chase the red sox for far too long. girardi’s approach means the yankees will start the season in shape. there is no guarantee against injuries, but this yankee team should be ready to win games from day one. this should translate into a team that has something left in the tank for a playoff push in the fall.
amen randy.
i think this team is going to bust it right out of the gate and re-assert their dominance in the AL.
there will be hiccups along the way, but the organization is just boiling over with too much talent to not win.
Alex is so hard-working and disciplined. There are other people who may have his level of talent (Miguel Cabrera comes to mind) but they may not have the same level of focus. I hope Melky and Robbie continue to pick up Alex’s positive influence, with that kind of work ethics they have the talent to be the next Arod, especially Robbie.
It actually seems as if the person ARod might miss most is Mientkiewicz. He was a peer, someone he could “just talk to.” That’s the hardest thing to replace – a real friend who is right there, physically.
No wonder he left for lunch at 11:45…Would you give Abraham more quotes to fill stories with pure conjecture (using a healthy dose of sarcasm) as if he has the ability to read your mind?
Then again, if the guy is the reigning MVP, I guess you have to resort to writing about qualitative, speculative things like “the comfort zone.”
Bowa was famous for busting almost everyone’s ass, of course he’d use different tactics for different players.
A-Rod might miss these guys but he’ll still be the best player in baseball.