Today in The Journal News
-
- September
- 30
Joe Girardi wrapped up the season and said that improving the rotation was a priority.
——————
I mentioned this in a sidebar I wrote for today’s paper: The Yankees should look into hiring Don Baylor as the bench coach.
Baylor was a successful big leaguer who has many years of experience as a manager and coach. He also has a prior relationship with Girardi, having managed him when both were with the Rockies. He also has experience in New York as a coach with the Mets and a player with the Yankees.
Make Baylor the bench coach and move Rob Thomson to third base in place of Bobby Meacham. Baylor would be a presence in the clubhouse, an enforcer type and give Girardi a veteran baseball man to lean on for advice. Girardi has said several times in recent days that he made mistakes and needs to improve.
Give him somebody to learn from. Baylor, or somebody like him, would improve the staff.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 2:53 am by Peter Abraham.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Share and Enjoy: 
| 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Peter Abraham
Baylor is not a bad choice. I wouldn’t mind seeing Willie Randolph coaching 3rd either.
Willie
willie
In the short run, I don’t see optimisic side for Yankees.
Simply put, the rule of pay-off competition should be reviewed, just like Hank said.
Otherwise, we need to change to Central Division.
1. Willie was a good second banana to Joe T, but would he be able to/would he want to be second banana to Joe Girardi after coaching the Mets? IMO, no. Ditto all the talk about bringing Willie back at 3d.
2. It’s not good for the clubhouse if media/fans and maybe even some players see a potential power struggle between the skipper and the bench coach. At the first losing streak, it will start: When will they fire Joe and make Willie the Skipper?
Giradi is 100 percent correct . .WE NEED PITCHING !
CC , Burnett , Sheets . i don’t care who !! . .
Imagine thise
1- Wang
2- CC or Burnett
3- Joba
Thats a pretty good 1 2 3
In other words, a guy who can take over when your boy Joe is fired in May. Gotcha.
Why do all writers believe they can make better informed decisions over a seasoned manager, general managers, or exoerienced former major or minor league baseball players? It it wise for the inexperienced or uninformed to withhold judgement over those with more knowledge and/or experience.
Our bench coach wasn’t the problem.
Injuries to Wanger, Joba, Andy, Hughes, and whomever.
Our second basemen needs to consistently play with intensity.
Outfield needs athletes who can go get the ball and consistently hit with RISP.
1st base was a defensive hole.
I believe in our lying, deceitful, disengenuous, untruthful, misleading, factually inaccurate manager.
You do realize that none of this “presence/enforcer” stuff actually affects baseball games. Either the manager, with the help of his bench coach, makes good in-game decisions or he doesn’t.
Joe Torre’s coaching staff was perfect.
Get Bowa back.
Thanks.
Minus Guidry and Donnie.
Bowa 3B, Pena 1B, Pitching Eiland, Hitting Long, Bench Willie Randolph
And pay them well!
I like this idea. Certainly a mannequin would be an upgrade in the 3B coaching box. Willie at 3B and Baylor in the dugout might give Girardi the experience he needs. An inexperienced manager should have some guys around him who have seen/done more. It makes sense.
Obviously there are others who could fill those slots, but those are two places where the staff could be easily upgraded. Thomson might be better off as a minor league manager.
Why don’t the Yanks get Zimmer back?
i like baylor alot but i dont like the suggestion coming from the guy who’s leading the charge to get girardi fired. looks like you’re lining up his replacement. this year you couldnt really outright call for joe g. to be fired, bc there was nobody there to take over as an interrim manager. now you say put baylor on the bench and then next yr when you start you fire joe g. campaign anew, you can argue that baylor is there and experienced and ready to take over.
i’d do it b/c im confident in joe g. but the suggestion coming from you is hard to take
Whoever thinks they could get Bowa is nuts. He is mad at the Yanks and is very loyal to Joe T. I’d love him back but forget Larry he isn’t coming.
I think Meacham has to go he ran em when he shouldn’t have and held em when he shouldn’t have so its a real problem not just a matter of saying be more aggressive or conservative. He just does not have good judgement in that spot and we can’t afford another year of him in that spot. I would like to see Willie at 3rd he’s proven and understands the Yankees.
As for Baylor I think the Yanks may need a hammer like Don and a loosen up guy in the Zimmer mold. This team is wound tight and with the Big G gone that is one more key aspect of the clubhouse that is likely leaving. I am not sure who could fill that role but this team needs to function more like a team. It’s no accident some young teams succeed when they can build a fun environment (founded on talent of course)...see the Rays, Twins.
If Joe G can’t see the issues then he can’t lead this group. I like him but self analysis and loyalty to the players and fans has to take priority over loyalty to his coaches. My fear is that Joe G is too proud and stubborn and thinks he can overcome it.
My 2 cents.
Posada being back will do more for the clubhouse than any coach could.
Bowa should have been coaching here in the first place.
Bring Willie back for 3rd
And I wish Posada would shut his damn mouth and if wanted to be such a clubhouse guy, begin to learn to play 1B. If I have to hear him one more time in an interview adamantly say he is a catcher, I am going to throw up.
Joba’s shoulder again:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09302008/sports/yankees/jobas_shoulder_bears_watching_131318.htm
For the second time inside of two months, Joba Chamberlain Joba Chamberlain experienced discomfort in his valuable right shoulder Sunday at Fenway Park.
According to several people, Chamberlain said the shoulder was tight after exiting the first game of the doubleheader against the Red Sox when he walked Jason Bay and gave up a ground-rule double to Mark Kotsay in the eighth inning.
http://www.nysun.com/sports/martinez-mussina-exits-may-mark-end-of-an-era/86840/
if its true about Joba’s shoulder, i guess now we understand why he wasnt assigned to fall or winter league ball to log some innings.
i also think if this persists, we’ll see the best setup man in baseball retake his throne.
Baylor played three seasons with the Yankees too.
“Baylor played three seasons with the Yankees too.”
All I remember from Baylor’s days as a Yankee is him getting hit on left shoulder at every other at bat and not even flinching or rubbing it.
Now imagine this. Yankees have Johan and are going hard after cc. Any guesses about what the ever so lovely Joel Sherman would say? The rich getting richer?, Two aces?, WE NEED A SALARY CAP? Perhaps?
But here he is advocating for the Mets to go hard after CC and NOT let the Yankees win.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09302008/sports/mets/to_clean_amazin_mess__take_a_sabathia_131343.htm?&page=0
I want this lineup: Hudson, Jeter, Nady, ARod, Tex, Posada, Matsui, Kemp, Gardner.
This rotation: Wang, Burnett, Joba, Pettitte, Moose.
Make it happen, snap snap.
There is a below zero chance that the Mets get CC.
Willie
I want something like this roster next year:
Starting lineup:
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Kotchman 1B
Nady RF
Cano 2B
Gardner CF
Bench: Molina, Ransom, Cabrera/Christian, Miranda
Rotation:
Sabathia
Wang
Burnett
Pettitte/Moose
Chamberlain
Bullpen:
Rivera
Melancon
Marte
Bruney
Coke
Veras/Ramirez
Aceves/Giese
Thoughts?
Is this guy crazy?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/sports/baseball/30sandomir.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin
Wouldn’t mind Baylor but Willie would be a better choice
thankful NYY doesn’t have Santana and CC.
IMO, there is no reward when you buy a championship.
If we had won the WS in 2003/2004, it wouldn’t really mean much. Not to me, at least.
Don Baylor and Willie Randolph are good choices but Rob Thomson is highly thought of in the organization and could be moved as chief major league scout.
i do not like this joba injury news.
he should be put in the pen.
trade cano for a pitcher,prospects for a center fielder,prospects for a first baseman,sign 2 fa pitchers,try to keep hughes.
i wouldn’t sign tex ,sabathia,burnett or sheets.
Willie was not a good 3rd base coach when he was here. He drove a lot of fans crazy with his “windmill arms” at 3rd base. If Willie were to come back as a coach I would put him at 1st and Tony Pena at 3rd.
From that article Rishi provided the link for:
As I watched on SNY, I got the sense that the Mets did what the Yankees did not during their sloppy, not-very-creative farewell to Yankee Stadium on Sept. 21. By refusing to be Yankee-stately, the Mets did far better. The music was well chosen and continuous. The decidedly mixed bag of players (imagine the Yankees bringing back a George Theodore equivalent) that came together like a long-hoped-for family reunion had something to do besides stand around and wave; by touching home plate, with their feet or hands, they offered a kind of mass benediction to the old joint.
By high-fiving fans as they walked in from the bullpens, they created an immediate sense of community.
What?
See, as I watched on SNY..I got the sense that the Mets were nuts. Oh well
No Windmill Willie at 3rd
I watched about 1 minute of the Mets Ceromony and I thought it was horrible. Was that writer on drugs when he watched it. I thought what Jeter and the players did was very cool. Where were the Mets players when their Ceromony was going on? I heard no one was watching it. In fact I heard the tv camera didn’t show them at all. Our guys were all watching it. Even Moose was sitting on top of the dug out watching it. Yankees are a top notch class organization. The mets are what they are, a second class Org.
That writer needs to schedule a trip to Bellevue. STAT
i watched the back half of the mets celebration of Shea, and thought it was better than yankees stadium.
it was more focused on the field and the moments at shea, rather than holding a lesser old timers’ day. that was the right way to do it.
and those “ghosts” of the first ever yankees team to take the field there was stupid. i dont think you can really argue that.
“The mets are what they are, a second class Org. :)”
That’s being very generous of you Jennifer.
I agree that the 3rd base coach needs to change! I don’t know enough about what the bench coach brought to the table last year so I can not suggest anything for him. After a season of not making the playoffs after 13 straight years, to say the coaching staff is perfect and no changes but the pitching needs to change is hubris to the max!!!!!! Everything should be on the table for change to make the club better!!
“it was more focused on the field and the moments at shea, rather than holding a lesser old timers’ day. that was the right way to do it.”
Not for nothing, a ballpark is only as special as the guys who play in it. The Yankees focused on the players, who made the stadium great. The Mets have only had a small handful of great players in their organization. They had no choice but to focus on that piece of crap stadium.
Cano isn’t going anywhere. He had three seasons hitting over .300, and this year ending at .270. Yes he has to play with a bit more intensity but i dont think one down season should get him outcasted.
I like the Baylor idea too. I think the yankees need an experiences hardass.
If Joba’s shoulder is hurt again, perhaps posada is right. put him in the pen and groom him to replace rivera when he retires. he can be an amazing closer.
Thomas,
Coaching is obviously important. But there’s no clear need to make drastic changes to the coaching staff, whereas the rotation is a red flag.
Also, please look up “hubris” in the dictionary.
This 660 am NY is funny…
I don’t know how you can argue a playoff team losing in the playoffs is worse than a garbage team not making the playoffs.
In reading that above article about Joba, it really didn’t sound like something for major concern. His shoulder was tight. That is somewhat normal for him to experience after pitching as a starter, shutting down for a month, then throwing only as a reliever. The weather didn’t help either.
Seems like people will make a lot out of nothing.
“Not for nothing, a ballpark is only as special as the guys who play in it. The Yankees focused on the players, who made the stadium great.”
understandable, but they do that every July for Old Timers’ Day.
this celebration was supposed to be about the stadium, not the players. they fouled up. it was still a nice ceremony, but i think they missed an opportunity to make it great.
“it was still a nice ceremony, but i think they missed an opportunity to make it great.”
What would you have done TurnTwo?
Also, lets not forget that there is still a ceremony scheduled in November. Maybe the Yankees figured they would celebrate the players now while the fans are in the stadium and the stadium in November.
Also, the Mets are tearing down their garbage stadium in like a week and replacing it with new garbage. Have you seen that Sh*tty Field?!
1. Pete – The idea about Don Baylor sounds good. Any idea how Rob Thomson would do as 3B coach?
2. As I recall reading in the press at the time, Dr. James Andrews, after examining Joba and the MRI of Joba’s shoulder this past August, said that there was nothing to be concerned about long term, and that there was nothing that should impact his career. This was according to the Yankees and Joba at the time.
But what does this Dr. Andrews know? It’s not like he’s an expert in sports medicine or anything.
Before this season started I was hoping that either Baylor or Pena would be bench coach. It was a mistake putting an inexperienced (at game strategy) guy in there with an inexperienced manager.
Willie is still getting paid by the Mets. Any job that he takes now, it lessens the Mets financial obligation to him.
Its highly unlikely Willie is going to be down with that. Nor should he be.
Plus, having him on the staff creates more problems than solutions.
Filling out a coaching staff is not about putting as many popular, Ex-Yankees as possible. Its about putting together the best staff possible.
Willie’s best play is to continue to take the Wilpon’s money until it runs out after next season. Then, he can examine the landscape and see what he wants to do with the rest of his career.
Don Baylor? That’s one good choice. There will be other guys available in the coming months.
Raffy Chaves got fired by the Mariners last year and nobody gave him any consideration for another pitching coach position at the major league level.
The Yankees (smartly) hired him to coach at Scranton and he did a great job.
The moral of the story is, patience needs to be exercised here. Wait it out, see who is available, and then remake the coaching staff.
No reason to rush into anything right now.
I don’t know enough about Baylor to know if he’s the guy, but I think I know enough about Willie to know that he is probably not. Willie was seething with injustice before, feeling he was too good to be a base coach—imagine now.
I do think that the smart novice Girardi needs some guys with a level of experience that he will have to listen to when his brain starts spitting out ideas that his own experience is not adequate to fully evaluate. Guys with enough success behind them that they do not owe him their biggest career move. As I said before, it doesn’t make sense to back up inexperience with more inexperience. Give him a couple of guys for whom this is not their first rodeo. Even if he doesn’t think he needs them. Put Thompson back to crunching stats where he came from, and send Meacham away.
Girardi can learn. He’s smart and he’s ambitious. But who does he have to learn from?
Hahahaha that guy was soo right! Jose Reyes should be dancing on a stage. The Yanks have spent 1.30something billion and not won a championship from 2001 to present. Lets add up the money the Mets have spent since 1987 forward and not include 13 consecutive playoff appearances. Now who’s garbage?
“Have you seen that Sh*tty Field?!”
actually, it looks really good.
i get the ‘hate the mets’ thing, but not everything about them is bad, evil, awful, pathetic, second class, etc.
“actually, it looks really good.
i get the ‘hate the mets’ thing, but not everything about them is bad, evil, awful, pathetic, second class, etc.”
Well that’s a taste thing… I think its nasty look. Bland, terribly ugly looking facade. Girlfriend, Mets fan her whole life, agrees. You don’t need to be a Yankee fan to admit Sh*tty Field is pretty damn Sh*tty looking.
“1.30something billion and not won a championship from 2001 to present.”
“Pierzynski is a jerk, maybe that’s why we need him”
Say what? lol
Sorry, ur right Fredo.
Jeremy:
“Hubris, sometimes spelled hybris (ancient Greek ὕβÏις), is a term used in modern English to indicate overweening pride, self-confidence, superciliousness, or arrogance, often resulting in fatal retribution.”
Arrogance is what Girardi is with respect to this issue. Changing the 3rd base is not drastic! Torre changed coaches every once in a while, not the whole staff but one here and one there. After the season we had don’t you think there is some blame on the coaching staff, along with the players?? Did you watch the 3rd base coach send many runners to unnecessary outs at home?? I watched many games and there needs to be a change there! The least he could have said was, we will look at all options to have this team make the playoffs next year, players, coaches, staff, everything will be looked into in order to accomplish this goal!
“Well that’s a taste thing… I think its nasty look. Bland, terribly ugly looking facade.”
its a throwback to Ebbet’s Field. i guess if you dont like the old-school feel, then you arent goin to like the new stadium. that i can understand.
Either way, its asenine to argue how much the Yanks have spent since they havent had a championship. 86 years of Red Sox losses since their championship adds up to a whole lot too. Same goes with most every other team. They have made a huge argument out of nothing.
Well, for the Mets who couldn’t be there either due to other commitments or, well, having died, they put up cardboard poster-type things on the field. So, it wasn’t as eerie as the “field of dreams” thing.
If the Yankees trotted out every player a la George Theodore, who’d ever played for them, we’d still be watching the ceremony.
The Mets had far less to celebrate in terms of their history than the Yankees did.
I did like the way the old players entered at Shea, with the opportunity to interact with fans. I thought that was well done.
But it really went nowhere.
The end was cool with Seaver (HOF) throwing a pitch to Piazza (future HOF), and then closing the outfield doors at the end. Nice touch.
But the Yankees have innumerable Hall of Famers. The Mets have one, and probably a second in Piazza.
Apples and Oranges.
Could the Yankees have done some things different? Perhaps.
As far as the current players go, well, frankly, they had just blown up their season. To put them on the field, or for any of them to make an appearance would have put quite a damper on the ceremonies. In my mind it was a huge tactical error to plan that ceremony for after the game. If they’d had it before the game, I think the current players are all out there.
“its a throwback to Ebbet’s Field. i guess if you dont like the old-school feel, then you arent goin to like the new stadium. that i can understand.”
I know what Ebbets Field looks like and that facade is better. I’ve been to Shea and seen Citi Field up close and know what the final picture is supposed to look like. It looks nothing like Yankee Stadium which looks soo much better.
Now I’m just talking about the facade but still. Ebbets field had a colonial look. Like staring at a colonial house from the front. Citi Field is more like a fence with huge holes.
Yankee Staidum doesnt have those huge nasty openings. And those nasty openings dont look good with bricks.
What about Willie Randolph as the bench coach or if he’d be willing make him the 3rd base coach