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October 21, 2007

Steins Prefer Donnie

From George King -

The Steinbrenner family's top choice to follow Joe Torre will be the first person interviewed for the vacant Yankees' manager's job.

Don Mattingly will meet with Yankees brass this week in Tampa, Fla., to talk about replacing Torre.

"Nothing [has been] discussed other than a mid-week timetable," said Mattingly's representative, Ray Schulte.

Though the team will interview other candidates - Joe Girardi and Tony Pena have been told they are on the list - George Steinbrenner and sons Hal and Hank want Mattingly to be the next Yankees manager, according to Tampa whispers. Yet there is a possibility voices with more baseball experience could sway Steinbrenner III with solid arguments.

"It will be done together [as an organization]," GM Brian Cashman said when asked if the Steinbrenners will solely do the hiring of Torre's successor.

Part of me feels like the Yankees are missing a golden opportunity here. They have a clean slate in terms of the manager's position now. It's time to get creative. It's time to have an intense search and find the perfect manager. Leave no stone unturned. Look at the obvious choices and look at those not so obvious names as well. To just quickly rebound and go back into play with Mattingly seems like the non-thinking and uncreative choice to me.

Why not take advantage of this window and do the right thing - and then if Mattingly is the right guy in the end, so be it?

If this rush is just to get the public/media to quiet down, and perhaps satisfy A-Rod/Boras in terms of allowing them to know the Yankees situation before his opt-out call, it's wrong. Take the hit on the short-term to get it right for the long-term.

It's what the Yankees have down lately with their prospects. Why not apply the same approach here as well?

Posted by Steve Lombardi at October 21, 2007 08:46 AM

Comments

>> To just quickly rebound and go back into play with Mattingly seems like the non-thinking and uncreative choice to me. >>

Exactly what I was thinking - I think the Steinbrenners *think* that bringing in Mattingly is going to make the fans forget about Torre. If anything, he'll probably do more to *remind* us all of Joe...

Posted by: Pete [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 21, 2007 09:21 AM

Well, the two "obvious" candidates were Girardi & Mattingly, so it should come as no surprise if one of them were to be chosen.

Posted by: Raf [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 21, 2007 10:29 AM