Dec
09
Joe Girardi press conference
By
Girardi and Media Relations guru Jason Zillo
Pictures by Mike, commentary by Joe
As with most managerial interviews, we didn’t learn a whole ton by listening to Girardi. He did seem loose, though, and took the time to elaborate on all answers. Judging from just this interview, I have a hard time believing he’s not good with the media. Joe’s a friendly guy by all appearances, and I hope he takes this into the season with him. Perhaps the media will be a bit easier on him this time around.
Here are some tidbits we picked up:
- He was very impressed with Ben Sheets after meeting him yesterday. I suppose he’d have to be, considering the Yankees plan to offer him between $26 and $30 million.
- On CC, he says that the lefty is still trying to figure out the whole situation. Girardi then went on to talk about his own transition to New York after the 1995 season, noting that while he wasn’t getting nearly the money or years offered to Sabathia, he could understand what the free agent is going through.
- On Andy Pettitte, he said that both parties are interested in bringing him back. But: “There’s a process that has to take place.” Emphasis mine. It seems that line is bandied about frequently regarding Pettitte. Now that we know the team’s offer is $10 million, it seems that “process” means “convincing him to take a paycut.”
- On the coaching staff: They won’t take long to mesh. He noted that Mick Kelleher has been around Spring Training for a few years, and everyone’s familiar with him. Other than that, the staff remains basically the same, save for a few minor moves.
- On Hideki Matsui: Girardi sees him as a fourth outfielder as well as DH. I wonder if that changes as they get further into workouts. Clearly, Hideki is more valuable as a full-time DH if that means he can stay healthy. It’s a huge risk if they play him in the outfield with any regularity.
Update by Mike (5:00pm): Forgot to mention this, but Girardi said that Posada’s rehab was going fine. He’s throwing from 60 feet and is on schedule.
121 Comments»
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Did you guys ask any questions?
Nah. I wanted to ask him what the plan for Hughes and Kennedy was, but I chickened out. He’s a scary mofo.
Oh, and Dusty Baker is jacked. I will never criticize him for Mark Prior again.
http://www.akrondesign.com/Ani.....hicken.jpg
http://www.guajome.net/sites/b.....dcanna.jpg
Nice.
I was hoping someone else would get that or I would’ve felt like a total dork.
lol – pretty much any O’Keefe would serve…
http://www.cs.nsw.gov.au/cance...../Vulva.jpg
Sorry dude had to do it. Congrats on being there. And thank you for all the info.
Yeah, that wasn’t cool. All the St. Louis beat writers sitting behind me just saw me open that up.
You know, the name of the link should’ve given you some pause
who cares? St. Louis sucks.
Sorry bro – I’ll buy you a t-shirt to make up for it:
http://www.zazzle.com/vagitari.....6796971415
You guys sporting the “save the big three” t-shirts?
Nah, we have to look “professional.” We’re wearing shirts with “collars” that are “tucked in” to our “dress pants.” It sucks.
Haha
Always try to keep the “big three” in quotes… I’ll lay off.
I beat you to that one.
And I got points for subtlety.
And being a geek who knows art.
/lame brag.
Girardi has always been a huge Ben Sheets fan. Kay mentions it frequently on his radio show. As a former catcher, I’d say he knows a good pitcher when he sees one.
He mentioned that he hated facing him as a player. Can’t imagine why…
ahhhh . . . .so thats why he batted .130 in 2003 and quit baseball at the end of that season.
Jorge Posada thinks Joba should be in the pen. Should we listen to him because he’s a catcher?
Don’t get me wrong I like Ben Sheets a lot but just because Girardi–and his status as a former catcher– says he likes Sheets isn’t reason enough to sign him.
Right, they should sign pitchers they don’t like. Gotcha.
Did I say that…?
I’m just saying that Girardi’s “liking” a guy isn’t reason A#1 to sign him.
Girardi liking a guy might be a great reason to sign the guy as a manager, but not Girardi liking a guy because he’s a former catcher.
You want Ben Sheets to manage the team?
Pitching coach, he could teach Hughes a thing or two
Um, what? Girardi is the manager, Posada is not.
I love Jorge but I don’t see him going into managing a few years after he hangs it up.
“process” means “convincing him to take a paycut.”
Considering the way he pitched last season (6+ ERA after the All Star break) and who he is at this point of his career (a 4-5 starter, no longer a #2) 10 mil is actually pretty generous. In this market, he’d be lucky to get 6-8 mil per season.
Girardi is being interviewed right now on CBS radio 88 AM in NY.
Suzyn Waldman is doing a hot stove show.
John Sterling is on.
Wwwhoah!
Sweeny Murti says Cash canceled his meeting with the beat writers to meet with a player in a separate venue.
Please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets, please be Ben Sheets
Yeah, Epstein and Jim Bowden did the same.
Yeah for their private sexual thing they have going on… Cash is going to get some business done! I’m convinced!
Could it mean signing Sheets. I sure hope so and we can pull out of the Burnett sweepstakes.
go big or go home i hope its tex
I wish but I doubt it. Yankees are either tryin to get Tex or CC, not both, although I wish they did.
No word on who it is but its either AJ LOWE OR SHEETS. They didn’t mention CC but expect the unexpected.
hmm.
well, while Sheets would kind of make sense due to the news from this evening that has come out, lets break this down…
Theo = Boston
Bowden = DC, right?
what player are the Yanks, Saux, and Gnats all interested in?
Teixeira.
makes the most sense. and word has it he wants to get signed very soon… maybe a final roll call… only team missing is the Angels.
Who says he wants to sign soon? He’s a Boras client, and will wait for CC in hopes that Angels/Sox/Yanks get desperate and go 10/200.
read about it somewhere else today. i’ll try to find the link or the story.
here you go… from Pete Abe:
Angels: They have prioritized Mark Teixeira but could make Sabathia an offer if only to drive the Teixeira process. Teixeira, according to Torii Hunter, is having trouble sleeping and wants to ake a decision soon.
“I talked to him last week,” Hunter said of Teixeira, who grew up in the Baltimore area and played college ball at Georgia Tech. “We didn’t really talk about what’s going on. I know he likes the East Coast, but being in Anaheim, he saw it, he felt it, he knows this organization is A-1. Right now, it’s a pretty tough decision for him.” “Trust me, he’s going through it right now,” Hunter said of Teixeira. “He can’t sleep at night. He’s up at 5 in the morning. It’s pretty rough for him right now.”
Those are Hunter’s exact quotes, so I’d take Pete Abe’s post with a grain of salt.
so that doesnt sound like a player to you who wants to figure this out sooner than later?
to me, the actual quotes lend more legitimacy to PAbe’s little blurb.
didnt say he was going to sign in one place or another… just that Tex seems like he wants to get this process over with quickly.
which goes along with other reports that said he wanted to be signed before Christmas.
But Hunter said they didn’t talk about it. So his words don’t mean a whole lot.
Why is he having trouble sleeping lol ? He is about to get one of the richest contracts in baseball and hes having a hard time. Maybe its because he is sick to his stomach the Yanks are not involved more
I hope the Yanks get CC, Sheets and a returning Pettitte. That would be great for the Yanks rotation.
Brian Sabean said there is no meeting this weekend with Sabathia; false information.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ne.....8;expire=1
Suzyn just said something interesting. She said Robbie Cano said he was “Humiliated” at what happened to him last season, and HE was the one who requested he go down to winter ball to work on some things, not the Yanks.
Girardi replied that he thought the changes Kevin Long made to his swing made a huge difference in the last 3 weeks of the season.
Robbie Cano was Humiliated. I thought lazy players like Cano shouldn’t feel that way.
Cano sometimes smiles. this means it’s impossible that he cares about baseball.
Pedroia has a competitive face on at all times even if the game is a blowout and the sox are winning. Clearly all he cares about is winning and giving his all for the team
You cant spell Dustin Pedroia without team ballplayer
Pedroia = grit
He had a worse offense season than Nick Punto or Alex Cora… so yeah thats a bit embarrassing if your Robbie Cano
Zillo looks like he’s taking a nap in that photo
If you were the Yankees GM and you had to chose three of the five following pitchers. Which ones would you chose?
A. CC 6yrs. 140 million
B. AJ 4-5 yrs. 16 million p/yr.per
C. Lowe 4yrs. 16 million p/yr.
D. Sheets 2yrs. 26 million p/yr.
E. Pettite 1yr. 10- 13 million p/r.
CC, Sheets, and Pettitte.
but if you throw Peavy in the mix, which according to some earlier reports might still be on some sort of life support, id pick him up and let Andy take a hike.
Easy,
CC
Sheets
Pettitte.
A, C, E. Fairly easy too.
Holy shit, caught this way too late. Meant to say a, D, e. Clearly Sheets on a 2 year >>> Lowe on a 4. My bad
that’s it Nady, you’re outta here.
Sorry already had to turn your paper in, FAIL
A, D, E.
Is this a trick question?
CC,Sheets,Pettie assuming that the 26 per year is a typo
CC, AJ, and Sheets
A, B(4w/option), E
I just think there is more of a risk that D doesn’t pitch much next season seeing he couldn’t finish this one.
CC is a given.
Pettitte for 1 year as a back-end guy is also pretty much given.
The next question is the one that’s really going to make or break Cash this year:
Lowe, Burnett, or Sheets?
I don’t take Lowe for 4 years at $16 since he’s, you know, 35 years old.
So that leaves Burnett for 5 years or Sheets for 2 years.
Sheets is the “smart” move since it’s only 2 years, but what if Burnett really HAS turned the corner? Burnett healthy for first 2 years of contract and Sheets on the DL = failure. Simultaneously, if Burnett is the signing and he pulls a Pavano while Sheets goes on to pitch to his career norms while staying healthy, Cash fails hard.
Assuming both choices are failures (for Cash), I take the lesser contract for lesser money. It’s not possible to say that Burnett has a higher chance of staying healthy than Sheets or vice-versa in my honest opinion. Therefore, assuming one of them has to be signed, it has to be Sheets. If he can stay healthy, he’s a better pitcher. Glad I’m not Cash this off season that’s for sure…
Nicely done. Like the way you broke that down.
CC, Sheets, Pettitte.
Don’t be fooled by Lowe’s good numbers, he was lousy the last 2 years he was in the AL East, and pitching in the NL West he doesn’t face a decent lineup for almost half the season with the weighted schedule. Rockies, D-Backs are below average, Giants and Padres are putrid. Look at his stats vs AL teams interleague play. Also, I have trouble believing he’s going to maintain his level of performance at age 36 for 3 more years.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....38;three=1
I could argue for Burnett, but I’d rather give 2 years to an injury prone pitcher than 5 years.
What would it take to get Peavy, would this trade be able to get done without Jackson, or Hughes?
Possibly Melky, Kennedy, Humberto Sanchez
Peavy wants absolutely nothing to do with NY, otherwise ud probably have to add another player I’m thinking cervelli bc/ the pads are looking for a backup catcher.
we know that Peavy wants nothing to do with the Yankees like CC doesnt.
which is, we dont know anything.
we know that he reportedly would prefer to stay in the NL, but that could be like CC prefers to play on the West Coast.
in the grand scheme, if Towers told him its either the Yankees or stuck in SD with the stinky Pads for another year, Peavy seems to be a competitor… id guess he’d take that challenge.
all teams aside, i dont see any way the Padres retain Peavy, whether he goes to Chicago, or parts still unknown.
http://yankees.lhblogs.com/200.....ankees-al/
http://riveraveblues.com/2008/.....-die-6225/
yea like im gonna believe a word of what those guys say.. amateurs
More
Here we go again.
No really, its a 4 team trade. If the Phillies back out, they’re going to get the Nippon Ham Fighters to kick in a reliever.
BTW-Why on earth would the Phillies want to help make the Cubs better? Didn’t they just face them in some pretty big games this season?
no im just talking hypothetical here because it seems like its taking forever for them to get this trade done
I know, spring training starts in what, just a few weeks. Oops, it’s months. as in plenty of time to keep working on a trade.
If we could get Peavy for a quantity package > quality I would be amazed
It would definitely take more than that, likely Jackson would have to be included.
Additionally the Pads don’t have to make a deal, I believe Towers even said at one point if its not done after the winter meetings then he might just keep Peavy to start the season.
Irresponsible, trade proposals: http://images.icanhascheezburg.....787035.jpg
I take him over Eli anyday
One plays better when it matters most and one, well, is tony romo
Who has been starting longer ? Eli played better when it mattered most for the first time last year in the playoffs and super bowl. Granted great time to get started but up until then he was a choke artist also.
Enjoy your HBO documentaries, we’ll enjoy our championships.
we’ll enjoy our championships.
Cuz you have more then the Cowboys right ?
I’ve seen more Giants SB’s in my lifetime than you’ve seen Cowboys’ titles in yours. And that’s a scientific fact.
It’s also pretty clear that I was referring to the Eli era vs. the Romo era to date. Unless Aikman, Emmitt, and Irvin had some HBO show that I was unaware of.
Yea but we still have more
Lol w.e dude… Giants won last year, they owned my boys but I dont put that loss on Romo. I put that loss on fuck-head Patrick Crayton
One’s most memorable playoff moment is a botched hold, the other is Eli Manning.
Ya it sucked but Romo is the better QB. Passer Rating and stats show it. Eli was great last year in the playoffs I am not denying that but he sucked in the playoffs before last year. He played 2 games right ? Was horrible in 05.
06***
Passer rating is about as useless as RBI’s. Tom Brady > Peyton Manning despite stats (though one season with comparable weapons led to 50 td’s) At least for now, Eli Manning > Tony Romo. And I hate Eli, but it’s just the facts. You’re a Cowboy fan, you can appreciate it. Troy Aikman never put up great stats. Mark Brunell has better stats than Aikman, but is he a better QB? No.
eli manning, much like alex cora , just flat out wins games.
Good points Steve H. I do think passer rating judges you fair though. Grossman was horrible and he made the super bowl because the defense carries him. Delhomme made the super bowl as a solid qb but he had a great defense also right ? They both lost but do you judge both of them the same. I know passer rating can be overrated but it is not useless.
19 of the top 24 passer rating QB’s in history are currently active. Seriously flawed stat. Brian Griese, Neil O’Donnell, and Brad Johnson have better passer ratings than Aikman. QB rating is driven by the offenses that are run today, not the QB’s running them.
You win, I still take Romo. You made excellent points though no doubt.
And remember, I said at least for now. I could certainly see Romo passing Eli in the QB pantheon. Shit, I hope it happens.
PRoblem with Romo is he got such a late start, he’s 28. Maybe it was benificial to him but if he started earlier he could of been putting up numbers for a while now. But maybe not because he didnt have that “experience” of riding the bench behind ..ugh… Drew Bledsoe
I’m not just saying this as a giants fan but I think that would be really really difficuly, if not impossible. What the giants did in the superbowl, knocking off the undefeated juggernaut patriots who were blowing people out by 30 points a game, is legendary. Now I know about 75% of the victory should be attributed to the defense handing brady his ass all game, but eli was the face of the team who slayed the beast. Between “the catch” and throwing the winning td to plax in the final minutes, i think it would be very hard for tony romo to surpass eli in the “pantheon of quarterbacks”
Let there be a Sheets signing tonight so I can go to sleep happy
Let show Maria Menounos up at my door naked so I can go to sleep happy.
Let Maria Menounos show up at the wrong Steve’s door naked so I can go to sleep happy.
Dude, you would sleep?
like a baby. after the best 5 minutes of her life.
Yes, like a baby.
Which is to say I would wake up crying every 10 minutes right after she left.
After the best 5
minutesseconds of her life.Best 5 seconds of whose life? Hers? Are we sure about that?
come on guys, if there is one thing we can do, it’s “think about baseball”.
alright guys i think im done commenting on here, great site but everybodys extremely uptight
See ya later
I agree though, alot of people are uptight
dont let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya
come back after something good happens. people will loosen up.
we can’t take the vicarious stress that a negotiation we have no part of is causing us.
Starting commenting during this time period when Yankees fans are on edge isn’t the best.
Best is to start commenting on game threads during a 10 game winning streak or something
Or just not be so thin-skinned.
Topics that have been covered over and over and over generally irritate people. I don’t mind revisiting topics, though. Sometimes when there are OVER NINE THOUSANNDDDD posts about one topic it’s difficult to sift through. Sometimes when someone brings it up (again and again and again) you can get the abridged version. Sometimes.
That being said, less QQ more pew pew.
I have one important comment to make here:
That carpet is fucking GHASTLY!
Vegas = worst decor of any city in the free world.
Hah fortunately people don’t go to vegas for the carpet. At least not the kind you’re talking about.