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River Ave. Blues » Don Mattingly

Front Office & Coaching Staff Notes: Hendry, Chavez, Mattingly, Magadan, Baylor, Tuck

October 28, 2015 by Mike Leave a Comment

(Mike Stobe/Getty)
(Mike Stobe/Getty)

Both the Yankees’ front office and the coaching staff have been shaken up a bit in recent weeks. Assistant GM Billy Eppler left to take over as Angels GM, and trusted scout Tim Naehring was promoted to take his place. Hitting coach Jeff Pentland and bullpen coach Gary Tuck were let go as well. Here are some front office and coaching staff notes via Nick Cafardo, Joel Sherman, Jerry Crasnick, George King, Ryan Hatch, and Jon Heyman.

  • Special advisor Jim Hendry interviewed with the Phillies for their since filled GM position. They named Angels assistant GM Matt Klentak their new GM over the weekend. Although he didn’t get the GM job, it’s still possible Hendry will join the Phillies as an advisor.
  • Special assignment scout Eric Chavez has left the Yankees to join Eppler with the Angels. His contract was up, so he was free to leave on his own. The Yankees hired Chavez last offseason and he had input into the Didi Gregorius trade since he played with Gregorius with the D’Backs.
  • Don Mattingly is not currently interested in the Yankees hitting coach position. He’s been there, done that. Mattingly wants to continue managing and right now there are four open managerial jobs: Dodgers, Padres, Nationals, and Marlins. Obviously he’s not going back to the Dodgers after leaving last week. The Marlins’ job is reportedly Mattingly’s to lose.
  • Dave Magadan will not be a candidate for the hitting coach job, apparently. He was let go as Rangers hitting coach about a week ago. The Yankees interviewed Magadan for their hitting coach position last offseason before hiring Pentland.
  • Don Baylor could be a hitting coach candidate. He held the position with the Angels the last two seasons before Eppler let him go a few days ago. Baylor, a former Yankees player, managed Joe Girardi with both the Rockies and Cubs, so there’s a connection.
  • Gary Tuck was apparently let go as bullpen coach last week because he and the analytic heavy front office didn’t mesh too well. I’m not sure what a bullpen coach does that involves analytics, but whatever.
  • In case you missed it yesterday, the Yankees reached out to former Red Sox GM Ben Cherington about joining the front office, but he declined.

Filed Under: Coaching Staff, Front Office Tagged With: Dave Magadan, Don Baylor, Don Mattingly, Eric Chavez, Gary Tuck, Jim Hendry

Dodgers part ways with manager Don Mattingly

October 22, 2015 by Mike Leave a Comment

(Al Bello/Getty)
(Al Bello/Getty)

As expected, the Dodgers and manager Don Mattingly have parted ways, according to multiple reports. It’s being called a mutual decision, though Mattingly had a year left on his contract, so the front office kinda nudged him out the door.

Mattingly’s job security has been in question for probably two years now. It seemed like only a matter of time until he was let go so the new front office could bring in their own manager. By all accounts Mattingly and the Andrew Friedman-led regime were on good terms though.

The Yankees do have several openings on the coach staff — they fired hitting coach Jeff Pentland over the weekend — and I’m certain we’ll hear Mattingly mentioned as a candidate. Joel Sherman says Mattingly wants to manage though, and that won’t happen here. Joe Girardi’s entrenched as manager.

The Yankees also have a front office opening with assistant GM Billy Eppler leaving for the Angels. I’m not sure if that would interest Mattingly or vice versa. Anyway, expect to hear some stuff about the Yankees and Mattingly in the coming days and weeks. It’s inevitable.

Filed Under: Other Teams Tagged With: Don Mattingly, Los Angeles Dodgers

End of an Icon: How the Yankees replaced Don Mattingly before he decided to retire

February 2, 2015 by Mike 272 Comments

(Getty)
(Getty)

It’s almost never easy dealing with the end of an iconic player’s career. Mariano Rivera made it very easy for the Yankees two years ago but the end of Derek Jeter’s career was a bit difficult last season. He was no longer productive at the plate and his defense was a major issue, yet he continued to play shortstop everyday and bat high in the order because he is Derek Jeter. Situations like that are pretty uncomfortable.

Two decades ago, the Yankees were facing the end of another iconic player’s career, this one Don Mattingly’s. Like Jeter last season, Donnie Baseball was beloved by fans but no longer the player he was during his prime. Mattingly was one of the best players in baseball during the 1980s, being named the 1985 AL MVP and finishing the decade with a .323 average and a 144 OPS+ in 1,015 games.

Chronic back problems cut short his peak — Mattingly hit a career worst .256 with an 81 OPS+ in 1990, at age 29 — and Mattingly hit .286 with a 105 OPS+ in 770 games in the 1990s. By 1995, things between the Yankees and their most popular player had grown contentious. After going 3-for-5 with a home run — his first homer in 55 games — against the Royals on July 20th, Mattingly snapped at reporters and told Jack Curry “I’m not willing to share with you all anymore, about the city and about the way I feel. I’m just not willing to share.”

Just days earlier, the New York Daily News ran a scathing article about Mattingly’s performance, an article Mattingly believed had been planted by George Steinbrenner. “I know where it’s coming from and I’m not going to forget it,” he said to Curry. Steinbrenner responded by telling Curry “to say I want to drive Don Mattingly out is crazy. Don Mattingly belongs with the greatest Yankees of all time. Nobody should ever say that I’m trying to get him to go. I hope and pray he doesn’t … When he wants to leave New York, I want him to come down and tell me.”

The season continued and the situation with Mattingly grew more uncomfortable. He suggested he would play in Japan after the season and the Yankees dropped hints that they were planning to pursue Red Sox slugger Mo Vaughn to play first base. “I have total respect for Mo Vaughn and what he does and what kind of person he is,” said Mattingly to Curry. “That’s no problem if they want to go in that direction. You can handle it properly. There are ways to handle things with class and respect. Treat me properly. Treat me with respect. You don’t have to back-stab me to make it look like I can’t play anymore.”

Thanks to an outstanding finish — the Yankees won five straight games and 11 of 12 to close out the regular season — the Yankees claimed the first wildcard spot in the AL history, finishing two games ahead of the Angels. All of the Mattingly nonsense was pushed to the back burner. He was in the postseason for the first time in his career and he delivered, going 10-for-24 (.417) with four doubles and a homer in the five games against the Mariners.

Despite Mattingly’s offensive dominance, the Yankees lost the series in heartbreaking walk-off fashion in the decisive Game Five. Suddenly the issue of the star first baseman’s future was once again front and center. In early November, Curry reported Steinbrenner called Mattingly’s agent Jim Krivacs and told him retaining his client was very important to him. It was the first time Steinbrenner or the Yankees in general showed any interest in bringing Mattingly back for the 1996 season.

And yet, while all of that was going on, the team was pursuing other first base options. Vaughn was named the 1995 AL MVP and Boston wasn’t interested in trading him, especially to a division rival. Fred McGriff and Mark Grace were both free agents that offseason, as were other first base candidates like B.J. Surhoff and Mickey Tettleton. The Yankees focused on Mariners first baseman Tino Martinez, who crushed New York during the regular season and was available because Seattle was slicing payroll. Tino had just turned 28 and was coming off a season in which he hit .293 with 31 homers and a 135 OPS+.

“The opportunity to play in New York would be pretty special,” said Martinez to Curry in the middle of all the trade rumors. “Either way, I’m going to be in a great situation because I think the Mariners are going to have a great team and I think the Yankees are going to have a great team, too. Seattle is special to me, and every kid dreams about playing for the Yankees.”

Trade talks started in November and carried into December, and the deal went through many iterations. At first it was Martinez for left-hander Sterling Hitchcock and third base prospect Russ Davis. At another point it was Martinez, righty Jeff Nelson, and a prospect for Hitchcock, Davis, and minor league catcher Jorge Posada. GM Bob Watson, who replaced Gene Michael in October after Michael stepped down, tried to get Davis out of that deal. “I didn’t like the idea that was proposed,” Mariners GM Woody Woodward told the Associated Press.

(Getty)
(Getty)

McGriff signed with the Braves on December 2nd and Tettleton signed with the Rangers a few days later. The Yankees badly wanted Martinez and their first base options were dwindling, but before they could part with Davis — Baseball America ranked Davis as the 78th best prospect in baseball prior to the 1995 season — they needed to re-sign Wade Boggs to play third. Boggs agreed to a new two-year contract on December 5th, and, two days later, the Yankees and Mariners were in agreement on the Martinez trade. It was Martinez, Nelson, and righty Jim Mecir for Hitchcock and Davis.

The trade was not done, however. Martinez was eligible for salary arbitration that offseason and was set to become a free agent after the 1997 season. The Yankees didn’t want to give up two highly touted young players in Hitchcock and Davis for a player who could leave town in two years. Seattle granted New York a 48-hour window to negotiate a contract extension with Martinez and the two sides eventually came to terms on a five-year, $20.25M contract. “It’s a great day. I mean, my head is spinning. It’s probably one of the greatest days of my life,” said Tino to Curry after signing.

The Yankees had their new first baseman, but what about their old first baseman? Mattingly was going through his usual offseason workout routine and the only team he’d ever known had just traded for his replacement. They didn’t even bother to check in to see whether he’d made a decision about his future. Mattingly sat out the 1996 season and, on January 23rd, 1997, Mattingly stood alongside Steinbrenner at Yankee Stadium and announced his retirement from baseball.

”I wasn’t willing to pay the price it was going to take to be able to succeed. At that point, I knew it was time to step away,” said Mattingly to Curry while explaining that his back, wrist, elbow, and knees were giving him too much trouble during his workouts to continue playing. Four months shy of his 36th birthday, his body had had enough. Steinbrenner announced at the retirement press conference that Mattingly’s No. 23 would be retired.

”I don’t believe any player on the New York Yankees was ever as great as Don Mattingly in every way during my years as an owner,” said Steinbrenner at the press conference. ”He was a great athlete and a great player. Some great athletes are not great human beings and vice versa. This man combined all of that.”

Mattingly revealed the Orioles made him a contract offer to play in 1996, and while it did get his attention and make him wonder which other clubs could be interested, he ultimately decided to hang up his spikes. After 14 years in pinstripes, several months of trading barbs through the media, Mattingly’s career was officially over.

”To come from where I came from to this point is a long road for the guy who couldn’t run, who couldn’t throw and who didn’t hit for power,” said Mattingly to Curry. ”It’s a long ride. It’s been a great ride.”

Filed Under: Days of Yore Tagged With: Don Mattingly, Retro Week, Tino Martinez

Craig Biggio, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz all elected to Hall of Fame

January 6, 2015 by Mike 293 Comments

A Hall of Famer, but not because of his time in pinstripes. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
A Hall of Famer, but not because of his time in pinstripes. (AP)

The Hall of Fame has four new members. On Tuesday, the BBWAA announced Craig Biggio, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and John Smoltz have all been inducted into Cooperstown. This is the first time four players have been inducted in one year since 1955 (Joe DiMaggio, Gabby Hartnett, Ted Lyons, Dazzy Vance) and the first time three pitchers were inducted in one year in history.

Biggio fell two votes short of induction last year, and historically when a player misses by that narrow a margin, he gets in comfortably the next year. That’s what happened here — Biggio appeared on 82.7% of the ballots this year, well more than the 75% necessary for induction. The full voting results are available at the BBWAA’s site.

Johnson is an inner-circle Hall of Famer and appeared on 97.3% of the ballots, the eighth highest voting total of all-time. He spent two seasons with the Yankees and is presumably going into the Hall of Fame as a Diamondback. Arizona signed him to a four-year contract in 1999 and he won four straight Cy Youngs from 1999-2002, so yeah. Pedro and Smoltz appeared on 91.1% and 82.9% of the ballots, respectively.

The Yankees had some pretty great battles against those three over the years, including beating Smoltz’s Braves in the 1996 and 1999 World Series. Johnson bested the Yankees in the 1995 ALDS and 2001 World Series and is simply one of the best pitchers ever, arguably the best lefty ever. Pedro … man did he and the Yankees share some memorable moments. His 17-strikeout one-hitter at Yankee Stadium on September 10th, 1999 is one of the most dominant pitching performances I’ve ever seen:

Former Yankees Tim Raines (55.0%), Roger Clemens (37.5%), Mike Mussina (24.6%), Gary Sheffield (11.7%), Aaron Boone (0.4%), Tom Gordon (0.4%), and Tony Clark (0%) all fell well short of induction. Boone, Gordon, and Clark drop off the ballot because they received fewer than 5% of the vote.

In his final year of Hall of Fame eligibility, Don Mattingly received only 9.1% of the vote, so he exhausted his 15 years on the ballot and was not inducted to Cooperstown. He topped out at 28.2% of the vote during his first year of eligibility back in 2001 and has sat closer to 13% over the last decade or so, including only 8.2% last year.

Down the line, Mattingly could be eligible for induction via the Expansion Era Committee, which meets every three years to identify and vote on Hall of Fame candidates who started their careers after 1972. The Expansion Era Committee did not elect anyone this winter and will meet again in 2017. I love Donnie Baseball as much as anyone, but I don’t think he’s a Hall of Famer and I don’t think he’ll get in via the Expansion Era Committee either.

Among the first-time-eligible players set to jump on the ballot next year are Ken Griffey Jr., Jim Edmonds, Trevor Hoffman, and Billy Wagner. No notable ex-Yankees though. Jorge Posada is set to appear on the ballot for the first time the year after that, giving me two years to prepare to the mother of all Hall of Fame campaigns.

Filed Under: Days of Yore Tagged With: Craig Biggio, Don Mattingly, Hall Of Fame, John Smoltz, Mike Mussina, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson

Staff Updates: Mattingly, Tino, O’Neill, Davis, Harkey, Hillman, Eppler

October 13, 2014 by Mike 169 Comments

(Stephen Dunn/Getty)
(Stephen Dunn/Getty)

The Yankees fired hitting coach Kevin Long and first base coach Mick Kelleher late last week. Brian Cashman confirmed the rest of the staff will be retained — “If we choose to make any other changes we’ll let you know, otherwise everything is status quo until then,” he said — though there has been speculation bullpen coach Gary Tuck, third base coach Robbie Thomson, and bench coach Tony Pena could be moved into different roles. We’ll see. Here are a bunch of coaching and front office staff updates courtesy of Bob Klapisch, Erik Boland, Sweeny Murti, Chad Jennings, Susan Slusser, Bob Nightengale, Donnie Collins, Andrew Marchand, and George King.

  • Interesting comment from Cashman after the firings were announced (emphasis mine): “There are some individuals, I think, as we move forward (who) will bring more for the global perspective of the coaching staff  … There are some more things that I want to add to the staff with Joe Girardi. And in my dialogue with Joe, we look forward to interviewing some personnel that can bring those things to the table.” Hmmm.
  • Dodgers manager Don Mattingly told reporters he is “assuming” he will return to the team next year after they were eliminated from the postseason last week, though nothing has been decided yet. If Mattingly does get canned, I have to think the Yankees will consider bringing him back as hitting coach, the role he held from 2004-06 before taking over as Joe Torre’s bench coach.
  • Tino Martinez is not a hitting coach candidate and Paul O’Neill gave a simple “no” when asked if he was interested in the job. Tino was the Marlins hitting coach in 2013 but resigned that July after word got out that he verbally abused players in the clubhouse and literally choked one player. So yeah, forget that.
  • Former Yankees DH and current Athletics hitting coach Chili Davis is “getting mentioned” as a hitting coach candidate. Davis has been Oakland’s hitting coach since the 2012 season and before that was a minor league coach with the Red Sox and Dodgers. There’s also speculation Dante Bichette could be a candidate for the job. He was the Rockies hitting coach in 2013 and is close with Girardi.
  • There’s also speculation current Diamondbacks pitching coach Mike Harkey could return as bullpen coach — Harkey was the Yankees bullpen coach from 2008-13 — with Tuck taking over as bench coach and Pena taking over as first base coach. (Tuck was Girardi’s bench coach with the Marlins in 2006.) The D’Backs just hired new GM Dave Stewart and fired manager Kirk Gibson, so other coaching staff changes are expected.
  • Triple-A Scranton hitting coach Butch Wynegar was let go after the season and third base coach Luis Sojo won’t return to the team next year. That doesn’t mean Sojo’s leaving the organization, it just means won’t be with the RailRiders in 2015. Double-A Trenton hitting coach Marcus Thames is well-regarded within the organization but is not a candidate for the MLB hitting coach job right now.
  • The Dodgers are reportedly mulling over the future of GM Ned Colletti, and Yankees assistant GM Billy Eppler is already getting consideration as a possible replacement. Eppler interviewed for the Padres GM job earlier this year.
  • Special assistant Trey Hillman may leave the Yankees to become new Astros manager A.J. Hinch’s bench coach. Hillman is considered a candidate to replace retiring VP of Baseball Ops Mark Newman as head of the farm system. He’s also a candidate to join the MLB coaching staff in some capacity.

And finally, I can’t help but wonder if the Yankees will adopt the two-hitting coach system many teams use nowadays. (Seventeen teams employ two hitting coaches right now.) They were reportedly considering hiring an assistant hitting coach two years ago but never did, and that “globe perspective” talk from Cashman makes me think Hideki Matsui will be considered for the staff. He’s always working with the team’s minor leaguers at the various parks. Anyway, that’s just me thinking out loud. If the Yankees were going to add an assistant hitting coach, now is the perfect time.

Filed Under: Coaching Staff, Front Office Tagged With: Billy Eppler, Chili Davis, Don Mattingly, Paul O'Neill, Tino Martinez, Trey Hillman

Mussina among big name first timers on 2014 Hall of Fame ballot

November 26, 2013 by Mike 44 Comments

The BBWAA announced the 2014 Hall of Fame ballot today, which you can see right here. It runs a ridiculous 36 players deep. Nineteen of those 36 players are eligible for the first time, including all-time greats Greg Maddux and Frank Thomas. Former Yankee Mike Mussina is among the first timers as well. He is right on the Cooperstown bubble — I think he belongs — and there are good arguments to be made on both sides.

Don Mattingly will be on the ballot for the 14th time, but he received only 13.2% of the vote last year. He’s a long way off from the 75% needed for induction with only two more years of eligibility. Other former Yankees on the ballot include Armando Benitez, J.T. Snow, Kenny Rogers, Richie Sexson, Roger Clemens, and Tim Raines. Obviously some have greater legacies than others. Voters can only vote for ten players maximum, and there looks to be about 15 Cooperstown-worthy player on the ballot this year. These next few years will be messy.

Filed Under: Asides, Days of Yore Tagged With: Don Mattingly, Hall Of Fame, Mike Mussina

Clemens & Bonds headline 2013 Hall of Fame ballot

November 28, 2012 by Mike 31 Comments

The BBWAA announced the 2013 Hall of Fame ballot today, which is headlined by first-timers Barry Bonds, Mike Piazza, Sammy Sosa, Craig Biggio, and former Yankee Roger Clemens. David Wells and Mike Stanton are also among the first-timers while Don Mattingly is entering his 13th year of eligibility and Bernie Williams is entering his second.

We’ve now entered the PED thunderdome with guys like Bonds, Sosa, and Clemens becoming eligible, and if Mark McGwire’s six years on the ballot are any indication, they’re going to have to wait a while for induction. Hell, there’s zero evidence linking Jeff Bagwell to PEDs and he only received 56% of the vote last year. I count no fewer than eight guys I would definitely vote for plus at least six others I’m on the fence with. The ballots are going to be very crowded the next few years.

Filed Under: Asides, Days of Yore Tagged With: Bernie Williams, David Wells, Don Mattingly, Hall Of Fame, Mike Stanton, Roger Clemens

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