Tino Martinez Archives - River Avenue Blues

The brief moment of doubt for an otherwise undoubted team

February 2, 2018 by Steven Tydings Leave a Comment

The 1998 Yankees were perhaps the most infallible team in baseball history. They went from a 1-4 start to a 61-20 first half and rode that all the way to the best regular season record in franchise history.

But in the postseason, for one brief moment, they were on the brink. They were seemingly the underdogs. They were ripe for the picking.

That’s because as good as the 98 Yankees were, the late 90s Cleveland Indians were a force to be reckoned with, particularly on the offensive side of things. Having appeared in two of the last three World Series, Cleveland was on the verge of a dynasty of its own if the cards broke right and could have very well been known as the American League’s team of the 90s.

Mike already detailed their lineup in his Orlando Hernandez piece, but it’s worth taking a second look. They had in-his-prime Manny Ramirez, who had hit 45 home runs and driven in a ridiculous 145 runs. Future Hall of Famer Jim Thome, who was batting sixth for some reason despite a team-best 152 wRC+. Travis Fryman, David Justice and Mark Whiten provided a veteran backbone to the lineup while Kenny Lofton and Omar Vizquel combined for 91 steals in what was each of their age-31 seasons.

Yet the Yankees jumped ahead of Cleveland in Game 1 as expected and had David Cone on the hill for Game 2. After how well the Yankees hit in the first inning to blitz Jaret Wright, it seemed like the Bombers would have little trouble with a team that finished with 25 fewer wins than them in the regular season.

Yet Game 2 didn’t go according to plan.

***

The Chuck Knoblauch play is what sticks out from the stunning defeat. Future Yankee Enrique Wilson stumbling around third and ending up nearly flat on his face while scoring the winning run, all while Knoblauch (justifiably) protested that Fryman had run in the basepath.

“We were all yelling, ‘Get the ball, get the ball,'” Tino Martinez told Jack Curry. “It’s just one of those plays.”

“If there’s a ball rolling around now, I’m sure nine guys will be running after it,” Paul O’Neill added a day later. “It’s easy to say now. It’s almost comical.”

But it wasn’t just one play that lost the game. No, it was a lackluster offense that did the Yankees in. They stranded six runners in scoring position and only pushed across one run across 12 frames.

Martinez was one of the culprits, putting together just a walk in 10 plate appearances while failing to drive in O’Neill from third in the fourth inning. Knoblauch went hitless in six at-bats and the team was just 7-for-43 against Charles Nagy and six relievers. Welp.

“It’s very frustrating,” Martinez said to Curry. “I feel good, I’m relaxed and, all of a sudden, I’m trying to make things happen that are not there. I’m swinging at 3-2 pitches that are out of the zone. I’m striking out on bad pitches. I’m trying to do too much instead of letting things happen and unfold.”

Still, the team wasn’t about to lose its head after one bad game.

“I think it’s good for us to come back and keep doing what got us here,” Tim Raines said before Game 3. “I don’t think anyone is about to jump ship. We still think we’ve got the best team in the American League. We had opportunities to win that game and we didn’t. No one in here thinks it’s the end of the world.”

***

Game 3 somehow went worse. The Yanks pushed across a run in the first inning and that was it. Just one run once again.

But in this one, it wouldn’t be a pitchers’ duel; The Cleveland offense came alive and showed what got them there.

Andy Pettitte ran into trouble from the start but worked out of it in the first. But five pitches into the second, Thome homered to draw Cleveland even in the second inning before Wilson put them ahead with an RBI single.

Pettitte had performed well enough in the ALDS to earn the start, but this start would look closer to his lackluster August and September in which he combined for 6.13 ERA in 58 2/3 innings.

So it didn’t necessarily surprise when he allowed three home runs, one each to Ramirez, Whiten and Thome, in the fifth inning before he was unceremoniously pulled. The performance had Joe Torre seemingly shaky on Pettitte’s status for a potential Game 7 and likely led to his demotion from Game 3 to Game 4 in the World Series.

On the offensive end, the Yankees had a single walk in 12 plate appearances over the last four innings and even that walk was erased on a Derek Jeter GIDP. Bartolo Colon would close out the four-hitter by striking out Martinez.

“It’s gut-check time,” Cone said to Buster Olney. “It’s a real character test for this team. We need to come out and win tomorrow night and get the ball back to Boomer in Game 5. And we feel good about that.”

***

You know the rest of the story. El Duque begins his legendary postseason career with his dominant Game 4. David Wells outpitched Chad Ogea in Game 5 and the Yankees hit their way to a Game 6 win that was sealed by Jeter (aided by some WTF defense from Manny) and Mariano Rivera.

But as Cone said, the Yankees had a real gut-check moment. They had to overcome a legitimate challenge, one that surely scared fans a bit more after the Yanks blew a 2-1 lead in the 1997 ALDS to the same Indians team. It’s not hard to imagine a scenario where the ’98 Yanks are more ’01 Mariners than ’27 Yankees and the world suffered through a Cleveland-San Diego World Series.

Thankfully, the gut-check moment was passed with flying colors.

Tino Martinez, Armando Benitez, and the Brawl of a Dynasty

February 1, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

In 1998, the Yankees and Orioles were heading in opposite directions. The Yankees were emerging as baseball’s dominant team and were about to win the first of three straight World Series titles and four straight AL pennants. The Orioles, after winning 98 games in 1997, were in the first year of what would be 14 straight losing seasons.

Long story short, age was beginning to catch up to the Orioles in 1998. Cal Ripken Jr. was done as an impact everyday player, Roberto Alomar had one of the worst seasons of his career, and other 30-somethings like B.J. Surhoff and Brady Anderson had slipped. The rotation behind Mike Mussina and Scott Erickson was a mess too.

On the morning of May 19th, the Orioles were 20-23 and five games into what would eventually be a nine-game losing streak, their longest since starting the 1988 season 0-21. They’d lost 18 of their previous 28 games overall. There was already talk the O’s could be ripped apart at the trade deadline given all their impending free agents.

The Yankees, meanwhile, were 28-9 on the morning of May 19th and had the league’s best record. David Wells had thrown a perfect game two days earlier. The Yankees were great and everyone knew it. The Orioles were mediocre, descending to bad, and everyone knew it too. When their paths crossed on May 19th, it got ugly.

* * *

For the first seven and a half innings on May 19th, the Yankees and Orioles played a fairly nondescript game. David Cone wasn’t sharp, allowing five runs in six innings as the O’s nursed a 5-1 lead going into the bottom of the seventh. Harold Baines had driven in three of his team’s five runs with a pair of singles.

The Yankees started their comeback in the seventh inning against rookie reliever Sidney Ponson, who was pitching in his eighth big league game. Doubles by Chuck Knoblauch and Paul O’Neill, and a single by Tim Raines cut the O’s lead to 5-3. Ponson went back out for the eighth and created a mess with back-to-back one-out walks to Jorge Posada and Knoblauch.

Considering the O’s still fancied themselves a contender that early in the season and desperately wanted to right the ship, manager Ray Miller went with his top relievers in the eighth inning. Alan Mills came in to get Derek Jeter to fly out to right field for the second out. Norm Charlton came in for the left-on-left matchup against O’Neill, but O’Neill singled to score Posada to get the Yankees to within a run.

One year earlier, the Orioles had one of the best closer-setup man combinations in baseball with Randy Myers and Armando Benitez. Myers saved 45 games with a 1.54 ERA while Benitez, then 24, struck out 106 batters in 73.1 innings with a 2.45 ERA. That was back when striking out 100 batters out of the bullpen really meant something. Nowadays it seems like every team has a guy like that.

Anyway, the O’s allowed Myers to leave as a free agent during the 1997-98 offseason, and inserted Benitez as their closer. Going into that game on May 19th, he had a 3.57 ERA with 31 strikeouts in 17.2 innings, but also 17 walks. The transition to closer was not going smoothly for Benitez and he’s one of the reasons the Orioles struggled that season.

Miller brought in Benitez for the four-out save after O’Neill’s single. The Yankees were down a run, but had runners on first and second with two outs, and Bernie Williams at the plate. Bernie hit Benitez’s fourth pitch into the right field seats for a go-ahead three-run home run. Benitez’s fifth pitch hit Tino Martinez square in the back, right betwen the 2 and 4 in 24, and chaos ensued.

As intentional as it gets. After the game home plate umpire Drew Coble said he ejected Benitez “almost before the pitch got there … I felt he would throw at him. I didn’t feel he would throw up at his head like he did.” Benitez of course denied throwing at Tino. He said he was only trying to pitch inside. The way he instigated the brawl by throwing down his glove and pointing at the Yankees dugout said otherwise.

To make matters worse, Benitez and Tino had a history. Three years earlier, when Martinez was still with the Mariners, Benitez hit him with a pitch immediately after giving up a grand slam to Edgar Martinez. I can’t find video of that beaning, but it did happen. Here’s the box score of the game. Edgar grand slam, Tino first pitch hit-by-pitch by Benitez. Bernie three-run homer, Tino first pitch hit-by-pitch by Benitez.

The brawl itself lasted nearly ten minutes and spilled into the visitor’s dugout. Mills, Benitez, Darryl Strawberry, and Graeme Lloyd threw the most vicious haymakers. To wit:

Goodness. Once order was restored on the field, Raines took Bobby Munoz deep to drive in Tino for one last little bit of poetic justice. The Yankees went on to win the game 9-5 thanks to their six-run eighth inning. The Orioles had lost again, and after the game, no teammates defended Benitez. One unnamed Orioles player called him “25 going on 15,” according to Tom Verducci.

“Sometimes you’ve got a young, immature guy who loses control,” said Miller to Buster Olney after the game. “It’s certainly not what the rest of the guys stand for.”

“I’ve never seen anything like that in 25 years. That guy that pitcher should be suspended for the rest of the year. That was a classless act. He’s got no class,” George Steinbrenner said to Joe Strauss. Peter Angelos, Orioles owner and longtime Steinbrenner foe, even called George to apologize.

Suspensions were handed down quickly. Benitez received an eight-game suspension, Strawberry and Lloyd each received three games, and Jeff Nelson and Mills each received two games. There were a bunch of fines as well.

“The severity of the discipline reflects the gravity of the offenses,” said AL president Gene Budig in a statement. “Mr. Benitez not only intentionally threw at Martinez, but the location of the pitch was extremely dangerous and could have seriously injured the player … This was a highly unfortunate and highly dangerous on-field situation. The events demand swift and stern action. A player’s safety is of utmost importance.”

Everyone remembers the brawl. No one remembers it spilled over into the next game. The next day, Jimmy Key’s first pitch was up and in, forcing Knoblauch to duck out of the way. Later in the first inning, after Raines singled home a run, Key drilled Chad Curtis. Hideki Irabu responded by hitting Mike Bordick in the second and Brady Anderson in the fifth. Benches never did clear though.

Because the suspensions were allowed to be served sequentially — they were served one after the other, not at the same time to avoid leaving each team shorthanded — Lloyd was eligible pitch in that game. He received a big ovation when he was brought in to pitch, something that had never happened before given his somewhat rocky tenure with the Yankees. “I looked up to make sure I brought in the right pitcher,” said Joe Torre to Jack Curry after the game.

“It’s great to be appreciated for things you do,” Lloyd said to Curry. “I want to be appreciated for my pitching. Sometimes I have to stand up for myself and my teammates.”

After the brawl the O’s continued to collapse and the Yankees continued to win. It made for a fun “the brawl brought the Yankees together” narrative, but the fact of the matter is the Yankees were very good, and they kept winning because they were very good. If the brawl brought them closer together, neat. They didn’t need the help though.

“Let’s get it behind us,” said Steinbrenner to Curry. “The way to get these guys is by winning the pennant and winning the American League East.”

The Bad Call That Helped Tino Out Of His Postseason Slump

January 31, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

Tino Martinez was a great Yankee for six seasons and he helped the team win four World Series titles, plus a fifth AL pennant. He has a plaque in Monument Park! A core member of the dynasty Yankees, through and through.

Martinez also had some ghastly postseason performances during his time in New York. Love the guy, but it is true. Tino was benched in favor of Cecil Fielder during the 1996 World Series games in Atlanta, and by time Game One of the 1998 World Series rolled around, he’d hit .188/.301/.292 in 29 postseason games for New York. Egads.

Tino’s postseason luck changed in Game One of the World Series against the Padres. In what very well might be his signature moment as a Yankee — it’s either this or his game-tying two-run homer in Game Four of the 2001 World Series, right? — Martinez clubbed a seventh inning go-ahead grand slam off Mark Langston that turned a 5-5 game into a 9-5 Yankees lead.

“I haven’t done much,” said Martinez to Jack Curry following the game. “We’ve been winning. We got to the World Series. I knew eventually I’d come up in a big situation and get a big hit to help the team win. It’s definitely a big relief to get a hit in a situation like today.”

Ask Langston and the Padres, and Martinez never should’ve been in position to hit that grand slam in the first place. They think the previous pitch should’ve been called strike three to end the inning. And when you see the 2-2 pitch, it’s really hard to disagree with them.

The pitch had plenty of plate. No doubt about that. Home plate umpire Rich Garcia said it was down though. Here’s another look:

Looks about thigh high to me. Garcia disagreed through. He had it low, the at-bat continued, and Martinez socked the next pitch into the upper deck. “I was looking for a fastball and I thought it was low. I thought (Garcia) did a good job of calling the pitches consistently tonight,” said Tino to Curry.

“I thought it was right there when I threw it, and I’ve already seen it a thousand times on replays and am even more certain about it,” said Langston to Ross Newhan after the game. “It was obviously a big pitch, but I’ve been in plenty of situations where I’ve not had a call go my way and I know you have to push it aside and execute the next pitch. I didn’t and that was the difference in the game. I executed on 2-2 but not 3-2 … I can cry about the call, but it would just be sour grapes.”

It is impossible to say how the non-strike call on Martinez changed the series. The Yankees were really freaking good that year and it’s easy to say they would’ve won the series anyway, but who knows? The Padres won 98 games in 1998. They were no pushover. Get the call on Martinez, win Game One to grab homefield advantage … who knows what could’ve happened?

“Yeah, it changed the whole series, that’s for sure,” said Andy Ashby to Barry Bloom in 2016. “But you look back on it, I didn’t pitch well in Game Two. We needed to win one of those first two games in New York, but we didn’t do that. And that changed the whole series.”

For Martinez, the non-strike call was the break he needed to get going at the plate in the postseason. He had a three-hit game in Game Two — Tino had three hits in his previous 31 postseason plate appearances combined — plus a single and two walks in Game Four. Following the non-strike call, Martinez hit .282/.348/.436 with seven home runs and 27 runs driven in in 48 postseason games through the remainder of the dynasty years.

“I know I haven’t done my part, but we’ve been winning,” said Tino to Curry. “You have to take the post-season game by game. It’s a relief to get out of this slump.”

Saturday Links: Lefty Reliever, Top 100, Captain’s Camp

January 28, 2017 by Mike Leave a Comment

Only three more weekends without baseball after this one. Spring Training games aren’t that far away! Thank goodness. I am so ready for this offseason to be over. Here are some links to check out today:

Yankees still looking for a cheap lefty reliever

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Yankees remain in the hunt for a left-handed reliever, but only want a player who will take a low base salary or minor league deal. Boone Logan and Jerry Blevins, the two best free agent southpaws, are seeking two-year deals worth at least $12M, says Rosenthal. If they stick to that demand, the Yankees won’t get either. I assume Travis Wood is a non-option too given the low base salary thing.

The Yankees have Tommy Layne, Chasen Shreve, and Richard Bleier as their top middle innings lefty reliever candidates at the moment, and Brian Cashman talked up Joe Mantiply at the town hall last week. “He’s a soft-tossing situational lefty that I know that people were coming up to me saying, you snookered us when you claimed him off waivers,” he said. Would Charlie Furbush take a minor league deal after a shoulder injury sidelined him all of 2016? He might be the best available cheap southpaw.

Five Yankees on ZiPS top 100 prospects

In a companion piece to Keith Law’s top 100 prospects list, Dan Szymborski put together a list of the top 100 prospects according to his ZiPS projection system (sub. req’d). ZiPS is entirely data-driven, so you’ve got to take the projections with a big grain of salt, though I still always like seeing where the scouting reports and stats disagree.

The best prospect in baseball per ZiPS is Braves SS Dansby Swanson, who Law ranked second. Red Sox OF Andrew Benintendi is first on Law’s list and seventh on the ZiPS list. The Yankees had five ZiPS top 100 prospects:

8. SS Gleyber Torres (Law’s rank: 4th)
9. OF Clint Frazier (Law’s rank: 27th)
34. OF Aaron Judge (Law’s rank: 44th)
44. OF Blake Rutherford (Law’s rank: 22nd)
65. 3B Miguel Andujar (Law’s rank: DNR)

RHP James Kaprielian and LHP Justus Sheffield made Law’s list but not the ZiPS list, though ZiPS tends to skew towards position players because they don’t carry as much injury risk. The top nine and 21 of the top 25 prospects in baseball are position players according to ZiPS, so yeah. Interesting to see Andujar a middle of the top 100 guy according to ZiPS. The system likes his low strikeout rate and developing power, it seems.

New Spring Training hats leaked

For the umpteenth straight spring, teams will wear different hats for Spring Training this season. A photo of the new Yankees hat was leaked over at SportsLogos.net and my goodness, it’s hideous:

It should be noted MLB and the Yankees have not officially revealed their new Spring Training hats, so it’s entirely possible that hat is a rejected design or something like that. I can’t. I just can’t anymore. Stop messing with the classic interlocking NY, yo.

Captain’s Camp now underway

Remember yesterday’s mailbag question about Captain’s Camp? Well now we have an update, courtesy of Brendan Kuty. Farm system head Gary Denbo said Captain’s Camp is currently underway and will run from January 18th to February 24th this year. Andy Pettitte, Alfonso Soriano, Alex Rodriguez, and Tino Martinez are among the scheduled guest instructors. Several current Yankees will help out as well once Spring Training beings. Derek Jeter has taken the prospects out to a surprise dinner the last two years and Denbo hopes he does the same this year.

Denbo came up with the idea for Captain’s Camp a few years ago and says the goal is to “develop championship-type complete players for our Major League club.” The Yankees bring in a bunch of prospects for Captain’s Camp and basically teach them how to be professionals, how to be accountable, and help them become the best player they can be. Workouts and drills are part of Captain’s Camp, no doubt, but most of it is geared towards the off-the-field aspects of being a Yankee. They’re the most recognizable brand in sports, which creates unique demands.

Yankees discussing minor league coaching position with Tino Martinez

March 31, 2015 by Mike 19 Comments

The Yankees are currently discussing a minor league coaching position with former first baseman Tino Martinez, reports George King. The Associated Press says it’s a done deal, though some comments Martinez made to King yesterday make it seem like nothing is final just yet.

“We are talking about it. Seeing minor league teams a couple of times a month,” said Tino to King. “(Farm system head Gary Denbo) asked me to help out, and I have been doing a little bit of everything. These kids are so willing to learn, they want to move up.’’

Martinez, 47, has been at Spring Training as a guest instructor. He spent 2008-09 in the team’s front office as a special assistant, and he spent half of 2013 as the Marlins hitting coach. Tino resigned that July amid allegations he verbally and physically abused players, which, uh, isn’t cool.

I have no idea what kind of instructor Martinez is, so I couldn’t tell you if he would be a good hire or a bad hire. I’m sure the Yankees did their homework. That said, my guess is if this was someone other than Tino Martinez, the abuse allegations wouldn’t be overlooked so easily.

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

February 2, 2015 by Mike 272 Comments

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.

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.”

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

October 13, 2014 by Mike 169 Comments

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.