Thursday, June 21, 2007

ESPN: Joe Girardi Declines Orioles Job

Whew, everyone outside of the Baltimore Orioles catches a break here. ESPN has reported that Girardi's agent has informed them that he will not be accepted the Orioles job that was offered to him, despite what Chief Operating Officer Andy McPhail would have you believe. This is the best play for Joe Girardi, and may be beneficial for the Yankees down the road, as soon as next season. It's a dead end job. He would have been fired in two years of no fault of his own. Apparently the Orioles do not allow their new manager(s) to pick their own coaching staff, a fate that doomed Lee Mazzilli (or perhaps with that team he was doomed from the start anyway). Girardi, already known as a micromanager of his teams (that seems to be the reason he was boot prematurely out of Florida) would not have any of this. Either that, or he knew it was a dead end job. Doesn't take a genius to figure that out.

Now to why this may be huge for the Yankees. It's simple enough. It looks as if Joe Torre will ride out his contract this season and leave the team, to retire or to pursue other endeavors. So the Yankees will need a new manager. While the popular opinion is that Don Mattingly is a lock for the next Yankee manager, I'm not so sure. If Joe Girardi comes in and blows everyone away with his interview like I know he can, and Mattingly disappoints which is a distinct possibility, who knows? Steinbrenner can change his opinion on a whim, and it can very well happen here. Here's to hoping.

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