Daily Archives: October 29, 2007

RIP, Scott Proctor (1977-2008)

Posted on by 5 Replies

torre.jpgBreaking news within the last hour..

Peter Abraham of the Journal News is reporting that Joe Torre is going to be hired as Dodgers manager as soon as TODAY. (Edit: Rotoworld is now running with this story too. Thanks, Torgy!)

This is unconfirmed, of course. If this turns out to be true, I’ll delve deeper into my thoughts on how Torre would do as manager of the Blue, but I just wanted to get this up as soon as possible.

And might I say? WOW. I honestly never gave this a shot in hell of happening. Maybe the Girardi rumors were actually accurate about him being bench coach if he didn’t get the Yankees job – except he wouldn’t be bench coach for Griddle, he’d be bench coach for Torre.

The link also states that Don Mattingly, who just quit the Yankees after not getting the manager gig, would come with. Growing up in NJ in the 80s, despite not being a Yankees fan, I was always a HUGE Mattingly fan. How could you not be? Talk about playing the game the right way. Plus, if you don’t know, LA drafted his son Preston in the first round last year. Sure, Preston sucked in the minors in his debut. But still.

More to come. Including whether this rumor is BS or not. But still. Whoa.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness msti-face.jpg

Is This Silver Lining Coming With a Cloud?

Posted on by 3 Replies

I know this is like my 4th post on the subject, but the rumors just keep flying. With two more weeks before the Hot Stove officially opens, this is exactly the kind of stuff a blog depends on to keep going in the long, cold, off-season.

Latest updates in the managerial drama:

Joe Girardi has been offered, and will likely accept, the Yankees managerial position, says ESPN. Okay, so there go the Girardi-to-LA rumors, regardless of whether it’s as Griddle’s replacement as manager, or as bench coach to Griddle with the added role of yelling “Dead Man Walking!!” every time Grady strolls out to the mound. (Seriously, could we have given Girardi a black reaper’s outfit and a scythe instead of a uniform if that had happened? How awesome might that have been?)

Well, that’s that. A little uncomfortable perhaps, but now that Girardi’s out of the picture, Griddle can rest easy and prepare for Vero Be.. wait.. what?

According to two people with knowledge of the Dodgers’ universe, the club and Little are talking about a buyout that would leave the manager’s office in Chavez Ravine vacant for Torre to inherit.

So says the New York Post. Leaving aside the issue of whether “people with knowledge of the Dodgers’ universe” could be the janitor and Mrs. McCourt’s personal trainer for a second, this raises some real issues. The article goes on to say that Jo005_05.jpge Torre would be the likely target, and while I’ve described why I think that’s stupid already (why bother paying a new guy way more money than the current guy, when they’re very similar managers and we’ve got plenty of good young arms for Torre to ruin??), it’s sort of besides the point here.

If the Dodgers were planning on upgrading from Griddle to either Torre or Girardi, why are we just finding out about this now? Why was Little left twisting in the wind for a month since the season ended, and why did Ned say he’s definitely coming back in 2008? It’s not as if it’s recent news that one of either Torre or Girardi would not be managing the Yankees next year. And if the goal was more pointed towards “not having Griddle” than specifically having Torre or Girardi, then what’s the point of waiting?

I wouldn’t have minded Girardi in town, and I certainly wouldn’t have minded Griddle being gone. I just really don’t see the point of the bizarre timing and murkiness of all of this, and I really don’t see the point of Torre, who’s a very similar type of manager.

I expect this to get ugly. Soon.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness msti-face.jpg