Yankees baseball blog

Girardi signs 3 year deal

Item No. 1 on Brian Cashman's offseason checklist is complete.

The Yankees Friday will officially announce a new three-year contract with manager Joe Girardi, the two sides having agreed to a deal worth $9 million. The pact includes incentives that can be worth an additional $500,000 based on how far the Yankees advance in the postseason.

The sides were putting the finishing touches on the contract Thursday, setting up a conference call to formally announce it.

The deal comes as no surprise, as both Girardi and Cashman indicated a desire to get it done during their season-ending press conferences on Monday.

Girardi is 287-199 in the regular season during his three years as Yankees manager, reaching the postseason in two of those campaigns. (News)

Girardi focused on Yankees, for now

Certain members of the Chicago media are so convinced Joe Girardi will be moving to the Windy City, you would think his next big decision is where to bat Alfonso Soriano next season as manager of the Cubs.

When Girardi entered the Yankees’ U.S. Cellular Field dugout today from the tunnel leading from the clubhouse to the field, he turned right and saw a gathering of cameras, recorders and notebooks ready to attack him with questions about managing the Cubs in 2011.

Girardi answered a few housekeeping questions concerning Andy Pettitte’s left groin before a rude TV dope cut the Yankees manager off with a self-absorbed question.

No matter how many different ways Girardi was asked about returning to manage the team he played for twice and grew up watching from the Wrigley Field bleachers, the message remained the same.

"My focus is [with the Yankees]," said Girardi, whose club started last night’s game against the White Sox tied with the Rays for the AL East lead. "The Steinbrenner family has treated me great. Brian Cashman, to the guys in the room, for the entire organization I have to do what’s best." (Ny Post)

Girardi facing enormous pressure

Joe Girardi knows the deal as well as he knows his way out to the mound. He's right about using only three starters in the postseason if the Yankees win, tonight or tomorrow night. He's right if Andy Pettitte does the job in Game 6 on three days' rest that A.J. Burnett didn't do Monday night. Or he's right if this thing plays all the way out and CC Sabathia carries everybody across the finish line. Girardi just better be right about three days' rest for these guys after being up three games to one.

Because if the Yankees blow this Series, if the Phillies come all the way back, then Yankee fans are going to wonder how the Yankees could spend $206 million on baseball players and not have enough left under the bed to buy a reliable fourth starter. They will wonder at the same time about how much they think they could get for a copy of "The Joba Rules" on Ebay about now. Continue

Girardi's expectations sky high

Five games into the 1998 season, Joe Torre's job was in jeopardy. The Yankees were 1-4, and despite winning the World Series just two years earlier and reaching the postseason the previous fall, the poor start was enough for the chair in the manager's office to start heating up.

Joe Girardi remembers that time well. As a catcher on that team, he played a significant role in both the 1-4 start and the 113-44 record that followed, culminating in the second of Torre's four championships.

Now, more than a decade later, Girardi is the one on the hot seat. And his team hasn't even played a game. Continue

Girardi make or break in 09?

Like everybody else in the Yankees' universe, manager Joe Girardi has his fingers firmly crossed the latest - and largest - distraction in Alex Rodriguez's career doesn't turn into a set of pinstriped cement shoes.

The Yankees need Rodriguez's muscle in the middle of the lineup in order to reach October. And for Rodriguez to produce he must overcome the demons that have long danced in his head and are doing the cha-cha these days after he admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs this past week. Continue

Joe Girardi throws no curveballs, says Yankees need new starters

In what could be perceived as an open casting call to elite free-agent-to-be pitchers such as CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, Joe Girardi said Monday there would be "a conscious effort" to upgrade the Yankees' starting rotation this winter.

Girardi headed into what figures to be an offseason of uncertainty for the Yanks by saying, "The project is, in a sense, big, because we probably have to add a few people to the rotation. But the whole scope of things, you wouldn't necessarily say that you have to fix everything. The focus is the rotation." Continue

Joe not worried about Joba

After watching Joba Chamberlain throw 35 pitches in a bullpen yesterday, Joe Girardi believes Chamberlain will pitch for the Yankees this season even though he didn't know if it will be as a starter or reliever. "I am not worried about Joba. He will pitch for us in the big leagues," Girardi said of the prized right-hander who has been out since Aug. 4 with rotator cuff tendinitis. "I don't have concerns. We all have tendinitis. I don't have any doubt he will pitch this year."

Rotation or relief? "We envision him as a starter but we will see how the rehab goes and how much time we have left," Girardi said. "We are taking it a day at a time with Joba. You can't rush it."  Continue

No formula to Joe's decisions

Joe Girardi confided yesterday that during troubled times some of the best encouragement comes from his wife, Kimberly. Perhaps one of her pep talks might be useful again after the way the Yankees went life-or-death with the lowly Royals before pulling out a 3-2 victory in 13 innings at the Stadium.

A win is a win, thanks to Brett Gardner's single through the left side of the infield that scored Robinson Cano to end the marathon. But the Yankees still looked like a team barely hanging on to its season with a manager who needed a victory as much as his players. Continue

In Subway transfer, pressure's now on Joe Girardi and not Willie Randolph

During the ninth inning Sunday night at Yankee Stadium, the lame-duck cathedral sounded as if there were only Met fans left in the Bronx. The visitors were up by nine, on the way to an 11-2 clobbering. The fans with the curlicue N-Y's on their caps stood and cheered, alone, triumphant.

It was hard to imagine a more humiliating moment for the Yanks and their new manager, Joe Girardi. Their two best starters were knocked around like bums for two days by cross-city rivals, who had scored a total of 18 runs in 18 innings - not counting a three-run homer by Carlos Delgado, incorrectly ruled foul by overzealous, overruling umpires. Continue

Girardi psyched for series

- Joe Girardi is well-acquainted with the Subway Series. He participated in the inaugural Yankees-Mets series in 1997, then again in 1998 and 1999, and served as the Yankees' bench coach in 2005. Yet managing the Yankees in this weekend's series will be a new experience for Girardi.

"To me, it's almost like a playoff atmosphere, because the fans get so into it," Girardi said. "I think it's enjoyable. I think it's great for the game." Girardi didn't want to talk about the Mets too much before the final game of the Yankees-Rays series, as his focus remained on the Rays. But, Girardi has a good idea of what the series will mean to the fans in New York. Continue