Time to cancel the XM subscription, then. From the New York Daily News’ Sam Borden and Adam Rubin :
The Yankees are looking to overhaul their coaching staff this winter and have their sights set on former Phillies manager Larry Bowa (above) to be the third-base coach in 2006, sources told the Daily News on Thursday. The Yanks are also said to be in negotiations to bring back Lee Mazzilli as bench coach.
Bowa was one of the topics discussed during Torre™s sit-down with George Steinbrenner in Tampa on Monday, according to sources.
Roy White, who coached first base for the Yanks last season, is likely to be cut loose and it™s possible that Luis Sojo, who was the third base coach, could shift over to first though he might also be let go.
Sojo is incredibly popular within the team, but his decisions as third-base coach often drew criticism from club executives and fans. The majority of the time, Torre stood up for Sojo but there were instances when the former infielder made choices that were indefensible.
When Sojo ran Derek Jeter into a first-inning out against the Angels in April, for example – taking away a second-and-third, nobody out situation for the heart of the Bombers order – there was little that could be said to defend him.
œLuis was little over-aggressive there, Torre said at the time. œWe let them off the hook. One factor that could allow Sojo to remain with the Yankees is his relationship with the Spanish-speaking players; Sojo quickly developed a strong relationship with Robinson Cano and whenever Torre had an issue with Cano he would typically ask Sojo to be involved in the conversation or even just speak to Cano on his own.
In Wednesday’s Daily News, gossip maven Lloyd Grove made light of recent claims by the mother of Alex Rodriguez that her son’s poor ALDS performance against the Angels could be traced to the recent death of a beloved uncle. Said Grove, “We all grieve in different ways,” going on to make the following claim of A-Rod :
The other night – a few nights after the Yankees succumbed to the Los Angeles Angels 5-3 – A-Rod took his mourning to the Chelsea nightspot Cain, where he danced, drank and made merry with a group of pals until well past 3 a.m.
“He arrived early, with two women and a guy, and requested that they pump the hip hop,” reports a Lowdown spy. “They got two bottles of Grey Goose vodka and kept getting up to get other people into the club. By the end, there were 10 or 12 of them. The women were dancing all around the table, and A-Rod seemed to be enjoying that.”
Yesterday the Yankees’ flack, Rick Cerrone, scoffed to Lowdown: “What comment would I have? The season is over. Have a nice day.”
Since Steinbrenner likes to have two front offices (one in New York, on in Tampa), a “back-up” manager for Torre can’t be all that surprising, I suppose. Maybe its because I came of age as a Yankees fan in the 80s, but I can can easily imagine a scenario wherein the Yankees get off to a slow start in 2006, and Steinbrenner decides that Torre is too “laid back” to motivate the team, and replaces him with red-ass manager extraordinaire, Larry Bowa, who’ll “light a fire” under these mollycoddled players. Ugh.
papers and yack radio are making it sound like this was Torre’s idea. And Bowa isn’t the kinda guy (so he claims) who’d be looking to fuck over a colleague.
That said, Bowa in Steinbrenner’s employ is a potentially explosive combination.
It would have to be a _very_ slow start for George to pull the trigger given the money Torre is owed.
oh please let this happen. Bowa’s “all smiles” personality should be just the thing to make that collection of individuals into a real team.
with George’s pathological hang up about former Mets, I think there’s only one real choice for the new bench coach : Wally Backman.