It was a surprisingly quiet weekend as far as Joe Girardi media reports go, with the New York Yankees’ skipper considering a healthy offer from his current club to return to the team for the next few years. I wonder if the silence will break today …
Joe Girardi is so clearly the Cubs’ top choice for manager that they’ve communicated to his camp that they’re willing to beat any offer the Yankees make him, according to Mark Gonzalez. The Yankees’ offer is believed to be in the three-year, $13 to $15 million range, so the Cubs could have to make Girardi the top-paid manager in baseball to beat the Yankees’ offer (Angels manager Mike Scioscia makes about $5 million per year). Thing is, Girardi made clear that his decision will not come down to money – if that’s true, no sense in “beating” the Yankees’ offer, right? Call me cynical, but I’ll venture a guess that money plays at least a small part in the decision. If Girardi views the Cubs’ gig as almost as attractive, in total, as the Yankees’ gig, would a four-year, $24 million offer (just an example) be enough to sway him if the competing offer is just three years and $13 million?
There’s an unspoken expectation that we’ll hear something today on Girardi’s decision with respect to the Yankees’ offer. If Girardi is still trying to negotiate with the Yankees at this point, you can only assume that he either has no real interest in talking to other teams and just wanted to bid the Yankees up a little bit, or he doesn’t want to agree to a Yankees deal – whatever the amount – until he has a chance to talk to other teams. In other words, as is usually the case with sensitive discussions during which millions of dollars are at stake, we know very little.
If Girardi does make his decision today, and if it is to not accept the Yankees’ current offer, things could play out one of three ways: (1) the Yankees could decide to move on, and would grant Girardi permission to speak to other teams before his contract expires at the end of this month; (2) the Yankees could decide to move on, but not grant Girardi permission to speak to other teams (in which case the Cubs may have to hold open their managerial search until at least November 1); or (3) the Yankees and Girardi decide that they’re still close enough that they can continue negotiating.
Nick Cafardo says that the Cubs always knew it was going to be a long-shot to pry Girardi loose from the Yankees, and a Yankees source tells him that he believes Girardi will indeed return.
The latest run-down on Girardi and the managerial search from Patrick Mooney.
Jon Heyman goes to great lengths to get out a “hey, maybe, you-never-know” piece about Girardi and the Dodgers (who were one of the best teams in baseball and stand poised to win their divisional playoff series this week).
Update (10:22am CT): Andrew Marchand, who’s been handling this story quite well from the New York side, says the Yankees still haven’t received any word from Girardi on their offer. Marchand’s guess all along was that it was 70/30 that Girardi returns. I wonder how those numbers change as the days go by.
NEWSLETTER
