The New York Yankees ensured that Major League Baseball didn’t have a down day between Games 2 and 3 of the World Series by firing long-time manager Joe Girardi after 10 seasons with the club.
Ranked sixth on the club’s all-time wins list with a 2009 World Series title, an improbable trip to the 2017 ALCS where they came within one win of the World Series wasn’t enough to save Girardi’s job. Even if it was with a rebuilding team that not many expected to do that well back in April.
While there are no definitive favorites to take over the Yankees’ managerial job, there already has been some insight provided, which could help formulate a crude list of candidates.
According to YES Network’s Jack Curry, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman — who will be tasked with finding a new skipper — will be looking for someone that he has previously worked with.
That would immediately remove Dusty Baker, the former manager of the Washington Nationals, off the list despite being one of the most qualified candidates. Since 1993, Baker has managed four different teams while making the postseason nine times and nabbing a National League pennant with the San Francisco Giants in 2002.
But here are a couple names that could pop up in the team’s search:
Rob Thomson
Thomson is the current bench coach for the Yankees who has worked his way through the ranks of the organization for over 25 years.
He joined the club in 1990 as a third-base coach for single-A Fort Lauderdale before moving into the front office in 1998. He went from field coordinator to director of player development to vice president of minor league development in 2003. That same season, he was promoted to the major-league coaching staff.
In 2008, he was named bench coach under Girardi and returned to the position in 2015. If there is one person that knows the ins and outs of this organization, it’s him. But if the Yankees are looking for a fresh face and a new approach, they might stay away from him.
Tony Pena
Pena has been with the Yankees for quite a while himself, joining the team in 2006 as a first-base coach.
After Joe Torre left the club, Pena interviewed for the managerial position but lost out to Girardi. He was named bench coach in 2009 where he stayed until 2014 before moving back to first-base coaching duties.
He has managerial experience, most recently coaching the Dominican Republic national team in the World Baseball Classic.
Alex Rodriguez
This might be too far of a stretch, but A-Rod has proven during his time as an analyst for FOX Sports that he eats, sleeps and breathes baseball.
His analysis of the game is on the next level and it’s clear that he wants to get back into the grind of a Major League Baseball season. Rodriguez spent the final 12 seasons of his MLB career with the Yankees and was a part of their 2009 World Series-winning team.
At 42 years old, he is a younger candidate that could relate more to the players, who should be receptive of a man who crushed 696 career home runs in 22 big-league seasons.
