Joe Girardi has been named manager of the New York Yankees. It’s a 3-year deal worth an estimated $7.5 million. That’s a little more than the slap in the face offered to the departed Joe Torre. On the bright side, Girardi is less entrenched than Torre was, which should make him a little easier for the Steinbrenner kids to push around.
Girardi probably deserves better. As he was in Florida, he’s being set up to fail. With the Marlins, his problem was that he couldn’t drive that franchise into the ground and force the team to move elsewhere. Now he gets …read more

The headline reads “Dodgers release Tatis, make Billingsley reliever” but if you read the fine print, you’ll notice that right-hander Chad Billingsley isn’t being converted to a reliever; rather, he’ll be used as one to start the 2007 season. Quoth Dodgers skipper Grady Little:
We still feel like he’s going to be a great starter in the big leagues, but we feel he’s still got some learning to do. He’ll learn a lot in this role for us, and before you know it, he’ll be going seven or eight innings in the big leagues.
In other words, Little is employing the Earl …read more