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

Preseason Picks Revisited
The story so far:

AL West
AL Central
AL East
NL West
NL Central

And now for our latest installment…

Mets – Only a historic collapse kept me from getting this one right. They were supposed to be the strongest team in the National League, and I had them losing to the Angels in the World Series.
Braves – You wonder what might have been if they hadn’t traded away Adam LaRoche for Mike Gonzalez and if Andruw Jones had shown up to play.
Phillies – At the beginning of the season, I didn’t think they had enough pitching. I still don’t, but it appears not to …read more

Something is rotten in the state of Maryland. The ballclub from Baltimore is in full free fall, and manager Sam Perlozzo has been let go. As everyone knows, when your superiors make poor decisions, you will be the one to suffer for it. Perlozzo ultimately couldn’t rise above his organization’s ineptitude, and now he is looking for work again.
The Orioles, meanwhile, are talking to former Florida Marlins manager Joe Girardi about the vacant position. Girardi, you may recall, led a team with a $15 million payroll to 78 wins last season. That’s a little less than Baltimore is paying Danys …read more