A Hard Working Manager....

The Cincinnati Enquirer:

Two weeks ago, Joe Girardi was in Orlando, Fla., huddling with coaches at the general managers' meetings to plan spring training for the Yankees. Last week, he was in the Dominican Republic at the team's new academy, viewing tryouts and speaking to the players, some as young as 16.
Joe Torre was often the only manager in the majors to skip the winter meetings. Girardi, meanwhile, is everywhere. The Yankees are not used to such offseason activity from their manager, but they like it.
"That's the whole point," Yankees vice president Hank Steinbrenner said. "He's an organization guy. He'll work with the entire organization. He'll be involved with Brian Cashman and the other people in the baseball office, including the scouts. He went down to the Dominican, of his own choosing, so the kids down there could get a chance to meet him.
"That's going to be his level of involvement. That's the way he is, and we think he's going to be a great manager to boot. We have very high hopes for Joe."

I`m happy to hear this. Imagine that, a manager that actually cares about the team in the off-season. Slowly I`m starting to like Girardi a lot more than Torre. Does this translate into wins? Maybe, at least if Girardi is still around a few years from now when some of these guys make the major leagues they`ll have a good relationship with him.

His reputation seems to be that he has a lot more energy than Torre and is more likely to make moves. Hank compared him to Billy Martin so the reputation looks like fact. Whatever happens it should be a fun year.