[新聞] Yanks' Schism Is Exposed as Stottlemyre Departs

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投手教練決定要離開了

Yanks' Schism Is Exposed as Stottlemyre Departs

From:Nytimes.com
By TYLER KEPNER
Published: October 13, 2005

The American League Championship Series is not taking place at Yankee
Stadium this week. But a cold war is raging.

There have been no indications that George Steinbrenner, the Yankees' principal
owner, plans to fire Manager Joe Torre, but neither has he endorsed him.
Steinbrenner had nothing to say yesterday, and Torre was silent, too, telling
the Yankees' media-relations department that he had no plans to speak publicly
this week.

Meanwhile, General Manager Brian Cashman has said nothing about his status.
Cashman, unsigned past Oct. 31, was at Yankee Stadium
yesterday, but would not discuss his future. These are touchy times around the
Yankees, who were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Los
Angeles Angels on Monday.

"The only thing anybody's thinking about is what happened," reliever Tanyon
Sturtze said. "We're all packing up our lockers a little bit too early.
Everybody's disappointed."

Sturtze stopped by the clubhouse to gather his things, joined by a few other
teammates; Robinson Cano, Shawn Chacon and Bubba Crosby also trickled in and
out. Some Yankees, including the pitching coach, Mel Stottlemyre, know they
will not be back.

"I think it's time for somebody new," Stottlemyre said. "I've been here 10
years. They obviously, probably, are going to want to make a change anyway.
I'll help them out a little bit. This is one change they don't have to make.
I'm making it for them."

Stottlemyre insisted several times that he was "leaving happy," but he admitted
he had grown weary of the tension between the team and the Tampa, Fla., front
office. Stottlemyre was amused by Steinbrenner's statement after the division
series that congratulated Angels Manager Mike Scioscia.

Asked if he had interpreted the statement as a shot at Torre, Stottlemyre
said:"Yeah. I laughed when I saw that. My first thought was, 'What about Joe?'
Joe did a hell of a job, too. To congratulate the other manager and not
congratulate your own, after what he's done this year, I laughed."

Steinbrenner's statement after the Yankees clinched the American League East
also included no mention of Torre, who is signed for two more years and $13
million. The contract may preclude Steinbrenner from firing Torre, but it has
not stopped him from essentially running off some of Torre's trusted allies.

Don Zimmer quit as bench coach after the 2003 season. Cashman, a fierce Torre
advocate, may leave after his contract expires to pursue general manager
openings in Philadelphia and, perhaps, in Washington.

Joe Girardi, the current bench coach, interviewed yesterday with the Florida
Marlins and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for their managerial vacancies. And now
Stottlemyre is leaving.

"It's going to be hard," said Luis Sojo, the third-base coach. "I've been with
these guys for 10 years. They've been a winning team, and Mel's been a big
part of it. It's going to be tough. That's the name of the game. You're in and
you're out. You've got to move on. We're going to miss him, that's for sure."

Asked if he wished the front office had shown more appreciation for him,
Stottlemyre said, "Maybe a little bit, yeah." But, he added: "I have no
problem with George. George has been good to me."

Still, Stottlemyre gave voice to the obvious schism between Tampa and New
York. Asked if the relationship must improve for the team to move forward,
Stottlemyre said: "In my opinion, yes. I don't know how to repair it, but in
my opinion, yeah, something needs to be done to have everybody always on the
same page."

Stottlemyre worked under unusual circumstances as the Yankees' pitching coach.
If a Yankees pitcher struggled - as Jose Contreras did in 2003 and Felix
Heredia in 2004 - Steinbrenner could summon him to Tampa to work with Billy
Connors, one of his closest advisers. Connors also oversees the Yankees'
injured pitchers and had little communication with Stottlemyre.

When Jaret Wright returned after months of working with Connors after a
shoulder injury, Steinbrenner quickly issued a statement lavishing praise on
Connors. Steinbrenner's only statement about Stottlemyre this season was
criticism, reported in USA Today in May.

Asked if Steinbrenner's favoring Connors bothered him, Stottlemyre said: "I'm
over that. It did for a while. I laugh at that, too."

But the criticism crystallized Stottlemyre's feelings. Stottlemyre said that
he had been leaning strongly toward leaving, and that he realized in May that
he was not wanted back. He has not spoken with Steinbrenner since spring
training.

As for speculation over Torre's status, Stottlemyre called it ridiculous.

"This has been, by far, the toughest year for him, and it's the best job he's
done," Stottlemyre said. "He's done a good job year in and year out, but this
year the job he's done was real special. He had a lot of things to battle
through."

Stottlemyre was referring to more than the Yankees' rough start and late
sprint to the division title. He was referring to the interference from above,
which his successor - Neil Allen, Ron Guidry, Joe Kerrigan, Gil Patterson or
someone else - will have to deal with.

Stottlemyre paused for several seconds when asked if he would encourage a
person to pursue the job of Yankees pitching coach.

"I'm not sure whether I would or not," he said, finally. "I would certainly
fill them in with a lot of the extra stuff that goes on with this. Sometimes,
you have to satisfy two separate groups of people, and it shouldn't be that
way."

INSIDE PITCH

Reliever Tanyon Sturtze said he would undergo a magnetic resonance imaging
exam on his right shoulder in the near future. Sturtze, whose fastball lost
velocity down the stretch, has a $1.5 million club option.

The Marlins and the Devil Rays are said to have strong interest in JOE
GIRARDi, but his agent, Steve Mandell, described yesterday's discussions as
preliminary. Mandell said both teams plan to meet again with Girardi, who
flew home to Chicago last night after the meetings in New York.

Alex Rodriguez sought the Yankees' coaches after Game 5 of the division series
and apologized for the way he played. Rodriguez was 2 for 15 with no runs
batted in. "He said, 'I'm sorry, guys,' " Luis Sojo said. "I said: 'It's not
your fault. Go home, get out of here and forget about it.' He felt like he let
us down. But it was not just Alex. It was everybody. It's a team effort. We
were supposed to accomplish something, and we didn't do it." Sojo, who retired
as a player after the 2003 season, will play again this winter in Venezuela,
where he needs about 60 hits for the league record. Sojo will manage the
Venezuelan team in the World Baseball Classic next March.

Talking about his collision in Game 5 with Gary Sheffield, which led to Adam
Kennedy's pivotal two-run triple, center fielder Bubba Crosby suggested that
neither he nor Sheffield called for the ball. "Neither one of us would have
heard each other, but I don't think either one of us knew, up until the last
second, if we could catch it," Crosby said. "We couldn't look at each other
and try to catch the ball at the same time."


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◆ From: 61.230.121.167
※ 編輯: benbrain        來自: 61.230.121.167       (10/14 00:38)
※ 編輯: benbrain        來自: 61.230.121.167       (10/14 00:40)
推 mountain76:唉..
推 merquise:Tampa 和 NY 那邊的分裂也搬上檯面了？
推 greenguy:沉默是金...
推 epipole:Stottlemyre 忍很久了