Yesterday, without thinking about the consequences, I Twittered the following: “In Tampa for my big job interview. Just saw Girardi in the airport parking lot. Small world.” I like letting people know what’s going on with me, but sometimes I should think before I tweet.
Yes, it’s true. I have been interviewing with the Yankees to be their manager next season. I am one of their top four candidates and we’re already talking salary, number of years and what I’ll be doing with my comic book publishing company and my new content management system while I focus on getting our team back to the World Series.
In case you hadn’t heard, I reported here first the news that Joe Torre had turned down his contract offer.
Blogs are all about transparency, so to give you an inside look at the process here is a message I sent to George Steinbrenner’s sons this morning:
Dear Hal and Hank,
I wanted to thank you again for the opportunity to interview with you yesterday. I’ve been giving your final question about the other candidates a lot of thought.
Here are my opinions on my managerial competition:
Tony Peña was a great catcher and we all know that catchers understand the game and how to manage it on average way better than any other position player, but he is too valuable to lose as first base coach.
Joe Girardi is a good kid. Another great catcher — the one who caught David Cone’s perfect game in ’99 — but management-wise I think he’s lacking. Sure he was National League Manager Of The Year two seasons ago, but that’s the National League. What if he puts a pitcher in the batting lineup by mistake? Plus, he’s a pretty good broadcaster on your own YES network. I think he deserves more time on camera.
And what can I say about Don Mattingly? First, he’s not a former catcher so managing doesn’t come naturally to him. Second, how can you trust a guy who is famous for stealing food from little kids? Sure, he was screwed out of the ’86 MVP award. (Who gives a pitcher both the Cy Young and the MVP award?) Of course it’s bogus, but is it really your responsibility to heal his old wounds by giving him Joe’s old job?
Anyway, I hope those were the kinds of assessments you were looking for. I’ve got a million more and I can’t wait to get started working with your organization.
Thank you again for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Brian Alvey
So there you have it. I could have gone the other way and focused on my competition’s positives, but why help them choose someone else for my job?
By the way, Hank and Hal used the word “bogus” like fifty times during my interview, so I used it in my note to them as a subconscious bonding tool. It’s a subtle thing, but as you can see I do subtle really well.
Brian Alvey 