Recently, even though it did not get as much coverage in the media like Jeter’s Sportsman of the Year, Joe Girardi was awarded March of Dimes Sportsman of the Year.
Before the luncheon the Yankees manager obliged and provided his thoughts on a number of offseason topics in relation to his team.
On the Yankees getting younger this winter: “You’re always trying to improve our team. We do have an older team, and that is a concern. We got younger last year and we’ll try to possibly get a little younger this year, but I’m not sure if we will or not.”
On the lack of movement this offseason: “There’s not a lot going on right now, and you want to know what you’re going to have when you go into spring training. As we saw last year, a lot of guys didn’t sign until real late, so I know it’s going to take time.”
On the Yankees not talking to him about a contract extension: “It doesn’t bother me. I’m under contract, I’m very happy with that and I feel that I’m very fortunate to be under contract. We’ll worry about that when it’s the time.”
On Roy Halladay: “There are some pretty good players out there, and as a manager, you’d like to have everyone. There’s a lot of discussion, but we don’t know if he’s going to be moved or not. … If he is moved, wherever he goes, he’s going to be extremely beneficial and make a significant impact.”
On Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui: “We’d love to be able to say that next year we’re going to have the same offense that we had this year, but you can’t predict if some guys will have better years than last year or not as good. Those are two big bats; that’s 170 RBI that you need to replace. You do worry about that; it’s a concern of ours.”
Kevin Rozell
M. B. Rozell
Ray Rothfeldt
Eduardo Perez
