Baseball News From Yesterday - Joe Girardi To Manage The Dodgers

his agent is planting stories to assist in him getting the Yankees job? I don't doubt LA is exploring other alternatives at this point.

I'm not sure about the story plant.  I do not have that impression about Olney although he was on ESPN this morning saying he believes girardi gets the Yankees job.

Girardi update
Everybody is REALLY tightlipped on this thing, but this is what I was able to gather today, and what I just filed for tomorrow's paper

By Tony Jackson
Staff Writer
It now appears that there was at least some truth to an internet report earlier this week that the Dodgers are talking to former Florida manager Joe Girardi about a position with the club. But it doesn't look like the Dodgers are trying to make Girardi their next manager.
Not yet, anyway.
According to multiple sources, Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti has been in contact with Girardi about what is expected to be an opening on the coaching staff. More specifically, Girardi potentially would become manager Grady Little's bench coach if Girardi isn't named manager of the New York Yankees. That would position Girardi as Little's eventual successor, and the fact discussions with Girardi reportedly are taking place without Little's involvement would seem to put Little in an awkward position if Girardi joins his staff.
For the second day in a row, Colletti didn't respond to multiple phone messages left at his office. Steve Mandel, Girardi's Chicago-based agent, also didn't respond to a message left on his cell phone.
``The Dodgers won't be making any news until after the World Series,'' said Camille Johnston, the club's senior vice president for communications, in adherence with commissioner Bud Selig's edict that teams avoid upstaging the game's premier event.
Girardi is one of three candidates, along with Don Mattingly and Tony Pena, to replace Joe Torre as Yankees manager. While Mattingly is the favorite because he is believed to be the top choice of owner George Steinbrenner and Steinbrenner's sons, Hank and Hal, others in the Yankees front office are said to strongly prefer Girardi.
It isn't clear whether the position with the Dodgers has reached the point of being a guaranteed fallback for Girardi if he doesn't get the Yankees job.
On the surface, adding Girardi to the Dodgers staff would appear to instantly put Little on the hot seat next spring as he enters his third season at the helm. The Dodgers are coming off a disappointing 82-80 season and fourth-place finish in the National League West. Girardi and Colletti have known each other since at least 1989, when Girardi made his major-league debut as a catcher for Chicago while Colletti was the Cubs' media-relations director.
Girardi was the N.L. Manager of the Year with the Marlins in 2006, his only previous season as a big-league manager, but he nevertheless was fired after that season because of a rift with owner Jeffrey Loria. Girardi, 43, is fiery and energetic. That is in stark contrast to the reserved Little, who didn't seem to have a remedy for the clubhouse disharmony that bubbled to the surface late in the season and might have contributed to the team's downfall.
Little, who is signed through next season with an option for 2009, went home to Pinehurst, N.C., shortly after the season to decide what changes he wanted to make on his staff. But almost a month into the offseason, there has been no word on those changes. Every member of the staff, whose contracts all expire on Dec. 31, was given permission after the season to seek jobs elsewhere, but that didn't necessarily mean Colletti or Little wanted them to leave.
The Dodgers need a hitting coach to replace Bill Mueller, who is returning to the front office. Little also was believed to be strongly considering replacing bench coach Dave Jauss. Multiple sources said last week that Jauss was close to accepting a position with Pittsburgh, a claim Jauss later denied.

Rosenthal's column:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7379870

RG-It is pretty sad the way they are handling this...feel bad for Grady. It isn't his fault that two veterans of the game acted like two little kids when their playing time was cut, and that Schmidt and Wolf, who were counted on to produce about 25-28 wins gave them 10. Grittle made some bad in-game managerial decisions down the stretch, but one thing he was not afraid to do was play the youngsters...gave them a shot...and THEY produced for him.

OLNEY

* Old pal Ken Rosenthal is hearing the same kind of Dodger stuff that was reported here, adding that Joe Girardi is said by once source to have an offer to manage in hand. Tony Jackson writes that the Dodgers are talking about a position for Girardi.

It'll be fascinating to see how this plays out. Frank McCourt and Ned Colletti have not returned multiple messages, so we'll guess at some of the scenarios they are considering:

1. If the Yankees hire Don Mattingly, the Dodgers could hire Girardi, with whom Colletti is very close from their days with the Chicago Cubs.
2. If the Yankees hire Girardi, then the Dodgers could hire Joe Torre. Remember, a week ago, Girardi was in limbo, while waiting to see how Torre's future with the Yankees would play out. Now Torre may be in limbo, while Girardi's possible future with the Dodgers may play out.
3. The Yankees could hire Girardi and the Dodgers could pass on Torre, and the L.A. front office could say that Grady Little has been their guy all along and they can't imagine where any of these published reports are coming from. Of course, that would be a truth-bender.

Kenny is right in saying how badly they look by allowing Little to twist in the wind. Talked to a lot of folks in the game the last two days who ask the same questions: What about Grady? Have they told him anything?

Apparently not.