Marlins, Girardi reach deal
The crowds will be smaller, the budget tighter, the odds of winning longer. Still, the chance to manage lured Joe Girardi from the New York Yankees to the Florida Marlins.
The Yankees bench coach accepted a three-year contract Wednesday to take over the Marlins.
It’s the first managerial job for Girardi, who also interviewed for the Tampa Bay vacancy. He spent 15 years as a major league catcher, then went into broadcasting in 2004 and came out of the booth to join New York’s staff this season.
“I am extremely pleased to have Joe in our organization, and I look forward to his input as we start focusing on next year,” Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said in a statement. “Joe was known as an intelligent player with great leadership skills, and he will bring those traits to his new position.”
Girardi declined to comment until today, when he’ll be introduced at a news conference.
He was apparently Loria’s first choice from the outset and was the first candidate to interview with the Marlins owner. A follow-up interview took place Oct. 12 in New York with Loria and general manager Larry Beinfest.
The 41-year-old Girardi succeeds Jack McKeon, who led the Marlins to the World Series title in 2003 but resigned after the team finished a disappointing 83-79 this year.
Dodgers groom stadium
More physical changes are coming to 43-year-old Dodger Stadium, courtesy of owner Frank McCourt.
A multimillion dollar off-season construction project calls for replacing seats in the primary seating bowl in muted pastels, repairing the concrete in the seating bowl and adding what the team calls “traditional yet modern” box seats in the baseline seating area.
The seats haven’t been replaced since the mid-1970s, when they went from wooden to plastic.
Improving sight lines in the existing baseline seating sections is planned. There will be boxes of four to eight seats with a table amenity, which will require removing several rows and about 500 seats to create extra legroom.
Senators ready steroids bill
While baseball fans focus on the upcoming World Series, Sen. Jim Bunning said that lawmakers are preparing a bill to crack down on steroids use that will move as soon as the series ends.
Bunning, R-Ky., a pitcher elected to the Hall of Fame in 1996, said he’s working with Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., to get the bill ready for committee consideration within weeks.
At a Commerce Committee hearing last month, Bunning and McCain pressed baseball union head Donald Fehr to work with Major League Baseball to come up with its own drug-testing policy.
Fehr told the senators that he expected to reach an agreement with MLB Commissioner Bud Selig on a testing policy soon, at least before the start of the World Series.
Orioles land Mazzone
Pitching coach Leo Mazzone and the Baltimore Orioles reached agreement on a three-year contract, hours after the Atlanta coach ended discussions with the New York Yankees.
“The deal is finished business,” according to a source close to the negotiations, who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
Mazzone, considered to be one of the finest pitching coaches in the majors, has been in the Atlanta organization since 1979 and was pitching coach of the Braves since 1990. He will replace Ray Miller, who served as pitching coach of the Orioles since June 26, 2004.
Orioles executive vice president Mike Flanagan declined comment, and Baltimore manager Sam Perlozzo, a longtime friend of Mazzone, did not return a phone call from the Associated Press.
Mazzone, 57, and Perlozzo grew up together in Cumberland, Md. The competed on different teams in American Legion ball, then became best friends. Perlozzo was the best man at Mazzone’s wedding.
Clearing the bases
St. Louis reliever Al Reyes had reconstructive elbow surgery Tuesday to repair a torn ligament. The right-hander was one of the Cardinals’ top middle relievers, going 4-2 with a 2.15 ERA in 65 appearances. … Almost 14 years after Milwaukee traded infielder Dale Sveum, the team is bringing him back as its third-base coach. Sveum replaces Rich Donnelly, who was let go at the end of the season. Sveum was most recently the third-base coach for Boston for two years. … Texas hired Thad Levine from Colorado to become its assistant general manager.