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Yankees break tradition by publicizing managerial candidates

Fired New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi makes a call from the dugout. Photo: David J. Phillip / AP

"Yankees Are Crowdsourcing Their Manager Vetting Process: Most sports teams try to conduct coach or manager searches privately. The Yankees are parading their candidates in front of the news media, one by one," the N.Y. Times' Yankees beat writer, Billy Witz, writes:

"In professional sports, the search for a new coach or manager is typically done in the shadows, to protect a team's competitive advantage as well as the candidates' privacy. Private jets may be dispatched ... So far, each of the five people the Yankees have interviewed [to replace fired manager Joe Girardi] ... has been placed on a conference call with the news organizations that regularly cover the team."

  • "General Manager Brian Cashman said there were two purposes for the highly unusual decision to publicize the list of candidates."
  • "First, the news media may dig up information on a candidate that the Yankees' own background search has not."
  • "The other benefit is to observe how the candidates might handle questions from the news media — a significant and often stressful part of a Yankees manager's duties. The manager is required to do it twice a day, 162 times a year in front of what is typically the largest media contingent in baseball."

Step up to the plate.