Love him or hate him is way too strong. He is a hard working employee who knows the territory and will do his best to bring the Yanks back into contention. The further the club gets away from the "only winning the WS is failure mentality" the sooner they will build a team that competes for the playoffs every year and advances when the ball bounces well.

kevin long and mick kelleher have been let go...

2) That's a drag.

https://twitter.com/feinsandnydn/status/520648647109664769

[2] I don't like letting go of Kevin Long, but it's clear that whatever he offered was largely ineffective with this bunch. He took the fall for a bunch of aging and/or lousy hitters.

yeah, the players all really seem to like K-Long.

also, i have a little personal thing with mick kelleher that makes me sad to see him go. i wouldn't expect anybody here to remember the long human interest comments i posted here a handful of years ago. it was back when the Yankees first played the Braves in interleague games here in Atlanta.

i went to the games early to see batting practice. i was really trying to catch a baseball for my middle nephew up in Queens. Mick Kelleher threw me a ball! it seemed like a little overhand lob from a pretty short distance but damn was there some serious strength behind the throw!

anyhow, i had noticed a little blonde boy nearby who wasn't interacting with the other kids and looked sad. physically, he reminded me of my nephew, so i decided to just give that kid the ball. soon after, his mom came up and told me that, out of the blue, the little boy had just been diagnosed with some kind of brain tumor and it didn't look good. she was also from NY and a Yanks fan and told me my gesture made the little boy's day and invited me to watch the game with them (he had an older brother who reminded me of my older nephew). it was really touching and wonderful! oh, and the Yanks won!

none of that would have happened if Kelleher didn't throw me the ball. i think of it every time i see him during the games...

why not bring Willie back as the infield/1B coach?!

i'd love to have Mookie Wilson on the team as a coach! : )

That is touching. The more time passes, the more sensitive I am to any sign of mortality as one would expect, especially when it involves children.

I'd love to see Willie Randolph back as a coach, but I kinda get the feeling Girardi would revert back to his early Captain Queeg spasms from season one. Mookie would be great for Brett and Ellsbury. The problem really is the roster. Too much OPP and hot dog fillers. There has to be a happy medium between Belly Full Of Guts and The Notebook.

1) I agree.

The Yankees need to look at more long range plans and although the term rebuilding hardly comes off their lips, when the payroll is close to 200 mil, they need to shake things up. A collection of old all-stars won't get it done. Look at the O's team, and look at the Royals. We need more team first players, and younger certainly wouldn't hurt either.

Now that the core four are all retired, it might be a good time to find a new identity with their team. Maybe ARod will pick up the mantle of leadership in between posing as a Centaur?

I feel bad for Long. I don't see how it's his fault that this team didn't hit. It's a bunch of guys who basically hit where they should at this point. We need better hitters, not simply a new hitting coach.

[5] that's a touching story indeed.

[7] i'm just an emotional person so those kinds of things always kind of make my eyes water.

[7] Echoing the above, deeply touching, indeed.