Yanks offer Bowa third base coach job

[missionhockey21]

10/20/2005 6:40 PM ET
Yanks offer Bowa third base coach job
By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

Larry Bowa has been offered the job of third base coach for the Yankees next season, the former Phillies manager told MLB.com on Thursday.

Bowa, who has been working this season as a baseball commentator for ESPN and XM Radio, said he has had several conversations in the past two days with Yankees manager Joe Torre and general manager Brian Cashman, and he expects to speak to Cashman again this weekend.

Bowa said he hasn't made up his mind about whether he wants to take the position.

"We're still talking," he said.

Cashman couldn't be reached for comment.

One of the sticking points for Bowa apparently is whether Cashman will return in the same capacity next season. Cashman's current contract expires at the end of the month and he has yet to make a decision.

Bowa had many years of experience as a third base coach in between his two managing stints for the Padres in 1987-88 and the Phillies from 2001 to 2004. He took the third base coach job in Philadelphia after the Padres dismissed him during the 1988 season and held the post until Terry Francona became the Phillies manager in 1997.

After that, Bowa worked for three years on the third base line for the Angels under Terry Collins and then one year under Lou Piniella with the Mariners. He replaced Francona as the skipper in Philadelphia in 2001 and had a .522 winning percentage (337-308) in his four seasons with the Phillies.

Bowa was dismissed, though, when the Phillies were unable to make the playoffs in 2004, as was general manager Ed Wade after this past season. Wade hired and dismissed Bowa, replacing him last year with Charlie Manuel.

Bowa has generated some interest this offseason for managing opportunities in Oakland and Los Angeles. His name is also on a list of candidates to manage Team USA next March in the first World Baseball Classic, said Bob Watson, Major League Baseball's vice president of on-field discipline and general manager of Team USA.

The Yankees are currently in the process of overhauling their coaching staff. Torre announced last week that he would return in 2006 for his 11th season as the team's manager. But since the Angels eliminated the Yankees in this year's American League Division Series, pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre has retired and bench coach Joe Girardi was named to replace the departed Jack McKeon as manager of the Marlins.

Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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[RockSports17]

Very interesting. Bowa is a smart man, and I'd definitely welcome him to NY.

[love_that_reefer]

Bowa will light a fire under those Yanks and get the in line. Bowa is not afraid to shout

[BIG COUNTRY]

I love Bowa, that guy is the man.

[Saber]

There's a reason he keeps getting fired. For all I know, he could be the greatest third base coach ever. So what? How many wins does that get you?

[Hmark6]

So does that mean Roy White is getting squeezed out?

[love_that_reefer]

Bowa has been fired less than Torre. Bowa has a winning record managing and determining how many wins a third base coach can get you is impossible.

[Saber]

Then unless the guy is obviously making bad decisions, who cares?

[love_that_reefer]

They do more than just coach third base.

[love_that_reefer]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2202819

Larry Bowa is set to become third-base coach of the New York Yankees.

At the World Series as an ESPN analyst, Bowa said he's spoken with both Yankees manager Joe Torre and general manager Brian Cashman. Before Bowa's deal can be finalized, Cashman must decide whether to accept a new contract from New York -- his current deal expires Oct. 31.

"Brian and I talked. We're pretty much on the same page," Bowa said Monday as the Houston Astros took batting practice. "Nothing's been finalized."

A former manager of the San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies, Bowa said he's prepared to work for Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who doesn't hesitate to second-guess his coaches.

"You'll be on the hot seat. You don't like it, don't take the job," Bowa said. "Everybody's got a boss -- I don't mean that 'The Boss.' Everybody's got a higher-up that you have to account for, and that's the way it is."

Bowa was a five-time All-Star as a player, and he managed San Diego in 1987 and 1988, and Philadelphia from 2001-4. He was a third-base coach for the Phillies (1988-96), the Angels (1997-99) and Seattle (2000).

"If another organization had called me, I'd have probably told them 'No thanks, I like what I'm doing,'" Bowa told the New York Daily News in a phone interview last weekend. "What happened in Philadelphia kind of turned me off to it all. I thought I did a pretty good job -- we were over .500 three of the four years I was there except for one year when we missed by one game. And then for it to end the way it did, I'm just sort of down on it now.

"But the Yankees, that's a special circumstance. I'd be very selective right now, certainly, but the Yankees are one team that I think I'd enjoy being a part of," Bowa added.

Luis Sojo has been the Yankees' third-base coach for the past two seasons. He's likely to be asked to move to first base if Bowa is hired to coach third.

"That's a demotion," Sojo told The Post of possibly being asked to vacate the third-base post to become first-base coach. "I don't know. I got to see what they are going to do. When I find out, I will make a decision. I like third base and I didn't do a bad job."

Like Torre, Bowa thought the Yankees were worn out during their playoff loss to Los Angeles after a regular season in which they didn't clinch a playoff berth until the next-to-last game.

"The Yankees had to fight all year to get in," Bowa said. "When you're fighting all year and fighting all year, it wears you out a little bit."

[nyjunc]

No offense to Luis as I appreciate all he's done for us but this is a major upgrade. I am a little concerned about Guidry becoming the pitching coach(even though Ron is one of my all-time favorite Yankees) but I love bringing in Bowa.