Would Brian Cashman really hire someone like Josh Paul as the next Yankee manager, even if most fans in the Bronx have never heard of the guy?
More to the point, would Hal Steinbrenner be OK with that?
On Friday I asked that question of multiple people close to the situation and didn't get a no, apparently because the owner trusts Cashman to make the right call and isn't really concerned about name value now that the Yankees have young stars and a bright future.
OK, but if the GM is looking for an outside-the-box, analytically-savvy candidate, I've got one for him that does have name value:
David Cone.
If you listen to him doing Yankee games on YES, you know Cone was ahead of the curve on analytics, in terms of bringing it to the audience for years now, and he offers smart analysis about all phases of the game.
No less significant, as a top starting pitcher Cone was a big part of the Yankees' dynasty in the 1990s, a player that teammates considered a leader in the clubhouse, and someone who was great with the media.
The former Cy Young Award winner always had plenty of ideas about the state of the game, as a player representative who was involved in then-contentious bargaining discussions between the players union and owners.
On Friday, Cone didn't want to get into discussing himself as a potential candidate, but I've talked to him enough to know he'd be interested in talking to Cashman about managing.
The GM ought to make that call, as one Yankee person agreed:
"I think he'd do an incredible job _ he was more of a leader than most people knew, great at talking man-to-man with teammates. I just don't know if Cash would go that far outside the box."
There is precedent for it. Then-Astros' GM Gerry Hunsicker pulled Larry Dierker, also a former pitcher, out of the TV booth to manage in 1997, and his teams won four division titles in his five years on the job, before he moved on due to health reasons.
One thing that is becoming clear: if Cashman thought it would work, he could sell it to Hal Steinbrenner.
"Cash has built up a lot of equity with everything he's done to improve the team and the farm system in the last few years," was the way one Yankee person put it. "He already had the trust of ownership, but now it's on a different level."
And then there's this:
"Hal knows he has a team with young stars that fans love again and doesn't need a name manager to help sell it," another person said. "And he's bought into the analytics philosophy that the team is good enough to win no matter who is managing, as long as he's competent."
That would seem to open the door for someone like Paul, the organizational catching coordinator who I've heard Cashman speak highly of in the past, in terms of his coaching and people skills, though not specifically as a managerial candidate.
Would the GM really go that route? Well, I do remember him telling me a decade ago that if he hadn't hired Girardi in 2008, the guy he liked was Trey Hillman, then a Yankee minor-league manager who never played in the big leagues.
I'm not sure Cashman actually would have had the guts to hire someone that unknown to follow a legend like Joe Torre. But as it turned out, Hillman eventually did get hired by the Royals and flopped badly, lasting barely more than two seasons.
At least Paul played in the big leagues as a backup catcher for nine seasons, though none with the Yankees.
Anyway, people I spoke to on last week said that Cashman does think highly of Paul, but none of them knew how seriously the GM is considering him as a candidate.
The same people seemed to think bench coach Rob Thomson would be very much in the running, with one saying, "He's analytics-savvy, and has a lot of Girardi's qualities, only more easy-going."
As for reaction to a couple of other potential candidates:
Jay Bell, the former major leaguer who is the Yankees' Class-A manager in Tampa?
"Too much like Girardi," one person said. "Pretty high-strung."
Kevin Long, the Yankees' former hitting coach who was once a Cashman favorite, but wound up getting fired after the 2014 season? After two years as Mets' hitting coach, Long made a good impression interviewing for the Mets' job, before losing out to Mickey Callaway.
"There's some kind of issue there," one person said, meaning between Long and Cashman. "It might be that he talked too much (to the press) or that he was too close to A-Rod. But I'd be surprised (if he got hired)."
