Friday Notes: Pitching Coach, Payroll, Lineup, CC, More

Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman spoke to the media via conference call today and hit on a few topics, so lets’ round it all up. All the info below comes courtesy of RAB fave Marc Carig…

• Girardi and Cashman have brainstormed about potential pitching coaches, but so far they have not yet reached out to anyone nor have they scheduled any interviews. Cashman doesn’t expect the process to move quickly, which is kinda surprising. He added that bullpen coach Mike Harkey and Triple-A Scranton pitching coach Scott Aldred are candidates for the job.
• Cashman on hitting coach Kevin Long: “I think he’d like to stay. We’d like to keep him. I think he’s exceptional at what he does.” K-Long’s contract is up, and I suspect he’s seeking a considerable raise and multiple years. He deserves it.
• “Nothing’s really going to happen until I sit down with my bosses,” said Cashman. He’ll meet with Hal Steinbrenner and whoever else on Monday and Tuesday in Tampa. The 2011 payroll will be hashed out during those meetings.
• Beyond pitching, Cashman doesn’t think the team “needs a lot of changes.” The only change they need as far as the lineup goes is for certain guys to get back to performing up to their full potential. That’s the biggest upgrade they could make.
• “Our lineup is maybe something that could change next year,” said Girardi. I think that’s code for “Derek Jeter won’t keep hitting leadoff if he doesn’t get on base more than 34% of the time,” or at least I hope it is.
• CC Sabathia was dealing with his knee issue since early in the season, and it had no bearing on why he wasn’t used in relief in Game Six of the ALCS. They suspect it may have affected his mechanics, which is kinda crazy since he still had a Cy Young caliber season. Sabathia had surgery to repair the minor meniscus tear in his right knee today and will need three weeks to rehab, as expected. It won’t hurt his offseason training at all, he usually doesn’t start throwing again until after Christmas anyway.
• As far as leaving for the Cubs, Girardi said he “didn’t really think about leaving the Yankees.” The idea of him bolting for Chicago was mostly fan and media speculation, anyway. Two and two made three, then we tried to squeeze it into four.