HOUSTON — We’ve arrived at a strange juncture in baseball’s evolution, where, if the Yankees actually did hire someone with any managing experience — even minor league, let alone major league — they’d be the exception to the new rule.
So if we disqualify (or at least minimize) managing experience from the list of necessities, who checks the most remaining boxes?
Raul Ibanez checks quite a few. At the least, the Yankees should consider him as a serious candidate as long as he’s interested. Actually, given the amount of times Brian Cashman has reached out to Ibanez for a reunion since Ibanez’s enjoyable 2012 in pinstripes, and given the qualities that Cashman appears to be prioritizing in his search for Joe Girardi’s successor, it would be surprising if the Yankees’ general manager didn’t contemplate Ibanez.