Girardi’s fate was sealed a while ago

A World Series title would not have been enough to save Joe Girardi.

In his first public comments this week since the Yankees parted with Girardi after 10 years as manager, managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said that his call would have been to move on, regardless of how the postseason ended.

“I felt like my decision was my decision,” Steinbrenner said.

“I’m sure there would have been more pressure, it maybe would have been a more difficult decision to make, but I still believe I would have made it because I felt that’s what’s best for the organization going forward.”

The more Steinbrenner talked, the more it was obvious it wasn’t a case of his simply acting on Cashman’s recommendation to get a new manager. “I wasn’t following his recommendation,” Steinbrenner said. “I agreed with it.”

More Yankees

Here’s one resume-popper teams won’t find in just any managerial candidate. When the team interviewed Hensley Meulens to replace Girardi, Meulens emphasized not only his communications skills, but that he can do said communicating in five languages. Meulens was born in Curacao and speaks English, Spanish, Japanese, Dutch and Papiamento.

Cubs

While most fans assume

Notebook

Jake Arrieta is leaving, one who isn’t so positive might surprise you: Scott Boras, Arrieta’s agent. He said the Cubs certainly could afford him — if they wanted him. “If you ever want to position a franchise economically to be where they are, they may have increased their franchise value by a billion dollars in three or four years,” Boras said at the general managers meetings.

Elsewhere

Any team’s pursuit of prized Japanese import Shohei Otani will have to remain on hold until early December, when Major League Baseball hopes to have finalized a new posting system with Nippon Professional Baseball. The previous system expired Nov. 1. Otani is a pitcher and position, which has some teams pondering whether to use him as both.