Even though I am from a younger generation of Yankee fan than Joe, I usually agree with his views on these things.  Manny does not fit in with what the Yankees are about, but it’s a tough call.  One factor that would give me pause would be our manager.  Even though I was critical of him at the end, I was always respectful of Torre’s greatest talent as a manager: His people skills and handling of players (A-Rod exception duly noted).  We don’t have that anymore.  We saw it in L.A., but if Torre was still the manager I might feel differently and not be so hesitant.  It might be taking a tremendous risk throwing Manny into the mix with Girardi.   Girardi strikes me as being less tolerant – shall we say. 

By the way, in my opinion, Manny would hit #4 and assuming no nonsense from Manny, put A-Rod down for his 4th MVP with that type of protection.