Boland: Girardi will talk Cubs once --- and then that's it

CHICAGO

About halfway through Joe Girardi's spring training kickoff news conference Feb. 17 in Tampa, the question was asked, and not for the last time this season.

How did Girardi feel about entering the season essentially as a lame duck?

He was beginning the final year of the original three-year contract he agreed to when he became the Yankees' manager Oct. 30, 2007. The team, per its policy with all contracts, would let the deal expire before negotiating a new one.

"I've said all along I'm one of 30 guys that has a job in the big leagues as a manager," Girardi said that day in Tampa. "I consider myself pretty fortunate."

A week later, in his first meeting with reporters, Derek Jeter was asked a similar question about his expiring contract. He made his intentions about the topic clear. "It won't be a distraction,'' he said Feb. 24, "because I won't be talking about it."

True to his word, he discussed it that day and hasn't since.

Speculation and rumor about the identity of the next Cubs manager have become a runaway train since Lou Piniella's recent decision to step down immediately. Girardi, who grew up a Cubs fan in Illinois, began his major-league career with the team in 1989 and returned to the Cubs in 2000-02, decided this week to cop that strategy from his shortstop's playbook.

Girardi knows he'll face a multitude of questions from the Chicago media about the situation before tonight's game against the White Sox. He plans to address the questions . . . for the final time this season.

"I don't know what they're going to ask, but I'm going to do it on Friday and that will be it," he said Wednesday in Toronto.

His answers are unlikely to differ much from what he's said at points this week and earlier in the season, as Piniella had said he planned to step down after the year.

"It's just another thing you have to deal with, and I understand people want to know what you're thinking. I understand that, but my responsibility's here," Girardi said Wednesday.

Before Monday's game, he said: "That's something I'll have to deal with, but my focus is here. The big thing is, you don't want it to become a distraction. It's just not fair to anyone involved. This organization has been great to me."

By all accounts, the organization will want Girardi back. He is well-liked by team hierarchy, including by the duo that matters most, general manager Brian Cashman and co-chairman Hal Steinbrenner.

When Cashman said earlier in the week that Girardi's contract will be dealt with after the season, it was treated as news in some circles, though all he did was restate what he repeatedly said during spring training.

The organization's policy on contracts is clear, but what isn't transparent is Girardi's interest, or lack of interest, in the Cubs' job. He's been circumspect and likely will continue to be tonight. That's the prudent approach to the kind of questions members of the media love - questions that present the recipient with a no-win scenario.

Saying he's interested or even that he'll "listen" to offers in the offseason creates one firestorm. Giving a "no, no chance" that he'll hear out the Cubs or any other team creates another.

"I know I have a background there and I'm not going to skirt around my background there," Girardi said. "I grew up a Cubs fan, I played for the Cubs, but I'm not worried about that now. I'm worried about what we're doing now, and we're in a fight."

The fight with Tampa Bay for the AL East title continues tonight, with the Yankees and Rays tied for the lead at 78-49 and Tampa Bay hosting Boston in a big three-game series.

Any fight for Girardi's services, if there will be one, won't be waged - or spoken about by the manager - until later.