One Joe is out and another Joe should be in.

An era ended yesterday when Joe Torre rejected the Yankees one-year offer. And while a new one will begin this spring, it should be Joe to lead the team. Joe Girardi, that is.

Right now the front-runner is Don Mattingly, but I think that would be a mistake. Mattingly is a quiet guy and I’m sure he learned priceless lessons being Torre’s bench coach, but Donny is mostly offensive-minded, which leads one to wonder whether he can he handle next year’s young pitching staff.

Tony LaRussa is a non-issue as the Yankees won’t hire an outsider and apparently all of those rumors are LaRussa driven. This leaves the best choice as Joe Girardi.

In 2006, Girardi lead the Marlins to wild card contention with the lowest payroll in baseball. Imagine what he could do with one of the highest. He was named National League Manager in 2006 and listening to him talk baseball broadcasting games on YES network and Fox, it’s obvious the guy knows the game of baseball inside and out.

Girardi was also a catcher, a position that directly correlates with making good managers. While Torre, also a former catcher, had Girardi as his bench coach in 2005, Torre was quoted as saying, ‘Catchers are probably the closest to a manager.’ Catchers have to deal with pitchers for one and that is going to be a crucial role as next year’s Yankees manager is going to have to deal with a lot of young arms.

And Girardi had experience dealing with young players when he started six rookies in the Marlins opening day lineup. Three rookie pitchers under Girardi’s guidance ‘ Josh Johnson, Scott Olson and Anibal Sanchez (who threw a no-hitter that season) ‘ all received votes for Rookie of the Year.

Girardi has the personality, the knowledge and experience to lead a team. He can get the Yankees back to playing the kind of baseball they played in the late ’90s as Girardi has a reputation of playing small ball ‘ something recent Yankee teams have gotten away from. He has the respect of the players and the respect of the Yankees owner. In fact, Girardi’s first action as Marlins manager was to ban facial hair, a policy made famous by Steinbrenner.

I think it’s time for a new cup o’Joe.