Interesting thoughts from Joel Sherman of the NY Post:

Funny, but Joe Torre was known as a guy who did not handle young players well, and it was part of the stew of reasons that so many upper Yankee management were anxious to get rid of him, and move to Girardi, who was seen as a younger man who was more capable of breaking in players. But let us remember that Torre did a fine job of integrating Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera into full-time roles with the champion 1996 Yankees. Of bringing Jorge Posada along. Of breaking in Cano and Chien-Ming Wang. And of getting the best out of Melky Cabrera. For Girardi, Cabrera has regressed horribly and so has Cano. Much of the high-level young pitching has faltered. For the record, like many of his recent Yankee teams, Torre's Dodgers are suddenly playing their best right now. Of course, a lot of that has to do with the arrival of Manny Ramirez. But don't overlook how important it is that the Torre Dodgers are getting the best out of Matt Kemp, a tool-shed player who before this year had people wondering if he would ever be able to put all of his skills and concentration together to be a winning player.