New York Yankees to Players: Please Sleep In

The New York Yankees are experimenting with a new plan by starting their workouts closer to noon, giving their players a chance to rest.

Can Penn State adopt this policy too? No more 8am classes for me!

Manager Joe Girardi is encouraging players to sleep in later than usual this spring. Instead of starting camp just after the rooster hollers, the Yankees will begin each day at 11:30 a.m, according to Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal. 

I said, ‘We start at 11:30. Don’t think if I see you here at 7:30 that I’m going to be impressed,'” Girardi said in an interview in his office at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Monday. ‘”It’s not going to impress me. Sleep! I’m giving you an opportunity to sleep. Sleep!’ That was one of the first things I told them in camp.”

The Yankees have come up with some interesting policies this spring. The team recently was caught lifting a motivation quote, and encouraging players to be more like Russell Wilson, and less like Cam Newton.

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After the coaching staff went through research to discover positive results from an increase in sleep, the Yankees then pushed back start times for workouts hoping to gain an advantage. When you look at the rigorous 162-game schedule the players are about to experience, some extra sleep now can’t be a bad thing.

And while some experts say it’s better for ball players to get up and complete their work early, this policy is pretty harmless. I can’t think of any reason to think it will have a negative impact on the team, and if guys really want to come in early to put in extra work, that’s still allowed.

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