New York Yankees: It’s Time for Joe Girardi to Go
May 16, 2011 · Rick Weiner · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Coming as no surprise to anyone within shouting distance of the Tri-State area, or anyone who follows the Yankees, the Bronx Bombers have problems.
Nobody in the lineup not named Granderson can hit the ball right now.
Nobody in the starting rotation not named Burnett can get anyone out.
Nobody in the bullpen not named Rivera can do their job effectively.
When you combine these three factors, it causes a major problem.
Now, add in a general manager who has no clue how to handle aging, declining superstars who are past their prime, and a manager who comes off as a bumbling idiot when speaking. Cashman even had to take his “interview” with the equally as bumbling and idiotic Joe Buck and Tim McCarver on Fox, to try and spare the team even more embarrassment.
This, my friends, is a recipe for disaster.
It also begs the question—did the Yankees make the right decision in hiring Girardi in the first place?
World Series championship aside, Joe Girardi has been less than impressive as the Yankee skipper.
Sure, his win-loss record is good, but when you have that much talent on your team, it’s hard to lose a ton of games.
Managing a team is more than Xs and Os, and the fact that Girardi can’t make a decision without consulting his ‘magic book’ in the dugout is troubling, especially when the book leads him to make the wrong decision half of the time.
Did you ever see Joe Torre reach for a binder as big as your head before making every decision?
The answer, of course, is no. You saw him talk it over with his trusted bench coaches, whether it be Don Zimmer, Willie Randolph or Don Mattingly.
Players, even if they are too young to recall Mattingly as a player, know what he accomplished on the field. They respect the man, and listen intently when he says something. We’ve heard this time and time again from players, past and current, who have dealt with Mattingly as a coach and manager. Mattingly has said time and time again, most recently on Mike Francessa’s show on WFAN a few weeks ago, that he’d rather give a player bad news himself, then to let him find out any other way.
Don Mattingly, a beloved Yankee and current manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, was passed over for the managerial job by Brian Cashman and company in 2008.
Girardi, who was a human being last time I checked, certainly has some deep-rooted animosity towards Jorge Posada. Remember, it was Posada who took Girardi’s job away from him as starting catcher for the Yankees in 2000, though they had already been splitting time for a few years before then. It’s only human nature to be resentful towards the person who took your job away from you.
Which brings us to the other part of being a manager, and that is keeping the guys in the clubhouse happy and motivated. When you’ve already got a chip on your shoulder with a well-respected, long-time member of the team, well it makes for strange bedfellows to say the least.
Girardi seemingly has no clue how to handle the multiple personalities and egos in the locker room, which came to a boiling point on Saturday when, instead of calling Jorge Posada into his office and telling him that he’d be batting ninth, allowed Posada to find out by looking at the posted lineup for the day.
If I was Posada, I’d feel a bit disrespected as well. I’d think I’ve done enough in my career to at least be afforded the courtesy of my skipper pulling me aside and telling me to my face what was going on. Girardi took the coward’s way out.
How is a player supposed to respect a man like that, much less follow him?
I am of the belief that Joe Girardi has lost the clubhouse. I don’t believe the players are listening to him anymore, because I don’t believe they respect him. What has he done to earn their respect?
We all agree that drastic changes are coming to the Yankees roster, sooner rather than later.
Perhaps it’s time that a drastic change was made to the coaching staff as well.
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