New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi has kept the Yankees afloat for nine seasons. So he shouldn’t worry if the Yankees fall short in 2017.
Joe Girardi has been the manager of the New York Yankees for the past nine seasons. As he enters his tenth season with the ball club, all eyes will be on him with hopes he’ll lead a rebuilding roster to another postseason berth.But there’s a chance the Yankees might fall short of another postseason, and if that happens, you can imagine there will be plenty of fans ready to run Girardi out of town. Even if the Yankees don’t succeed in making it to the postseason, it would be extremely hard to blame the skipper. Especially since he has kept the team afloat over the last few seasons.
Take 2016 for example. The Yankees started the season under .500 and appeared as if they were going to break their consecutive “winning season” streak. However, Girardi, along with a breakout performance from Gary Sanchez, turned things around for the Yankees, which resulted in an 84-76 record.
The Yankees gave up 702 runs and scored 680 last season, resulting in a run differential of -22. With numbers like those, the Yankees should have been won fewer games and maybe even a losing record. The team had Girardi, however, and they were able to turn things around and gain momentum towards the end of the season.
Yes, Girardi makes plenty of pitching changes during games, and fans tend to joke that Girardi has a binder full of information somewhere in the dugout. But Girardi is methodical and tactical, which ends up being beneficial to the Yankees.
Girardi is the best option the Yankees have going forward. So even if the team ends up going home prior to the postseason, the logical thing to do is extend Girardi to another multi-year contract.
If the Yankees went another route and decided not to retain Girardi, they would have to search for a new manager. And the only person I could think of to replace Girardi is Alex Rodriguez. Unfortunately, Rodriguez expressed no interest in managing the game.
With the youth movement coming up, the kids are going to need a familiar face as they make the adjustment from Triple-A to “The Show”. That familiar face has to be Girardi.
I will be the first to admit Girardi isn’t the perfect manager, and there are times where I have questioned Girardi’s logic during games. But that doesn’t take away the fact Girardi is a good manager, and cares deeply for his players.
Some people may say that it’s time to end the relationship with Girardi. Do you want to know what I think? If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.
