Joe Girardi
When you think of the New York Yankees and why they were able to remotely contend these past three years (2013-2015), their skipper has to come to mind.
In his ninth year in the Bronx, Girardi has been an extreme subject of scrutiny with fans regardless of the team’s overall performance.
A former big league catcher, Girardi’s distinguished ability to manage a bullpen through mixing and matching based on trends and previous outcomes has become a trade mark of his that widely works throughout the game. He also is a manager that will always defend his players and give older players the proper rest.
Whenever doubting this ability, look at Derek Jeter’s farewell tour in 2014 and how smoothly everything panned out. The fact that 145 games were extracted from a guy who played 17 games the year prior were remarkable. To make it sound even better, he did it under the pressure of not letting a legend dwindle before everyone’s eyes.
One thing you can bet on is Girardi having the likes of Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann, and Alex Rodriguez fresh and ready to go for the stretch run this year. In addition, you can bet on the bullpen being as fresh as ripe fruit come September.
