Former New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi has an opinion on signing Manny Machado, and the Bombers may want to listen.
During Joe Girardi’s 10-year stint as manager of the New York Yankees, he got to know Manny Machado fairly well. Apparently, he wasn’t overly impressed.
The former Yankee skipper is known for his no-nonsense approach, something that doesn’t jive with Machado’s recent behavior. The free agent took heat for his lack of effort on a few plays in the 2018 postseason, shrugging it off as the norm when confronted by the media.
In an interview with NJ.com’s Brendan Kuty, Girardi praised Machado’s ability, but said the Yankees should do their research on him and the rest of the market first:
“I’m not sure from a financial standpoint where Manny is going to be and how it fits within their plans. There’s no doubt that Manny’s a great player, but there’s a lot of great players that are out there. This is a pretty strong free agent class. There are some pretty good bullpen arms that have experience. There are some pretty good outfielders, good infielders. That’s something that they have to decide.”
That’s no ringing endorsement of the prized free agent. Girardi’s basically saying that the Yankees might want to look at breaking Machado-level money up into smaller signings.
Either that or he’s a Bryce Harper fan.
This isn’t the first time Girardi has offered his two cents on the state of the Yankees after his departure.
In September, after the infamous Gary Sanchez passed-ball fiesta in Oakland, Girardi offered his advice via MLB Network’s Chris Russo:
What does Gary Sánchez's former manager make of last night in Oakland?
Joe Girardi discusses Sánchez's catching with @MadDogUnleashed. #HighHeat pic.twitter.com/KIWhxb7loa
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) September 6, 2018
Girardi also told Kuty that despite having “good interviews” this offseason, he’s not ready to go back to managing yet.
“I just decided that I was going to broadcast another year and spend another year with my family, wait to see what opportunities are presented next year and go from there,” he said.
The Yankees may have let him go, but Girardi seems to have no hard feelings. He keeps coming through with pearls of wisdom for his former squad.
Maybe the baseball gods will reward him by opening up the Chicago Cubs manager position in 2019.
