Girardi out in the Bronx; who's next up?

The news broke this morning that the Yankees will not bring back Joe Girardi will not return in 2018 to manage the team.

Apparently, there has been some riffs between Girardi and the upper management of the Yankees this season. All of this is a shocking reason not to bring back Girardi because there didn’t seem to be any tension between the Steinbrenner’s and Girardi. Whatever the real reason is doesn’t have to be released tomorrow, and doesn’t have to be made public.

The Yankees decided to go a different direction and that’s just the business side of baseball. The Steinbrenner’s have to make money and the product on the field is the main source of revenue. If the fans don’t fill the seats, buy beer and food, and a possible a jersey or a hat, then the Yankees don’t make money. It’s the manager’s job to make the product on the field preform at the absolute highest of the players potential.

That is something that Girardi has done well throughout his career. From his first year with the than Florida Marlins in 2006, to his 10-year career with the Yankees. He has been in every sense of the word—a player’s coach. He has had young teams for the majority of his career and does well with young talent. He has a World Series Championship and was a couple of plays away from competing for his second. 10 years at the head of one of the best franchises in baseball—in New York and winning a championship is something that hundreds of people in baseball would kill for.

With as great of a career that Girardi has had in New York, it didn’t come with some rough patches. Girardi never had to endure a 60-102 season, but he had the disadvantage of not getting out of his own way. Girardi has had some head scratching moves recently with the decision not to challenge the foul ball off Lonnie Chisenhall in Game 2 of the ALDS. Or in Game 4, starting Austin Romine at catcher and pinch hitting for him in the 8^th inning. Now, they both ending up working because the Yankees would win the ALDS in five games, and win Game 4 of the ALCS with a miraculous comeback.

But as I go through the years, I can nitpick reasons why I don’ t like Girardi. There were moments earlier in the year in the Pittsburgh series, or when he started both of his catchers in his starting lineup, or over using his bullpen. Girardi has had a quick trigger finger to go to his bullpen for some time now, and in particular in 2015. The Yankees were making a late playoff in 2015 when I went to a late Subway Series game at Citi Field. Girardi went to his bullpen five times in the last 2.1 innings. From Caleb Cotham (0.1 inning), to Dellin Betances(an inning), to James Pazos (0.1 inning), than, Chris Martin (0.1 inning), and finally, Andrew Miller (0.1 inning). The Yankees would win the game 5-0, and had the game at hand with that 5-0 lead when Girardi would go to the five arms in the pen.

My personal thoughts on Girardi have been negative from about 2010 onward. The 2009 team was like the 2011-12 Miami Heat, a bucket of balls could have coached the ’09 Yankee team. I have been one the anti-Girardi bandwagon and I even think that Girardi was let go a year too early. I think the same contract that was given to Joe Torre before the 2008 season should have been given to Girardi. That contract was a one-year deal that pressured Torre into winning a World Series title in 2008. Giving Girardi another year in the Bronx with this young “Baby Bomber” Yankee team, Girardi knows this team better than almost anyone else in and around the Yankees. If Girardi didn’t deliver a championship season next year, then I thought it would be truly rational to move on from Girardi. As much am I happy that I don’t have to deal with the antics that Girardi pulled in the dugout.

Whoever is the next man up in the Bronx, they have to be ready to deal with the pressure of how talented this team is, and the overall pressures of New York.

Whether that is Tony Pena who has been with this team for seemingly forever and has had managerial experience with the Kansas City Royals. Willie Randolph has been around the team as a special advisor in Spring Training. Randolph has had managerial experience with four years with the cross-town rivals New York Mets. Randolph also was the 3^rd base coach from 1994-2003. You could also see the Yankees Triple A affiliate [Scranton Railriders] Al Pedrique who has been in the Yankee minor league system since 2013. Pedrique has managed all the “Baby Bombers” and knows them as well as anyone on this planet because Pedrique managed these guys when they weren’t the talents they are knows the struggles these guys have gone through.

I would either give it to Pena or Pedrique to keep this decision in house. That is the case because the guys in house have some managerial experience and know the guys that are in the clubhouse. Getting a guy outside from the Yankees will just hurt the organization on the field because of where this team is at the moment. Getting a new voice in the clubhouse that these guys don’t know will have a significant impact of the clubhouse throughout the season.

The 2017 Yankees fought for Joe Girardi and will have to learn to trust another guy if Cashman goes to an outside option. If you go to Pena or Pedrique you won’t have that much of a shift in culture because the clubhouse knows Pena and Pedrique. This decision is an interesting and confusing one to me because of the timing of this move.

Again, if it happened next year it would be understandable, and the next manager will be a monumental decision because it will determine where this team goes in the next five years.