Regional Sports

Girardi should be managing for his job

After exceeding expectations this season by being in first place in the AL East at one point, the Yankees have regressed to the mean by going 45-41 heading to the All-Star break. They are 3 ½ games back for first place in the division, and their lead for the wild-card is only 1 game ahead of the Twins.

Let’s concede the AL East to the Red Sox since they are the most complete team from pitching to offense. With that said, there’s no reason for the Yankees to miss out on a wild-card spot since they are better than their AL wild-card competitors.

Another year of no postseason should cost Joe Girardi his job. He has been the Yankees manager for nine years. That’s an eternity for any manager that manages a baseball team, and it could be time for a new voice and new leadership if Girardi can’t rally his players to a playoff spot.

It’s fair to question if Girardi is the right manager for the Yankees moving forward. He only won one World Series championship, and he missed the playoffs four years in his tenure along with flaming out in couple of American League Championship Series and losing Game 5 against the Tigers in the AL Division Series. Plus, his Yankees team lost to the Astros in a wild-card game couple years ago.

This would never be acceptable under the late George Steinbrenner. Girardi is fortunate that his bosses have been lenient, but sooner or later, they can’t keep accepting this standard. The standard for the Yankees is to win a championship every year and nothing else. Being mediocre should never be the goal for a once-proud franchise.

When Hal Steinbrenner and Hank Steinbrenner told Joe Torre to leave as Yankees manager, they wanted a new manager who would bring results like Patriots coach Bill Belichick. That’s a code for winning championships. The Hall of Fame Yankees manager was not getting it done, so it was time for a new voice. It was not a crime to fire him then, and it shouldn’t be a crime to fire Girardi.

Girardi is nothing special after watching him for nine years. He’s no genius. It’s hard to rate him as one of the top 10 managers in baseball. He’s mediocre at best. He continues to have no feel for the game as he relies on his binder full of spreadsheets to know what player to use at a certain spot. He overmanages by using different players and changing the lineups too often. He gives up on his pitcher the minute he is in a jam rather than let him work himself out of a jam.

Too often, he loses games more on his managing than wins. This was not what the Sons of Steinbrenner had in mind when they hired him to lead a new era.

Girardi is often tense when the going gets tough, and that permeates to his players who try to do too much. He needs to lighten up when games get tough. He has to be encouraging guys rather than look like a statue in the dugout. He has to be more of a leader than be a follower when it comes to managing.

One would think he would be better at his job after nine years, but he hasn’t. He continues to make the same mistakes he has done since he managed the Yankees in 2008.

At some point, it’s getting old and tiring. The Yankees have to know what they see is what they get from Girardi after all these years. It’s not going to get better. It’s hard to believe he will learn new tricks. He is set in his own ways.

There is nothing wrong with change from both sides. This would be good for Girardi to leave after being there for so long. He will get a managerial job somewhere else, and maybe this rejuvenates him. For the Yankees, they are better served with a manager with fresh ideas.

Girardi has so much to prove with 76 games to go, and he needs to make every game count. He needs to show he is the right guy now and beyond. This is as good of a test as he will get. He has to show he can manage and lead the Yankees to the playoffs as the team is starting to dwindling.

If he can’t get it done, the Yankees need to hire someone else that can get it done.

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