Yankees Editorial: Joe Girardi Will Be Tested

A lot of critics get on Manager Joe Girardi‘s case about his 2009 World Series win. They always point to the All-Star lineup that he boasted and how little work he had to actually do. How hard could it be when you have the top players and coach in the American League? However, let’s not forget that Girardi won the 2006 National League Manager of the Year with the Florida Marlins, and has carried a depleted Yankees team into playoff contention nearly two years in a row.

He is a great manager and doesn’t get the credit he deserves. It can’t be easy to manage the big names on the Yankees’ roster and ask them to check their egos. It doesn’t get any easier when those big names are past their prime and have to be treated like an aging player. He has to schedule off days for three quarters of the team because of energy and health. Almost every player on the roster is nursing an injury or is a ticking-time-bomb for another injury.

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Girardi’s arduous task of managing the most critiqued team in the league is going to be put to the test during their next stretch. The Yankees are in the beginning of a 30 game stretch that will put the players stamina to the test. Girardi will have to consistently tinker with the lineup to rest his big players (Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran, Masahiro Tanaka, etc.) while continuing to fight for wins. It isn’t exactly as if the Yankees have the best offense in baseball where they can afford to rest players regularly; their production is down and by taking players out every day it makes it that much harder for them to remain consistent.

Girardi has even tinkered with the idea of going to a six-man rotation to get his struggling starters an extra day of rest. While a lot of the critics believe this is specifically for Masahiro Tanaka, Girardi said otherwise.

“We’ve had CC who’s had a lot of innings, Michael who’s had a serious arm injury. It’ll kinda just be to see how the guys are going and going through their starts…You gotta measure it as a group.”

If the Yankees can stay rested and healthy then they have a good shot at competing for the postseason this year. Girardi will definitely be tested but he has proved in the past that he is capable of meeting obstacles head on. The three game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays is a good start to say the least.

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