Is Girardi’s Time Running Out?

By Kevin Van Amburgh | Sep 25, 2016

Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

After a disappointing 2016 season, is it time for the New York Yankees to consider firing manager Joe Girardi and look for a replacement to lead the next generation?

Love him or hate him, one thing is for certain: New York manager Joe Girardi deserves a great deal of credit . Credit for the Yankees hanging in the race for most of the season. Credit for inspiring his team to not quit after selling off three veterans at the deadline. Credit for not panicking. Joe deserves all of that.

Girardi handled it all while trying to keep his players motivated and the team playing meaningful games no matter how gutted they were after the trade deadline. For that, he should be praised.

But he also deserves a great deal of blame for how he managed (or mismanaged) a recent, and utmost important four game series in Boston. While leading 5-2 in the 9th inning of game one, Girardi started the inning with lefty castaway Tommy Layne. Remember, Layne was let go by Boston not too long ago.

More from Yankees News

That’s a team in the playoff race, usually not the type of team to let a quality player just leave to go pitch somewhere else. Layne got through his lone batter before Girardi pulled him in favor of Blake Parker, a journey man recently let go by Seattle, another team in the race. Parker got to pitch to one more batter than Layne did before being pulled in favor of closer Dellin Betances.

It was obvious from the first pitch that Betances had nothing, but he was still left in to absorb a shellacking. He was wild, he had trouble finding the strike zone, and eventually took the loss in a game that Joe Girardi had earlier said he was not available to pitch in.

In a situation like that though, it’s easy to second guess. Why not bring Betances in to start the ninth? If he wasn’t supposed to be available, why not have someone else designated to close the game, you know, just in case the game might be close?

Most Yankee fans were left scratching their heads, and rightfully so. For as many good decisions that he’s made, Joe Girardi has seemed to over manage and over think basic baseball decisions just as easily.

It isn’t all his fault though. Basically, it’s as if he has had to manage two teams this year: the aging, faded Yankees of the pre-trading deadline and the Baby Bombers, lead by Gary Sanchez.

But before he could hand the baton over to the future stars, he still had the Alex Rodriguez debacle to contend with. He still had to see if the retiring Mark Teixeira had anything left and if there were any capable starting pitchers other than Masahiro Tanaka and perhaps C.C. Sabathia.

Joe was able to keep the ship on course and the young Yankees infused a new, youthful, infectious energy in the clubhouse. But lately, the magic is gone and perhaps the manager is partly to blame for that.

So, is it time for a new voice to lead the Bombers? Or does Girardi deserve one more year to oversee a team of young players? With 2016 slipping away and the Yankees unlikely to make the playoffs, perhaps it’s time to cut Joe some slack and see what he does with a full season of the Baby Bombers.

He’s managed young teams before, when the Miami Marlins were still the Florida Marlins and won National League manager of the year in 2006, despite having a losing record. Many thought that Joe had the young Marlins playing above their capabilities and maybe a team of young players would benefit more from his managing style.

Next: Five Reasons to Be Excited About the 2017 Yankees

Either way, it’s obvious after he walked out on the media in Toronto Friday that the stress of a long season and the Yankees recent slump has gotten to him. But does that mean he’s lost the clubhouse? That remains to be seen, but most likely we won’t know until sometime in 2017.

Home/Yankees News