Yankees: Six reasons to bring Joe Girardi back in 2018

Master of the New York Media

To suggest that Joe Girardi is a master at handling the New York media is not to say he has them in his back pocket. We’ve been there and done it with Casey Stengel, who would drift off into “Stengelese” or tell a joke when he didn’t want to answer a question.

And it’s also not like Girardi has taken on this responsibility with exaggerated enthusiasm. Instead, it’s more that he’s grown into the chore bestowed on him. And make no mistake, it is a chore, and it’s also one not confined to the city of New York. All managers deal with it.

Some, however, deal with it better than others. And it seems like this year, in particular, Girardi has found the delicate mixture of candor and restraint necessary when it comes to dealing with dozens of media types, all of whom have a job to do and deadlines to meet.

As a person, you wouldn’t call Girardi a “personality.” He’s rarely funny, and when he tries to be funny, his Midwest upbringing can’t carry a tune when compared to the brand of satire and wit usually found in New York humor.

He’s not flamboyant like a Leo Durocher, who never saw a movie starlet he didn’t make a play for. He’s just Joe Girardi.

But what we’ve seen different this year, publicly, is Girardi being emotional. When the Yankees were on their recent 10-22 slide, his head remained down, and he seldom gained eye contact with cameras or reporters asking questions. He was pissed. And he showed it.

More importantly, he didn’t resort to the usual rationalizations that some managers use to “keep the faithful faithful.” Yes, we lost today by eight runs, our starter got whipped, and we made three errors, but did you see that play Didi Gregorius made on that one in the hole? None of that.

Girardi will be candid when talking about his team, but he draws the line when it comes to singling out one of his players, even if circumstances warrant it with the media. If he has confidants or someone who acts as his sounding board, we don’t know about it. And that’s the way it should be.