Yankees: Six reasons to bring Joe Girardi back in 2018

A soft touch on the pulse

During the All Star break, Joe Girardi met with reporters and went “off spin” sending an indirect message to his team that they’d better “be prepared” for the second half of the season.

He didn’t go into detail, and he didn’t name names, but the message was clear indicating he felt like the team wasn’t playing up to (his) par and he was letting them know it. And it had little to do with the fact that the Yankees were in the midst of losing everything this season.

But it had everything to do with Girardi sensing that something was “off” about the team. And after all, managers spend little, if any, time in the clubhouse, respecting the players right to maintain that quarter of privacy.

And unless you go out of your way, and some managers do, to employ the use of a “snitch” who regularly spills the beans for you in late-night texts, you won’t know on a day-to-day basis the

“feel” that is present in the clubhouse.

But someone like Girardi, who’s a baseball lifer, knows without someone telling him.

The same thing occurred in June when Girardi saw some things from his catcher, Gary Sanchez; he didn’t particularly like. Taking an extraordinary and daring step with a young player, Girardi gave him a chewing out for lack of hustle in blocking pitches, in full view of the YES cameras and the millions watching.

Inside, we can assume Sanchez was sizzling at Girardi. But we can also assume that Sanchez knows he was wrong and his respect for Girardi only grew from the incident.

Similarly, this brings us to the next point.