Let’s Talk About Joe Girardi

You might be wondering why we need to talk about Joe Girardi.

Trust me, I wish I weren’t inclined to do so, yet here we are.

First, at a bare minimum, we’re going to be subjected to Girardi’s takes on the YES Network throughout the season. He’s already discussed his fondness for the “balance” of the Yankees lineup, the presence of contact hitters*, his respect for Jon Berti’s ability to bunt**, and waxed poetic about games from a previous century while current game action is unfolding.

(*Entering action last night, Yankees batters had the seventh highest K% in MLB and were still averaging over five runs per game.)

(**In seven big league seasons, Berti has a grand total of five successful sacrifice bunts.)

Secondly, when the Yankees slump – “when”, not “if” – as sure as you and I are here, are large segment of the Yankees’ fan base will loudly clamor for Girardi to replace Aaron Boone.

Due to the above, I’m going to remind everyone now, and I’m going to bookmark this for future use to eliminate the need to continually repeat this: Joe Girardi was an awful manager, and if you didn’t see that it’s because you weren’t paying attention.

“But he won Manager of the Year!” is one of the first things to come up as a retort when I tell the truth about Girardi.

Facts: Joe Girardi inherited a team that had won 83 games the previous season. The Marlins added Hanley Ramirez who would put up a five-win season and win the 2006 Rookie of the Year, and Josh Johnson to the rotation, who’d finish fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting. Johnson easily made up for the departure of Josh Beckett, who was the only significant roster loss that offseason.

Then with the improved roster and Girardi at the helm, the Marlins regressed by five games, posting a 78-84 record.

I don’t know why Girardi won Manager of the Year in 2006, but I know it wasn’t because he did a good job of managing.

“But he has a ring!” usually comes next.

Joe inherited a Yankee team that had won 94 games and reached the ALDS the previous season. Then with no significant roster changes, Joe led his team to five more losses (again) in 2008 and the Yankees and their 89 wins missed the postseason for the first time in 13 seasons.

Then in 2009, the Steinbrenner family checkbook added C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and A.J. Burnett who would go on to produce 16 bWAR combined, and the Yankees would win 103 games and the World Series.

Unless you think that Joe Girardi is the reason that CC, Tex, and AJ came to the Bronx, Joe had little, if anything to do with the Yanks getting a ring in ’09.

Joe would go on to manage 10 seasons in the Bronx, missing the postseason in almost half of those seasons, including a three out of four season stretch – the worst such span for the team in the 30 year Wild Card era.

Then it all came crashing down in 2017.

I’ve learned that many folks don’t realize this: The 2017 Yankees roster was juggernaut level.

The offense had eight regulars with a 100 OPS+ or better and finished second in MLB in runs scored. On the run prevention side, only one team that faced DHs allowed fewer runs than the Yanks. The starting staff was so good that they had six starters make 11 or more starts and Masahiro Tanaka was the worst of them at preventing runs (by ERA+) in 2017. Let that sink in.

That juggernaut had a run differential that led to a 100-win Pythagorean – the team won 91 in real life.

That was in no small part due to their 18-26 record in one run games, which could easily be blamed on the manager’s proclivity for using his best bullpen arms in mop up duty, while employing the back end of the bullpen in tight, late inning situations.

To wit:

Aroldis Chapman made 42% of his appearances in games in which the Yanks led or trailed by three runs or more, 25% of them in games in which the Yanks led or trailed by four runs or more. Dellin Betances made 38% of his appearances in games that the team led or trailed by three runs or more as well.

18-26 in one run games, but those three and four run leads were nailed down, huh? Joe would use an elephant gun on an ant.

Despite all the above, the Yankees made the ALDS, which Joey Bullpen almost single handedly managed them out of. As none of us needs recurring nightmares, there’s no need to revisit the Lonnie Chisenhall incident – Google it if you want your head to hurt.

Then the coup de grace’ came when, as outlined in “Winning Fixes Everything” by Evan Drellich, Joey Bullpen cost his bosses a pretty big chunk of change. Apparently, Joe told his bosses that the Red Sox were cheating and that the Yanks front office should file a formal complaint with the league office. The league office investigated and found that the Red Sox were in fact cheating – but so were the Yankees. I’m sure Hal loved writing that check to the league office for the resulting fine.

Somehow, Joe got another gig in Philadelphia and for the third time in his career, his team’s record worsened in his first season after taking over. It’s almost as if there’s a pattern…

I’ve covered it before, so there’s no need to rehash, but Aaron Boone is a damn good manager and significantly better than Joe Girardi. So when the Yanks slump and you bring out the torches and pitchforks, I’ll listen – unless you bring up Girardi’s name.

Did I miss something? Let me know. Leave a comment below or yell at me @mybaseballpage1 on Twitter and/or the “My Baseball Page” on Facebook.