Klapisch: Joe Girardi Managing for His Job

From Bob Klapisch:

As the Yankees slip just out of the Red Sox’ radar range, Joe Girardi enters a critical phase of his managerial career. He must prove he’s secure enough to survive the Bombers’ recent turbulence without burnout – to himself and his key players.

Girardi already crossed that line with Alex Rodriguez, using his refurbished slugger in 38 consecutive games after he returned from hip surgery. General manager Brian Cashman denies he had to intercede on A-Rod’s behalf, insisting the decision to rest Rodriguez was a medical recommendation, not a corporate rebuke. Still.

Girardi has a history of putting his foot on the gas. In 2006, the year he was voted National League Manager of the Year with the Marlins, Girardi heavily taxed his young rotation. Three of the five starters — Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco and Anibal Sanchez – all suffered injuries the following season. And another, Dontrelle Willis, has never been the same.

It’ll be just as compelling to watch Girardi managing for his job. That’s really the underlying issue, as he knows he’s history if the Yankees fail to make
the playoffs for a second straight season.

Girardi tipped his hand two weeks ago, when he summoned Mariano Rivera into the eighth inning of a tie game against the Mets with two out and nobody on base. That’s the strategy of fear — changing bullpen responsibilities without prior notice, making it up as he went along. Girardi almost got burned, too, saved only by Luis Castillo’s error in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Girardi’s demeanor doesn’t go unnoticed in the clubhouse. “Tight” is how one veteran described his manager without rancor. Of course, tight can be another form of intensity that complements Girardi’s obvious intelligence. And to be fair, he’s represented the organization in a commendable way — as opposed to say, Ozzie Guillen, who embarrasses the White Sox on a near-daily basis.

It’s because Girardi knows his managerial career will be over if he gets fired by the Yankees. The team is feeling the angst over ticket sales — they failed to sell out the Subway Series and are urgently reminding fans that seats are available for the Red Sox series in August.

...

That pressure trickles down to Cashman, then to Girardi and, ultimately, to the players. Some can handle it. Others, such as A-Rod, cannot. Girardi can’t be blamed for everything that goes wrong in the Yankees’ universe, but he’s being paid to get the most out of his players.

How Girardi fulfills that mandate in the next few weeks will be worth watching.

There was talk earlier in the offseason about how Girardi entered this year on the hot seat. First Neil Best asked the question on January 2nd, then a little over a month later, on February 13th, Bryan Hoch and Ken Davidoff both wrong that all the pressure heading into this year was on Girardi. I agreed that this was going to be a make or break year for Girardi and it basically depended on one thing, if the Yanks made the playoffs or not.

Then in May Mark Feinsand wrote that people were starting to grow tired of Girardi. At the time the Yankees were struggling, had lost four in a row, and sat 5.5 games out of first.

I defended him at the time, mainly because I felt it would be very difficult for any manager to handle all those early season injuries the Yankees and Girardi were dealing with. But I also said that "The only way I'd want to see him fired sooner is if the Yankees are close to full strength and are still 10 or more games out by the All-Star break."

Now it's June 23rd, the Yankees are about as healthy as we can hope they could be - they're only waiting for Xavier Nady to come back - but they're four games back and are playing some of their worst baseball of the season. Besides that, Girardi is making mistake after mistake and looks like a deer in headlights on the bench, sometimes acting as if he doesn't know what he's doing. Also, he seems to put too much importance in some games and not as much into others, and the team seems to play accordingly. So, with all that here comes the Girardi talk once again. Not only do we have the article above from Klapisch, but Joe Sherman also wrote something similar about it this morning on his blog.

Will he be fired any time soon? I wouldn't bet on that. I still think if they're within' ten games of first he stays. But like Klapisch says, if he doesn't make it to the postseason this year he's done. In the end, though, I think this team will make the playoffs and Girardi will hang around at least one more season.

What is your take on Joe Girardi after almost a year and a half on the job?

Do you think he deserves more job security than it seems like he has?