Joe Girardi & His Hypothetical Leash

In the immortal words of George Steinbrenner, before presidential nominee Donald Trump made them cool, the words “you’re fired” came out far more times than the Yankees would like to admit in the 70’s, 80’s and into the 90’s. Steinbrenner was a passionate fan and the Yankees were his passion and his hobby, he had made his money before buying the team and regularly operated in the red due to payroll, and when a manager wasn’t cutting it then he got cut. Simple as that. The only constant was change but ever since the Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman regime took over in the Bronx right around the 2008/2009 timeframe there has been one man at the helm and in the dugout for New York but on a long enough timeline everyone moves on or gets fired so after this putrid start in 2016 you have to wonder how long Joe Girardi’s leash is with the club.  

Obviously this is all pure speculation as I am not an insider, contrary to popular belief Hal does not have me on speed dial and I know no more than you. Again, I like to use common sense, history and a little bit of speculation and predictions in posts like this. The Yankees are a well-oiled business marketing machine that makes the Steinbrenner family an absolute ton of money but if history has told us one thing about this team it’s this, they don’t make as much money when they are losing as they do when they are winning. When a team is losing and when the management wants to shake things up the first person to go is usually the manager and you have to wonder how much patience the AL Wild Card Round trip to the postseason last season bought Girardi from the Steinbrenners. 

I know I sound like a spoiled brat right now but this is the worst start and possibly the worst team I have ever seen in my lifetime. I started watching religiously in 1994 at just eight years old, I would later turn nine after the World Series, and I’ve been spoiled and come to expect the best out of this team. I was crushed when Girardi took over and the Yankees missed the postseason in the final year of Yankee Stadium and I am even more crushed thus far this season because this team is so loaded down with talent. What frustrates me is that the team had obvious needs this winter, the middle of the lineup and the starting rotation specifically, and the GM did nothing to address either. That’s not as much Girardi’s doing and fault as it is Cashman’s but we all know how this works. The manager goes first and so does his coaching staff before the organization realizes it was the GM’s fault all along so if Girardi wants to remain in pinstripes he needs to turn things around quickly, preferably now, or he may be headed to the free agent market. My opinion only. 

Listen I like Joe Girardi. Sure he frustrates the hell out of me with his constant veteran over prospects decisions, see Stephen Drew and Andruw Jones as recent examples of this, and I would be a liar if I said I didn’t want to take his binder (which is now an iPad) and light the thing on fire before breaking it into a million pieces. I do. The thing is though he has shown an uncanny ability to work with a bullpen and piece together a game for a victory that the Yankees had no business winning. He took the same exact bullpen that fell apart time after time in 2007 for Joe Torre and turned them into a powerhouse in 2008 and has in every single season since and that I will miss. I have to say though, there isn’t a whole lot more that I would miss. Especially when Girardi gives me a day when I’m ready to pump out another two or three articles.