So I sent out a poll to all of my followers on Twitter and asked them what topic they wanted to hear my take on the most and the winner was my feelings on Yankees manager Joe Girardi -- not a result I'm shocked about either. Joe definitely has not seemed like himself lately.
Sunday, August 7 2016.... Yankee 'legend' Alex Rodriguez depressingly announces that after the game on Friday, August 2016 he will be released from his contract and no longer be playing for the New York Yankees *cough* forced retirement *cough*. Anyway, when Joe was asked at the press conference on the situation with playing Alex in his final week as a Yankee he replied to the media by saying that he would speak to Alex on whether he would like to play or not and take it from there. So basically he claimed he would let Alex take control of his playing time for the final week of his Yankee career..... Sounds fair enough.
Unfortunately this is not what wound up happening-- Sunday...No Alex, Monday...No Alex, Wednesday... Alex gets one at bat coming in as a pinch hitter for Aaron Hicks Girardi probably thinks he has done the greatest thing in the world by letting him get an at bat tonight and then 'play him tomorrow'. Joe continues to keep throwing Aaron Hicks in the lineup with no problem over Rodriguez DESPITE the fact that Hicks is batting worse then A-Rod this year, yes WORSE.
So how did Joe react when the media asked him why Alex hasn't been playing? Lets just say he wasn't too amused. "I’m putting out what I feel is the best lineup," he told reporters in explaining the A-Rod decision. "That is in my job description. My job description does not entail farewell tours." Well Joe lets just put it this way, without Alex you would not even still be the Yankees manager because without him you would have never won your only world series as Yankees manager in 2009. You would probably be assistant coach for the Long Island Ducks--So if I were you I would be treating Alex even better then you treated Jeter. Then when reporters asked him why he played Jeter during his farewell tour and not Alex he claims, "It was a different case."
But maybe the real question is... Why is Joe acting this way? Is he losing it? I think I have an answer for you guys....Hal Steinbrenner. Believe it or not Joe is under the most pressure of anybody in the Yankees organization right now because his job on the line. Hal must be down his throat because of how poor the team has been competing under his leadership for the past couple of years.
Lets take a look:
2008: Missed Playoffs
2009: Won World Series
2010: Lost in ALCS
2011: Lost in ALDS
2012: Lost in ALCS
2013: Missed Playoffs
2014: Missed Playoffs
2015: Choked in 2nd Half, Lost AL Wild Card Game
2016: Finishing with .500 record???
Joe has not been able to get the team over the playoff hump and bring them to a World Series since 2009, and he has already missed the playoffs 3 times as his tenure as the manager, not a good look. The point is that Joe is probably under a lot of scrutiny from the higher ups in the Yankees front office.
So should we maybe be feeling bad for Joe that he will possibly be losing his job due to an underperforming old roster he has been put in front of him?
It's YOUR call! Let me know in the comments how you feel
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