Friday, August 24, 2018

For Those Fans Who Say Joe Girardi > Aaron Boone





We’re back, and we are as controversial as ever as we continue to right wrongs and correct a lot of misinformation that gets passed around via Yankees fans and Yankees “fans” alike. Last week we analyzed the reason and history behind the luxury tax threshold in Major League Baseball and used our findings to determine whether the Yankees would be better off, worse off, or about the same today if George Steinbrenner were running the team as opposed to having Hal Steinbrenner run the team, and we are going to look to do something similar today with first year rookie manager Aaron Boone and his predecessor, Joe Girardi. Would the 2018 Yankees, a team on pace to win 100 games, be better off, worse off, or about the same with Joe Girardi at the helm this season? Let’s analyze.

We have to remember that Aaron Boone is a rookie manager with no managerial or coaching experience anywhere within baseball before taking the job with the New York Yankees. If that is a problem to some, it is not a problem with me to be honest, then that blame should be on Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner as well as the coaching staff that they approved and assembled around Boone, and the blame should not be on Boone himself. Anyway, Girardi was not a rookie manager in his first year in the Bronx and was not foreign to the idea of playing under the watchful eyes of Yankees fans and the media in New York, he played here and won World Series championships here in New York, but even with that experience under his belt his first season, 2008, did not go exactly according to plan.

In 2008 the Yankees missed the postseason for the first time since the 1993 season with Joe Girardi at the helm, and to add salt in the wound it was the final season of the old Yankee Stadium as well. Now, one could argue that Boone has a much better roster than Girardi had at his disposal in 2008, but I cannot say I fully agree with it. Does Boone have a younger team? Sure. A more versatile team? Probably. A better team though? That’s questionable, given and assuming health and all that. Girardi had Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Jason Giambi, Robinson Cano, Bobby Abreu, Johnny Damon, Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui, Brett Gardner, 20-game winner Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, a good version of Joba Chamberlain, David Robertson, Phil Coke, and a slew of other players that were at-minimum serviceable MLB-caliber players. Sure, the Yankees had a lot of injuries that season, but if that isn’t an excuse for Boone than it isn’t an excuse for Girardi either. Also, sure, Boone does himself no favors with his pitching and in-game decisions, but does anyone remember Joe Girardi’s binder and the subsequent memes and Twitter accounts that have popped up since making such a mockery of the same problem that Girardi had as well?

Want to know a difference? While Boone is on pace to win right at 100 games this season in his rookie season and make the postseason in the American League, Joe Girardi led the Yankees to an 89-73 record, a third-place finish, and to a nice place on their couches during October for the first time of Derek Jeter’s illustrious career. Of course, Girardi got better as the years went on, but then again so did his teams, so I find it truly remarkable and irresponsible to say that this current team would be better under Girardi than they are under Boone. Boone didn’t injure the players and he damn sure didn’t make many of them underperform. Now should Boone ever bring AJ Cole into a game ever again? No. But did Girardi have his favorites and do the same damn thing? Absolutely, and probably more so than Boone. And let’s be real, Brian Cashman and Larry Rothschild are calling more of these pitching change calls than we will ever admit or want to think about.

The team is fine, and Aaron Boone is a fine manager. Joe Girardi was a fine manager. They both had great things about them and they both had things that made me want to break any screen that I watched the game on. That’s baseball, and that’s especially baseball in New York. Deal with it.

9 comments:

  1. First Burch the fans that don't like Boone such as myself don't have to deal with it if we so choose not too. Second You don't say what Girardi did before he got to the Yanks and the great job he did with the Marlins winning manager of the year and getting canned. This is all about Cashman and his ability to control the narrative and anyone who can't see if is a fool.

    Boone is being outclassed at almost every aspect of the game especially in his starting pitching and bullpen use. Doesn't know when to pull a starting pitcher and what relief pitcher to bring in. You haven't done a great deal of winning the second half of the season so maybe play some small ball. hit and run occasionally and try and take risks. Pedro is right to a certain extent. This team has no fire and though Girardi was not a top flight player he played the game the right way. Boone still sucks in my mind and the pace to win 102 wins is in spite of him

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    1. Girardi went to betances even during his struggles. Boone would go to aj Cole to immediately screw us into the ground, way more often than I want to count.

      He stuck with gray for a month beyond how long the piece of garage should have been touching the ball. Both dudes rock a 5.50+ era, completely inexcusable. And if you will put that blame on cash, Boone could have refused and pitched a BP game then let those two shitheads touch the ball.

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    2. Why would I compare what Joe Girardi did down in Miami to what Boone did in New York? The stage in Miami and the stage in New York are two totally different things, and to compare the two (in my opinion) is asinine. Everyone with an internet connection knows he won Manager of the Year with the Marlins, but we aren't talking about them. We are talking about the Yankees :) and I was comparing each of their first seasons with the team, not the before's and not the after's.

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  2. Let’s start with Burch! Man you need to really stick with facts. You comparing Girardi first season with awful talent and Jeter on his last leg to this team is ridiculous. Last years Yanks also over achieved abs didn’t have Stanton, Torres, Andujar, Happ, etc. I’ll take Joe everyday over Boone. I’m rooting for Boone but he seems to want to be everyone’s friend and he’s trying so hard to please his bullpen and be the anti Girardi that he’s hurting his team. Now saying that this team is so talented that they are sinking so much but if Joe were coaching I think we would be neck and neck with Boston.

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    1. Jeter on his last leg still hit .300 that season and went on to play six more seasons, garnering MVP votes in two of those seasons.

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    2. ALso, stick to the facts? I could type it all out again... or I could just copy and paste what I already said, and what you clearly didn't read.

      In 2008 the Yankees missed the postseason for the first time since the 1993 season with Joe Girardi at the helm, and to add salt in the wound it was the final season of the old Yankee Stadium as well. Now, one could argue that Boone has a much better roster than Girardi had at his disposal in 2008, but I cannot say I fully agree with it. Does Boone have a younger team? Sure. A more versatile team? Probably. A better team though? That’s questionable, given and assuming health and all that. Girardi had Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Jason Giambi, Robinson Cano, Bobby Abreu, Johnny Damon, Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui, Brett Gardner, 20-game winner Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, a good version of Joba Chamberlain, David Robertson, Phil Coke, and a slew of other players that were at-minimum serviceable MLB-caliber players. Sure, the Yankees had a lot of injuries that season, but if that isn’t an excuse for Boone than it isn’t an excuse for Girardi either. Also, sure, Boone does himself no favors with his pitching and in-game decisions, but does anyone remember Joe Girardi’s binder and the subsequent memes and Twitter accounts that have popped up since making such a mockery of the same problem that Girardi had as well?

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  3. BOTH SUCK,WE NEED A AGGRESSIVE,MANAGER.OLD SCHOOL MANAGER.

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  4. I don't ever get the "I wish Joe Girardi was still the Yankees manager" blues but I do wish that Aaron Boone had picked a veteran manager as his bench coach instead of going with the untested Josh Bard.

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    1. 100% agree. Would have made a huge difference in my opinion.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)