Howard: Girardi Has Not Helped Yanks
Johnette Howard takes aim at General Joe -
Injuries took a toll on the Yankees, sure. But the other day, veteran pitcher Mike Mussina took what could be construed as a shot at Girardi when he said that sometimes the Yankees don’t play baseball “the right way” – yet another criticism from within.
The 2008 Yankees’ sometime lack of pride or shame or urgency – take your pick – suggests there are at least some players on this team who Girardi simply doesn’t influence or reach. And he’s seemed unable to change it. Girardi may look like a drill sergeant with that impeccable crewcut and fitness-nut build and cinch-waisted uniform of his, but what will you remember about his first season?
The sharp young manager who made a tangible difference with the Marlins is not the Girardi we’ve gotten here. Even if you account for the injuries, the Yankees’ problems run deeper than that. A lack of offense has killed them. When Girardi told his veterans to report to camp in shape and be ready to do a lot of running, when he had the Yankees bunt twice in one game (on purpose!) to manufacture some runs in their first homestand, it did seem like the ship might be run differently and tighter and more aggressively.
It didn’t last.
Girardi isn’t to blame for everything that’s gone wrong. But he hasn’t been the guy the Yankees thought they hired, either.
There’s a part of me that has wondered, this season, if there’s too many cliques on the Yankees and that’s why Girardi has not been able to get them to play as a team. There’s the “Latin” clique of Cano, Melky, Abreu, Betemit, Ramirez, Veras and Molina. (The position players in this one can always been seen tightly bunched together on the bench.) There’s the “Boy, we miss the frat at Oakland” clique of Giambi and Damon. There’s the “We’re just happy to be in the majors” clique of Moeller, Ransom, Gardner, Rasner, Robertson, etc. And, there are those guys who are just cliques in themselves like A-Rod and Jeter.
What’s the famous line about “A house divided against itself cannot stand…”?
First, a critique of the article:
This article tells me nothing. It’s the usual end-of-bad-season piece where every comment or quote from any player is always construed as divisive or evidence of disharmony. Give me a break.
Second, a critique of your post:
Show me other teams that don’t have the same cliques? Who cares? Didn’t the Yanks have the same cliques last year and the year before and the year before that? Did it stop them from winning 60% or better of their games? Don’t play the team chemistry card here when we already know what the problems were in 2008.
Sure, baseball teams will always have cliques. But, you need to have some player, or a manager, who can connect with each one of them and serve as the universal leader.
I think it’s pretty dumb for the writer to assume Mussina was taking a shot at Girardi, when he could have been referring to the play of someone like Cano when he says not playing the “right way”.
Chemistry is nice but not necessary nor an excuse. The Oakland A’s and Yankees in the 70′s won while enduring team turmoil. The Mets ’86 team was no kumbayah moment. And the Red Sox of ’04 only became warm and fuzzy _after_ they won the WS.
Antone,
Its up to the manager to enforce the concept of “playing the game the right way” (witness Joe Maddon) so intentional or not, its a shot at Girardi.
Steve, I don’t think cliques have anything to do with it. As for Girardi, I find it remarkable that anyone thinks he deserves absolutely no blame for the season. Other teams – most teams – had injuries to deal with. Other teams – say Toronto – had terrible offensive troubles. “Injuries and offense and nothing wrong with General Joe”? I don’t think so. He never motivated his players. He never tried to shake things up as the season fell apart, except a far too late benching of Cano.
Girardi has to get some blame when that game is played.
Girardi had one year of managing experience before this year. And that was on a team, and in a market, that is nothing like the Yankees. Even though guys like Torre and Francona had mediocre credentials as managers, at least they had experience to build upon, correct mistakes, learn from, etc.
By hiring Girardi, and I was for it, the Yanks took a chance on a manager who to some extent was going to learn on the job.
Its up to the manager to enforce the concept of “playing the game the right way” (witness Joe Maddon)
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Rubbish. Joe Maddon’s getting his ass kissed because the Rays will win 90 games. Did this Rays team play the right way last year or the year before that?
It’s a great story that the Rays will finally taste some success but, as usual, too much credit/blame goes to the manager. For once, the Rays actually had decent players and a bit of luck.
Davey Johnson was famous for not giving a crap about “the right way” stuff and was known for being results-oriented. His teams always did alright for themselves. Players win, not managers.
By hiring Girardi, and I was for it, the Yanks took a chance on a manager who to some extent was going to learn on the job.
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I’d agree with this statement. I was for hiring Girardi too. There’s nothing in 2008 that tells me he can’t succeed, especially if his offense doesn’t crap the bed every other night.
Its up to the manager to enforce the concept of “playing the game the right way” (witness Joe Maddon) so intentional or not, its a shot at Girardi.
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This isn’t the first season Cano has been questioned and he is a grown man, who is responsible for his own actions first and foremost. Same thing with Manny and we know you feel that isn’t a reflection Francona…so which one is it?? Joe should have handled Cano a while ago, but it still is Cano who chooses to play the game the way he does.
Also, Girardi is getting plenty of blame around here and I know a lot of Yankees fans who personally think he should be gone. I’m willing to give him more than a year to show what he can do but he definitely has not been the type of manager I thought he would be this season. Whether or not that has to do with the players he has available to him is another story.
The difference, Antone is that Manny was forcing the team to adhere to different rules and expectations for him versus everyone else. And most importantly, a motivated Manny was too important to mess with (until he forced their hand). Benching Cano, or for that matter calling him out in public, would be unlikely to adversely effect such a young player.
You know, its funny but I still haven’t actually seen the infamous play. So I still don’t know just how far the ball trickled away and whether Cano was undoubtedly wrong not to hustle after it or what. I have this image of a ball about 30 feet off the infield, with Cano looking at it, but I don’t know how accurate that is.
The difference, Antone is that Manny was forcing the team to adhere to different rules and expectations for him versus everyone else.
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He wasn’t forcing them…they enabled it from the start. They did the same thing with Pedro.
I have this image of a ball about 30 feet off the infield, with Cano looking at it, but I don’t know how accurate that is.
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More or less the case. I was behind home plate in the upper deck watching Cano stare at the ball and couldn’t believe that he was just kind of standing there while Nady had to trot in from RF. In fact, Nady was expecting Cano to go back to the ball because Nady himself wasn’t running full speed at it. He took a few steps in when the ball made it onto the OF grass but didn’t sprint in because he figured — reasonably — that Cano would go back to the ball and protect against the extra base.
Once was, it is the type of play that only someone like Cano or Alex Rios could make. It was really embarrassing. Anyway, Girardi is not entirely faultless and he took the blame, meanwhile Brian the Cash Man is ducking somewhere. In the case of Toronto, tons of people got injured and whatnot BUT JP put together a team whose OBP/RISP/SLG was very weak the year before. Sabremetrically , Ricciardi’s adjustments didn’t help. Relevant to the manager argument, they brought Cito back and then they started to look more like the 2006 Jays again. The Jays offense sucked in 2006 and that continued a trend. In the case of the Yankees, they also got injuries BUT lost their defacto captain to injury (similar thing happened to Tek and Boston in 2006) and the position players didn’t hit with RISP. The diminuition of the Yankee offense came as a result of a myriad number of factors BUT the team is an older veteran team and they are one year older and that hurt them.