Joe Girardi Has Been Fired…So, Now What?

An absolute bombshell was dropped in the Philly sports world while I was at the gym this morning (I workout sometimes).

 

 

After writing a mere three days ago about the pros and cons of firing Joe Girardi, Dave Dombrowski made the decision on Friday morning to officially relieve Girardi of his duties. I will take credit for influencing Dombrowski’s decision, you’re all welcome.

 

 

Things had gotten out of hand for this baseball team, that was painfully evident. As I said the other day, this team had zero life to them. Kyle Gibson and Nick Castellanos recently said publicly that their family members noticed how obvious it was that the team wasn’t having fun. In my opinion, that’s a clear reflection on the manager.

 

The Girardi Era: A Brief History

 

In 2020, Girardi had the unfortunate pleasure of managing the worst bullpen in the history of Major League Baseball in a 60-game sprint. It was the weirdest year in baseball’s history. Therefore, he gets a pass for the 28-32 record that year. That’s despite the fact that more than half the league made the postseason, but I digress.

 

In 2021, Girardi led the Phillies to their first winning record since 2011! Woo-hoo! Get ready for a Red October, I’ll see everyone on Broad Str– oh wait, that “winning record” was exactly one game above .500 (82-80). Despite having the NL MVP, the runner-up for the NL Cy Young, and a 2.5 game lead in the division in August, the team floundered down the stretch.

 

After their miracle eight game win streak at the beginning of August, the Phillies finished 23-27 in their last 50 games. They ended up a large breath of fresh air away from the eventual World Series champions, the Atlanta Braves, in the final NL East standings. They missed the postseason for the tenth straight year.

 

A disappointing finish, but overall trending upwards, right? Make some additions to the lineup and bullpen in the offseason and everything will be hunky dory.

 

Coming into this season, the expectations were sky high. After the incorporation of some big name, 2021 all-stars in Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos, along with some much needed bullpen help, the Phillies have somehow, someway, been worse. Like, way worse. After taking three of four from the supposed best team in baseball, the Dodgers, to end a west coast trip, many thought that was the beginning of a hot streak.

 

Boy were they (me) wrong. Since then, the Phillies have a record of 5-12 with some of the worst losses in baseball these eyes have ever seen. And that, my friends, is how we arrived to the events of Friday morning.

 

Ultimately, Why Was Girardi Fired?

 

In case you haven’t been watching this team as consistently as I (unfortunately) have been, there is a laundry list of reasons for why Girardi needed the heave-ho.

 

Now, I’ve gone on record with saying that baseball managers have the least impact on the outcome of a game in any of the four major North American sports. Yet, somehow, Girardi managed to have his filthy handprints all over every loss.

 

Whether it was keeping Nick Nelson in for a wrap-around inning in a high leverage situation, not using a reliever three days in a row regardless of context because it was “his rule,” or simply using Roman Quinn or Odubel Herrera in any capacity, the mistakes were plentiful and consistent.

 

Girardi was brought to Philadelphia with the idea of combining new age baseball analytics with old-timer baseball man. Turns out, Girardi didn’t fully encapsulate either one of those personalities enough, much less mix the two, in order to be what he was expected to be for this organization.

 

Furthermore, they’ve been the worst fielding team in the majors. You can try and say that’s not Girardi’s fault, and most of the times I’d tend to agree with you, especially with the cast of characters on this roster. But, if you’ve watched this team’s fielding blunders, most of them are basic fundamentals. I’m sorry, but being bad at the routine stuff goes directly back to the manager.

 

Girardi also seemed to have a personal vendetta against playing the youngsters, or giving them any real chances. Johan Camargo is essentially this year’s version of Ronald Torreyes, an overplayed utility man who started hot but has since been below average. Camargo constantly sees time at shortstop over Bryson Stott, the can’t miss prospect who is currently at the major league level for the Phils. You wouldn’t know it, though, because he hardly plays and even when he does, he’s usually replaced in the later innings by Camargo.

 

The same can be said for former #1 overall pick Mickey Moniak. Listen, I know the kid has been awfully disappointing in just about every one of his major league at bats. With that being said, what kind of message does it send to the guy when you pinch hit for him with the bases loaded and nobody out in the sixth inning with Odubel Freakin’ Herrera of all people. Girardi did this on Tuesday night, in Moniak’s second game this season.

 

Or, you can pick any one of the three consecutive extra-inning games where Girardi would pinch-run for Castellanos or replace him in the field with Roman Quinn. Quinn has a decent glove and electrifying speed, but the problem with Girardi’s switches was that they were extremely untimely. In each instance, Girardi put Quinn in the game for one of his best hitters in a tie game.

 

It’s as if Girardi didn’t know that when the game is tied after nine innings, THEY KEEP PLAYING. Lo and behold, in each one of those games, Quinn stepped into the batter’s box with his wet pool noodle of a bat hanging on his shoulders with the game on the line.

 

The losing is bad, especially with the high expectations of this roster. The utter incompetence, and the inability to learn from past mistakes as he continues making the same ones, is what got Girardi fired.

 

So…What Now?

 

The interim manager that will replace Girardi is bench coach Rob Thomson. Thomson has been the bench coach for the Phils since 2018, the beginning of the Gabe Kapler era. However, Thomson’s first days as a bench coach go back to 2008 with the New York Yankees when…Joe Girardi was the manager.

 

If you don’t count the games in which Girardi or Kapler got ejected and Thomson took over the managerial duties, Thomson has exactly zero innings of experience as a Major League Baseball manager. I’m not saying that’s a totally bad thing, but I’m also not going to sit here and try to convince anyone it’s a good thing.

 

It also concerns me that Thomson could turn out to be just another version of Girardi, considering he’s spent most of his career alongside him. Obviously the two have spent a lot of years together, and are probably friends. I wouldn’t be too surprised if they shared a lot of the same ideologies when it comes to baseball and managing.

 

 

If that’s the case, then buckle up, because it could be an even longer summer in Philly until the Birds come back. I’m hopeful that Dombrowski and the rest of the Phils front office did their due diligence and, ya know, actually talked to Thomson about the way he’d manage the team going forward before naming him the interim manager.

 

With that being said, I fully expect a new manager in the clubhouse in 2023, barring an unanticipated miracle run by the Phils the next four months.

 

 

The Final Verdict

 

Firing Girardi was the right decision in my mind. He had lost control of the team and was becoming reckless in his decision making. Even still, I go back to my comment from earlier regarding the level of impact a manager can have on a baseball game.

 

In baseball, a manager is a lot like an offensive lineman in football. The elite guys are a known presence, but they don’t get nearly as much recognition for the success of the team as the star players will. On the other hand, the truly putrid guys are glaringly evident. The bad apples are the ones that cost you games, as Girardi was this year.

 

Firing the manager can change some things, but it won’t fix this team and make them the winning squad we expected in April. They still need to figure out how to string together hits with runners on base. The bullpen needs to stop serving up meatballs. The defense needs to, at the very least, just be average.

 

Maybe the firing of Girardi wakes this team up, and they start doing all those things on a more consistent basis. Or, my theory about a manager’s impact on a game is correct, and the issues with this team have less to do with the skipper and more to do with the overall roster construction. We’re going to find out one way or another over the next four months. See ya at 7:05.

By Matt Szczypiorski | June 3, 2022
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