Joe Girardi gets a lot of guff for his sometimes thoughtless strategical decisions, but this guy wants to win. Torre was a softy, never raising his voice to his team, never pushing his youngsters-- more of a guilt trip guy. Either way, once his team of winners left, his new team of greedy investment bankers completely quit on him. Girardi, on the other hand, doesn't expect losing, and is visibly upset after losing a series. He really believes the Yankees underachieve, (and they do), but he is far more committed to winning than Joe Torre was after years of Torre's pay-me-to-sit-on-the-bench-and-look-angry-approach. The biggest issue with Girardi was his management of young pitchers, but he seems to have shed the career-destroyer label and has managed his young guys well. His most impressive feat of 2008 was his development of a bullpen that was left in shambles after the departure of Joe Torre. He built the confidence of Veras, Edwar, Robertson and even Farnsworth (before his trade to Detroit) by putting them in easy positions, then pressure situations and never allowing them to overthink last night's bad outing by keeping them pitching. Torre was a terrible bullpen guy, he was known for picking a reliever and then riding him until his effectiveness was spent. First it was Stanton, then Proctor, then Rivera when all of his other options had either fallen apart or had given him lip (Kyle Farnsworth) for his abuse of them.
Another strong point for the new Joe is his commitment to developing young players. As stated above, he developed a top of the league bullpen out of a bunch of rookies and minor league journeymen. The failure of Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy was by no means his fault-- he continuously put up with Kennedy's bad attitude and gave them every chance to succeed. Brett Gardner was also a Girardi favorite for his hustle. What? A Yankee that cares about winning!?? Austin Jackson, Jesus Montero, Dellin Betances, Joba, and Hughes are in very good hands.
Lastly, Girardi stresses defense-- an aspect of the game that was never a strongpoint of Torre's latest teams. Giambi made some decent plays at first base last year, and Girardi often started Betemit at first to stop lefty-line-drive hitters. Despite Melky's abominable hitting, Girardi still kept him in center for most of the season for his defense and ability to keep singles from becoming doubles and triples. Girardi also gave Jose Molina a shot at playing everyday after Posada went down with injury-- at the time he really didn't have anyone else but forget about that. Molina showed that he is arguably the best defensive catcher in the MLB, leading both leagues in percentage of baserunners thrown out. His management of pitchers and game calling have also been far better than Posada's fastball-fastball-fastball approach.
Overall Girardi deserves a B+. He didn't make the playoffs last year with a 250 million dollar payroll so giving him an A would be too much credit for him. His development of a young bullpen, his drive to win and the motivation he brings to his team (he really gets on non-chalant players like Robinson Cano) make him a top five Manager. His game strategy leaves something to be desired-- its not as bad as the Randolphian "gut feeling," but he occassionaly can't come up with an answer when asked why he made a certain move. Either way, now that Bobby "The Curse" Abreu has peaced, Girardi will put together a playoff team in 2009 with the Yankees being a top team in the MLB in 2010.
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