{"id":8226,"date":"2010-09-26T17:55:04","date_gmt":"2010-09-27T00:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/?p=8226"},"modified":"2010-09-28T10:20:26","modified_gmt":"2010-09-28T17:20:26","slug":"joe-girardi-the-perfect-modern-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2010\/09\/26\/joe-girardi-the-perfect-modern-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Girardi: The Perfect Modern Manager?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve read my last two Seamheads pieces (found here<\/a> and here<\/a>), it should be pretty clear that I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been thrilled with the recent direction taken by my beloved New York Yankees.\u00c2\u00a0 Since my last post, the Bronx Bombers have continued their sluggish ways, winning four, losing six, dropping out of first place in the AL East, and even giving the Boston Red Sox an outside shot at winning the AL Wild Card.\u00c2\u00a0 In the New York area, a lot of the fan frustration has focused on manager Joe Girardi.<\/p>\n

To summarize the complaints, Girardi has milked the Yankees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 significant lead in\"\"<\/a> the Wild Card race, while eschewing the division pennant.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so interested in keeping his starting lineup healthy for October that he rarely puts his best nine players on the field at the same time.\u00c2\u00a0 Also, he seems to manage his bullpen by opting not for the best reliever for the situation, but the reliever who is least likely to come up lame after throwing his next pitch.<\/p>\n

It reminds me of a bit by Jerry Seinfeld.\u00c2\u00a0 In it, the comedian ruminates on what horseracing would look like if the horses knew that any leg injury could be fatal.\u00c2\u00a0 He says that if they did, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d see some mighty careful stepping down that homestretch.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 He goes on to quote the horse: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You finish first.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll finish\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 whatever.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d imagine Girardi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pregame talks sound pretty similar.\u00c2\u00a0 Every sentence he utters must be some modification of please don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get hurt<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Nice game, A-Rod.\u00c2\u00a0 You hit two homers, robbed a double down the line, and found a new starlet to date.\u00c2\u00a0 I know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only the third inning, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to take you out.\u00c2\u00a0 We need you for October.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pettitte, ice that groin.\u00c2\u00a0 I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care if you haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t taken the mound yet.<\/em><\/p>\n

Vazquez, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t die.<\/em><\/p>\n

(It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably the nicest thing he can say to Javier Vazquez after this season.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The problem is that cautious and calculating don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t jive with American culture.\u00c2\u00a0 We love swashbucklers, gamblers, and rogues.\u00c2\u00a0 Fortune favors the bold.\u00c2\u00a0 When hitting on his kids’ elementary school teacher, Don Draper didn’t take no for an answer.\u00c2\u00a0 Rounders\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> Mike McD didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t leave his heads up game against Teddy KGB after he worked his way out of debt.\u00c2\u00a0 George Costanza didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just get fired from Play Now Industries, that guy got CANNED<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In our culture, villains are meticulous and cunning.\u00c2\u00a0 Heroes jump off buildings and yell \u00e2\u20ac\u0153yippee-kay-yay, mother-@#$%er!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Having said that, is it possible that Joe Girardi is the perfect modern manager?<\/p>\n

Hold on.\u00c2\u00a0 I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe I just wrote that.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to go take a Breathalyzer just to be sure I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not drunk.<\/p>\n

Here we go.<\/p>\n

Processing\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Nope.\u00c2\u00a0 Well within the legal limit.\u00c2\u00a0 Take that, Braylon Edwards.<\/p>\n

(What? Too soon?)<\/p>\n

In today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s major leagues, the specialized bullpen determines the outcome of a significant number of games while winning the division offers no significant advantage over winning the Wild Card.<\/p>\n

Well, in his three years as manager of the New York Yankees, Girardi has excelled in his management of the Bronx bullpen and in preparing for his only postseason opportunity.\u00c2\u00a0 In 2008, the Yankees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 bullpen ranked in the top ten in ERA.\u00c2\u00a0 Last \"\"<\/a>year, Girardi MacGyvered together an efficient bridge between the starting pitching and Mariano Rivera with paper clips, chewing gum, and Alfredo Aceves.\u00c2\u00a0 This season, his relieving corps has been one of the best in the American League.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Girardi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mighty careful stepping\u00e2\u20ac\u009d down the homestretch has kept his aging and battered team relatively healthy.\u00c2\u00a0 Remember, the Yankees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 average age is closer to that of a United States congressman than an Olympic athlete.\u00c2\u00a0 The chances that Jorge Posada pulls a hamstring rounding third or that Alex Rodriguez tweaks his back while kissing his biceps are equal to that of the housing market\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s continued decline.\u00c2\u00a0 By frequently resting his highly paid offensive stars and shying away from the use of his best relievers on consecutive days like my wife avoids public toilets, Girardi has sacrificed the division and consistent performance for possible postseason success.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a strategy that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not unheard of.\u00c2\u00a0 In 2000, the Yankees had a nine-game lead over the Red Sox on September 13, effectively shut down the engines and coasted, and clinched the division on the 27th<\/sup> by default while losing their last six games.\u00c2\u00a0 Then they won the World Series pretty handily.\u00c2\u00a0 Joe Madden, the manager of the rival Rays, has publicly said that the only way he would start the team\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ace David Price on the last Sunday of the season is if he had to win to make the playoffs.<\/p>\n

At this point, we know that Wild Card teams aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t at a disadvantage.\u00c2\u00a0 In today’s game, fortune favors the healthy.\u00c2\u00a0 Wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t any rational human being sacrifice the regular season for the chance at winning the World Series?<\/p>\n

So, is Girardi at fault for playing the cards dealt to him?<\/p>\n

Right now, Girardi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a poker player with pocket eights and three face cards on the board.\u00c2\u00a0 Why go all in and risk his whole stack?\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe when the calendar turns, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have aces.<\/p>\n

Like it or not, until things change, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the perfect modern manager.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our culture, villains are meticulous and cunning. Heroes jump off buildings and yell \u00e2\u20ac\u0153yippee-kay-yay, mother-@#$%er!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,9,4235],"tags":[589,2708,222,10404,500,11167,6826,11165,11176,6200,11166,11177,444,11173,558,9474,11168,11175,11174,3584,2230],"class_list":["post-8226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-general","category-top-stories","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-bronx-bombers","tag-bullpen","tag-groin","tag-homers","tag-homestretch","tag-javier-vazquez","tag-jerry-seinfeld","tag-jive","tag-joe-girardi","tag-leg-injury","tag-mlb-playoffs","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-nice-game","tag-pennant","tag-pettitte","tag-pregame","tag-rogues","tag-starlet","tag-starting-lineup","tag-wild-card"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}