Girardi era ends after Yankee run to ALCS
Skipper joins Baker, Farrell on MLB unemployment line after 10 seasons in Bronx
After a decade in the job that included a championship season in 2009, Joe Girardi is out as manager of the New York Yankees.
Girardi, 53, announced his departure in an emailed statement Thursday morning, saying, “With a heavy heart, I come to you because the Yankees have decided not to bring me back.”
The statement went on to thank everyone from the Steinbrenner family to general manager Brian Cashman to his coaches and other team personnel, and it concluded with Girardi saying that the “passion and excitement” of the 2017 postseason would “remain in my heart forever.”
In a separate statement, issued by the Yankees, Cashman said that he wanted to thank Girardi “for his 10 years of hard work and service” and that the team had “decided to pursue alternatives for the managerial position.”
This post-season was exhilarating and yet painfully disappointing for Girardi and the Yankees, ending in a loss in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. Two other managers — the Washington Nationals’ Dusty Baker and the Boston Red Sox’s John Farrell — lost their jobs this month after their teams were ousted from the postseason. Girardi becomes the third.
Girardi was in the final year of his contract and was the third-longesttenured manager in the major leagues, behind the Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Scioscia and the San Francisco Giants’ Bruce Bochy. He compiled a 910-710 record in his 10 years in the Bronx and is leaving a team that is brimming with young talent and a farm system rife with promising prospects.
That Yankees team, with so many players who had not been tested, exceeded most expectations this season and chased the Red Sox to the next to last day of the regular season for the division title.
Ultimately, the Yankees settled for a wild-card berth before embarking on an inspiring run to the cusp of the World Series.
Girardi’s unrelenting manner — be it his rigorous preparation, his unwillingness to concede any cause or his sometimes contentious back and forth with the news media — was reflected in this club, which staged numerous comebacks this season and then twice rallied from twogames-to-none deficits in post-season series only to ultimately fall short in the second instance.
But it was during the post-season run that Girardi came under fierce criticism for his managing. In the Yankees’ Game 2 loss in the division series against the Cleveland Indians, he declined to ask for a replay review of a hit-by-pitch call by the plate umpire — a decision that helped open the doors for a decisive Indians comeback.
Girardi, who made a rare admission the next day — “I screwed up,” he said repeatedly at a news conference — was afforded a reprieve when the Yankees rallied to win the next three games against the Indians to advance to the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros.
Still, the withering criticism that was directed at him after Game 2 seemed to affect him deeply and, for the first time, raised the notion that he might not necessarily want to return as manager.
And last Saturday night, after the Yankees were eliminated by the Astros, Girardi had an almost fatalistic tone as he discussed his baseball future.
“I’ve had 10 great years here,” he said.
“I feel extremely blessed. God has been good to me, and we’ll see what the future holds.”