JOE’S BRONX HIGHS AND LOWS
Joe Girardi is officially out after 10 seasons as manager of the Yankees. Here are some of the highs and lows of his tenure in pinstripes.
HIGHS
1996-99: After a rough start with fans while replacing popular catcher Mike Stanley as a free agent, Girardi enjoys success as a Yankee player, winning three championships in four seasons while helping mentor eventual successor Jorge Posada. Girardi's triple against Atlanta ace Greg Maddux drives in the Yanks' first run in the third inning of Game 6 of the World Series. He catches David Cone's perfect game in July of '99 before signing that winter as a free agent with his hometown Cubs, making the lone All-Star appearance of his career the following season. He played three seasons in Chicago before finishing his playing career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2003.
2005: Girardi returns to New York as
Joe Torre's bench coach and is named the manager of the Florida Marlins in October. (See lows.)
2008: Girardi is selected over Don Mattingly and Tony Pena as Torre's successor as Yankees manager.
2009: In his second season at the helm, the Yanks — buoyed by the free-agent signings of CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira and a rare terrific postseason from Alex Rodriguez — defeat Philadelphia in six games to win the World Series, the 27th in their history and their first since 2000.
2010-2017: The Yankees qualified for postseason play four times over the next eight seasons, including the ALCS in 2012 and 2017, with Girardi guiding a retooled roster to a seventh game this year before being eliminated by Houston.
LOWS
2006: In his one season with the Marlins, Girardi cops NL Manager of the Year honors (the only time in his career he won that award in either league), but he often clashed with the front office and was fired after one season because he supposedly was "not a good fit," according to then Florida GM Larry Beinfest.
2008: In his first season as Torre's successor, and the final one in the old Stadium, the Yanks finished 89-73 for third place behind Tampa Bay and Boston in the AL East, ending a string of 13 consecutive playoff appearances since 1995. 2011: Girardi handled the final seasons of the Core Four careers for Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera smoothly, but Jorge Posada's pinstriped ending wasn't a happy one. Posada pulled himself from the lineup in May when Girardi dropped him to ninth in the order. Posada later claimed in a book after retirement that he "felt like I wasn't being treated right, that people weren't always being as straightforward with me as I wanted them to be or treating me as I deserved to be treated."
2012: With Jeter injured in a division series victory over Baltimore, the Yanks batted just .157 in a four-game sweep by Detroit in the ALCS, with Rodriguez getting benched in Game 4. 2016: With the organization transitioning to younger players and dealing away several veterans at the trade deadline, the Yankees miss the playoffs for the third time in four years.
2017: A season of rebirth with the further emergence of young stars such as Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Luis Severino resulted in 91 wins. Girardi did a fine job in navigating 26 outs from his bullpen in a win over Minnesota in the AL wild-card game, but a colossal tactical gaffe — not requesting a video review on a foul ball that was ruled a hit-by-pitch — led to a terrible giveaway loss to Cleveland in Game 2 of the AL division series. The Yanks rallied around their manager and came back to win the series in five games, but they couldn't close out a 3-2 series lead in the ALCS, dropping the final two games in Houston, including a 4-0 shutout in Game 7. Five days later, Yankees GM Brian Cashman announced on Thursday "we've decided to pursue alternatives for the managerial position."