With relationship frayed, deposing Joe makes sense

guy who convinced him to trade for Didi Gregorius, among others. I wrote a column about Naehring during spring training, and here is part of what Cashman told me then about him: “Tim is certainly capable of a lot in this game. He could be a GM, he could be a manager, he could be a hitting coach. He could do anything he wants.” Naehring is a former major leaguer as well, having played several years with the Red Sox, so he would check all the boxes, so to speak. But any such hire also would bring a lot of unknown, which is always more of a gamble in New York. You just never know how someone who hasn’t managed in the big leagues before is going to handle the pressure, the second-guessing from the media, the overall scrutiny that comes with the job. I’ve seen guys like Buddy Harrelson with the Mets and Don Zimmer with the Yankees wilt under that scrutiny, despite years of experience in New York as players and/ or coaches. But this is also a different era in baseball, as GMs and front offices dictate the day-to-day decision-making during the season that was once the province of the manager. The new buzzword is “compatability,” which basically means the manager better be willing to accept the influence of the front office, as well as take the barrage of information being sent his way and be able to communicate it to players in a way that makes sense. In short, GMs don’t want managers who want to do it their way, based on gut feelings or whatever. And they’re not certainly hiring a manager for any namevalue he might bring. Essentially that all played into why Cashman hired Girardi over Don Mattingly after Torre was forced out in 2007, and it turned out to be a good hire. Girardi had his flaws, to be sure. He obviously lacked Torre’s charisma, to the point where his press conferences became rather torturous exercises, but he also won a championship and proved to be a solid tactician during his 10 years on the job.

For that matter, you know he was a good manager or he never would have lasted as long as he did in New York, considering how bad he was with the media.

But there were indications his relationship with Cashman began to fray a bit in recent years. Someone who knows Girardi well says the manager wanted more input into day-to-day decision-making: he became visibly frustrated, for example, at having to continue to put the non-hitting Chris Carter in the lineup earlier this season.

On the other hand, it may be that Cashman didn’t care for the manager calling out Gary Sanchez publicly around midseason for his defensive problems.

In any case, by the end of the regular season Cashman likely had made up his mind. Looking back, it was telling when the GM offered no public support of his manager after Girardi’s infamous non-challenge in Game 2 of the ALDS until after the Yankees rallied to win the series - and even then he mostly avoided the subject.

You can make the case the way the fans turned on Girardi, booing him before Game 3 of the ALDS, made firing him easier, but I don’t think Cashman operates that way.

He once took on Jeter publicly over a contract squabble, at a time the Captain had practically reached sainthood among the Yankee faithful.

In the end, I think he feels strongly the time had come for change. In that sense I admire his conviction, especially with a team built to win for the next several years.

For while Hal Steinbrenner ultimately made the decision on Girardi, Cashman is clearly putting his own neck on the line with this call.