Phillies fire Girardi after rough start
Joe Girardi was fired by the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday after his team's terrible start, becoming the first major league manager to lose his job this season.
Philadelphia said bench coach
Rob Thomson will become interim manager for the rest of the season.
Expected to contend for an NL East title, the Phillies entered Friday 22-29 and 12 games behind the first-place New York Mets.
“It has been a frustrating season for us up until this point, as we feel that our club has not played up to its capabilities,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said in a statement. “While all of us share the responsibility for the shortcomings, I felt that a change was needed and that a new voice in the clubhouse would give us the best chance to turn things around.”
Girardi's first year with Philadelphia was the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The Phillies went 82-80 last year and he ends his tenure with a 132-141 record. Girardi managed the New York Yankees from 2008-17 and the Florida Marlins in 2006.
“We under-performed, and that falls on me. This is what happens,” Girardi told SiriusXM's MLB Network Radio. “I think there's more talent in that room than the way we have played.”
The Phillies have a $224 million payroll and boast 2021 NL MVP Bryce Harper and NL Cy Young Award runner-up Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, All-Star catcher J.T. Realmuto and freeagent sluggers Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber. Yet Philadelphia hasn't made the playoffs since 2011, hasn't won the World Series since 2008 and has watched fan interest plummet through a decadeplus of mediocre baseball.
The Phillies entered Friday 12-15 at home. They were 3-7 over their last 10 games.
They were done in by a sagging bullpen, defensive deficiencies and slow starts from some high-priced veterans.
“I think there's a number of reasons we didn't win. We gave too many extra outs that cost us four or five games, maybe even more,” Girardi said.
Girardi likely had to make the playoffs this season after the Phillies declined to pick up his option for 2023. DODGERS COULD OWE $47 MILLION IN LUXURY TAX >> The Los Angeles Dodgers opened the season with an all-time high $310.6 million payroll for purposes of the luxury tax and are on track to pay a record tax of nearly $47 million, according to figures compiled by Major League Baseball and obtained by The Associated Press.
Five teams exceeded the $230 million threshold as of opening day, which if unchanged by the season's end would be one shy of the most, in 2016.