Phillies hiring Joe Girardi a step in the right direction
By David Esser
The Phillies finally got their guy in Joe Girardi to run the clubhouse
In just two short seasons, it was clear the Phillies’ “Gabe Kapler experiment” had turned out to be a failure.
After spending close to half a billion dollars in the previous offseason, the Phillies failed to make the postseason, extending their streak of October-less baseball to a brutal eight years. With Kapler being relieved of his duties earlier this month, it was almost a necessity that the Phillies brass absolutely nailed their next managerial hire.
Enter Joe Girardi. The former World Series champion (2009 with the Yankees) enters the City of Brotherly Love with a plethora of knowledge, experience, and recorded success.
In 10 years with the Yankees, Girardi never failed to achieve a .500+ season, and ended his time in New York with a .562 win-loss %.
Along with his World Series victory, Girardi has historically been an above-average manager come October, a feature that the Phillies no doubt took into account when evaluating their goals in the near future. Girardi’s 28 postseason wins and a .538 postseason win-loss % speak for themselves in this regard.
Girardi is more than just a switch up at the manager spot, he represents an entire culture change. With Charlie Manuel and Chris Young not returning as coaching assistants in 2020, Girardi gets full freedom to bring in “his” guys. Coaches that should no doubt contribute to a winning vibe in 2020 and ideally years to come.
The Phillies new skipper is also expected get a serious voice when deciding which free agents to target this winter. With the front office expected to spend heavy on some big names, it’s important to have a man with winning experience giving his opinion. We don’t want another Jake Arrieta situation on our hands.
A new manager is just a small cog in a massive machine, and the Phillies have a multitude of other coaching jobs and roster spots to address this offseason. Girardi can’t, and won’t, just magically turn the Phillies’ bad pitchers into good pitchers. However, hiring Girardi is a step in the right direction. It’s a move that signals a franchise is embracing some “old school thinking”, and is progressing towards a franchise that consistently competes for pennants.