There are very few Major League Baseball teams that have hired more managers than the Philadelphia Phillies. With more than 50 managers in their 144-year history, the Phillies hired one of them—a former World Series champion—on this date seven years ago.
Ahead of a truncated COVID-19 season, Philadelphia hired Joe Girardi on October 24, 2019, in hopes of bringing balance to a franchise that was drowning in mediocrity. To that point, the Phillies had not finished above .500 or finished higher than second in the NL East since 2011.
Phillies fans' hopes in Joe Girardi didn't go quite as planned in short stint as manager
MLB was well and truly in a new era when Girardi was hired. Most teams had already packed their bags and boarded the sabermetrics train. Others, like the Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Angels, and Athletics still attempt to keep things going with notably small analytics departments to this day.
Three teams left, and all three have bigger-than-average analytics staffs.
— Zack Scott (@ZackScottSports) October 18, 2026
Brewers: 46 (2nd in MLB)
Rays: 39
Guardians: 30
League average: 28.5
The Phillies have the biggest staff in baseball, and they're already home. Like payroll, it's one input. Everything else combined… pic.twitter.com/EbV5BXkpnr
The Phillies were hoping that Girardi—who led a notably forward-thinking New York Yankees squad to a World Series title over Philadelphia — would bring both schools of thought to a team that hovered around .500 in the previous two seasons.
But things did not pan out well for the team under Girardi. Philadelphia went 132-141 with him at the helm. Famously, Girardi refused to send relievers out to pitch if they had thrown in a game more than two days in a row. He rarely used younger players, favoring the likes of Didi Gregorius and Ronald Torreyes, both of whom had previously played for him with the Yankees.
He was fired midway through the 2022 campaign for then-bench coach Rob Thomson (who was also fired in the middle of a season). Girardi struggled to connect with players. Nick Castellanos spoke openly about how their relationship was tenuous.
Joe Girardi's year-by-year record in Philadelphia
- 2020: 28-32
- 2021: 82-80
- 2022: 22-29
It has all worked out for Girardi in the end. He is no longer under constant scrutiny as a manager. He still uses his baseball knowledge as a broadcaster with YES Network, Marquee Sports Network, and NBC. He seems to be enjoying it.
We may not have seen the last of Joe Girardi in the dugout as his broadcast career has taken off. Fans from several different teams have called for him to take over for their favorite team. If Girardi has the itch to coach again, he can probably get hired in a blink, just maybe not in Philadelphia.
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