Saturday, October 23, 2010

Girardi very lucky the old Boss is long gone


Joe Girardi is very lucky George Steinbrenner is not around anymore or he might be checking the managerial want ads.

In truth, had the old Boss been in charge of the New York Yankees for the last few years, neither Girardi nor Brian Cashman would have survived missing out on the 2008 playoffs, the first time the Yankees were completely out of the postseason since Steinbrenner wisely hired Joe Torre to manage his team. And even with his team winning championship after championship, Steinbrenner constantly felt the need to show Torre who was the Boss.

The old Steinbrenner would have really blown a gasket about the way Girardi mismanaged his team during the 2010 postseason. The old Steinbrenner was never shy about second guessing his managers and he would have had a field day with Girardi's extremely questionable decision making.

Steinbrenner always took things too far, but the one good thing about him is that players and managers knew they had to answer for their mistakes. There doesn't seem to be the same level of accountability with Cashman, Hal Steinbrenner and Hank Steinbrenner running the team.

The Boss would have sent his manager and team a stern message about their poor postseason. But Cashman was quick to assure the baseball world that Girardi would return as manager of the Yankees. My question is why? I don't think Girardi deserves to be fired, but couldn't Cashman have made him sweat a little bit or at least ponder whether his mistakes would cost him his job? If there is no accountability for Girardi's poor choices this postseason, what's to stop him from doing things the same way next year?

Steinbrenner died only a few months ago, but the old Boss has really been gone for a long time. Girardi should be incredibly grateful for that.

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