Joe Girardi's Mandate To Lead

As a fan, it is always difficult to watch your team fade away in the standings when in the home stretch of a pennant race. What is even more difficult to digest is when that team fades away with one tough and grueling loss after the other. The Yankees in the final two months of the season have followed one hard fought, one run loss after another. The affect of losing in that manner is hard for fans, but it is even more difficult in the clubhouse. Joe Girardi, despite these demoralizing defeats, has done an overwhelming job keeping the team prepared, and completely focused for every game. Even in the face of the Yankees missing the playoffs in consecutive years, the first time in two decades, Joe Girardi has demonstrated that he is the manager of the future.

In a landscape created and molded by the late George Steinbrenner, patience with managerial failure has seldom been tolerated, regardless of the circumstances. In the case of Joe Girardi, it is impossible to believe he is part of the problem. In fact, there is every reason to believe he is part of the future solution. The past two months of the season is a perfect example of why Joe Girardi must be part of the Yankees future. The idea that he has managed to keep the club together, in the face of the most difficult losses a team can endure is proof enough. Certainly the Yankees have a strong veteran presence in their clubhouse, who take their careers, and each game seriously. Yet, it is human nature to begin taking the foot off the peddle, and allowing themselves to coast to what is the inevitable end of their 2014 campaign. Under Girardi’s leadership, the team has shown itself to give full, consistent effort every night, even though those efforts appear futile. Atop that, he has managed to squeeze every drop out of a patch-work rotation, and countless injuries at every position.

It is not mere coincidence that the Yankees have given full effort, despite the impending end of their season. Girardi is the figure leading the way every night, and clearly has the pulse and confidence of his team. Lesser managers have lost their club under less dire circumstances, and Girardi has successfully avoided that at every turn. In baseball when evaluating managers, you can never discount what is the major determining factor of the effectiveness of a manager, their unwavering, and unyielding command of the clubhouse. The Yankees could never have managed to fight so hard in this race, despite overwhelming odds, without that command. To the end, Girardi deserves far greater accolades than 2014 will produce. It is a sign that as the head of on-field operations, he is a figure that can be counted on to harvest the full effort and focus of his team, regardless of where they sit in the standings, and the time of year.

There are other points that can be made to support Girardi’s continued role with the Yankees, including, but not limited to, his undeniable ability to work with both young players, and veterans. In addition to having a strong grasp of organizational planning, and creating a strong clubhouse fabric. All of these qualities the Yankees will need in the face of major personnel changes during the upcoming off season. There will also be a player power-vacuum that will ensue with the departure of Derek Jeter. Though most importantly, he continues to motivate, and prepare his team exceptionally well, when every player in the clubhouse must know their efforts will not result in a playoff birth this year. A manager of that caliber is very rare, and the Yankees are fortunate enough to already have him sitting on their bench.

It is a law of nature that every manager looks like a genius when they’re winning. Yet, it is when those same managers consistently find a way to keep their team focused and hungry even when the chips are down, that tells a GM not to begin their search for a replacement. How could they? They’re irreplaceable.

                                               (A stern chin, and stoic look inspires confidence)

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