Joe Girardi had a lot of things working against him, including the Mets
Philadelphia Phillies manager Joe Girardi looks on from the dugout during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Monday, May 23, 2022, in Atlanta. Credit: AP/John Bazemore
The Mets aren’t the reason Joe Girardi was fired Friday morning by the Phillies. But Buck Showalter & Co. certainly played a big role in his demise, going 9-3 against their NL East rival, including that May 5 stunner in which the Mets rallied for seven runs in the ninth inning to steal an 8-7 victory at Citizens Bank Park.
If that night didn’t put Girardi on the clock, it wasn’t long after that, and many expected last weekend’s sweep by the Mets at Citi Field to be the finishing blow. The Phillies, already an embarrassment defensively, turned kicking the ball around into an art form, leading to another barrage of job-security questions for Girardi as his team packed late Sunday night for the bus ride down I-95.
“I never worry about my job,” an agitated Girardi said afterward.
Five days later, he was relieved of it.
The Mets’ own fast start didn’t help, as the Phillies went from 10 1/2 back after that weekend to a full dozen behind when team president Dave Dombrowski called Girardi into his office Friday morning. If not for Buck Ball laying waste to the entire NL East — no other team in the division has a winning record — maybe Dombrowski could have been more patient.
Before Friday, the Phillies had played more than half of their games against teams above .500 (10-18), with only the Nationals having as many, while the Mets played only 15 (9-6) against winning teams. According to tankathon.com, which analyzes strength of schedule, the Phillies have the weakest one remaining, with a combined .473 winning percentage that’s dead last in baseball (the Mets’ opponents are at .480, which ranks 27th).
“It was a real tough part of the schedule,” Girardi told MLB Network on Sirius XM after his firing. “A lot of those series we were 1-2 where I think a lot of them we should have been 2-1. I think we could have won three games in Atlanta pretty easily. We could have won two games in New York pretty easily. We just didn’t. And that’s why I’m driving home with my stuff in the car.”
Girardi wrote his own obituary with that statement, the slim margin between staying employed or not. But he had a bull’s-eye on his back before this season even began as a lame-duck manager presiding over the fourth-highest payroll in the sport ($233 million). Dombrowski throwing cash at Nick Castellanos ($100M) and Kyle Schwarber ($79M) in the offseason definitely raised the stakes, but an already flawed defensive roster took another big hit when Bryce Harper was forced into the everyday DH role by his April elbow injury.
Rather than rotating the suspect gloves in the DH spot, the Phillies were forced to depend on those players actually using them. The result is a team that ranked 29th in defensive runs saved (minus-25) and resembled a circus in the field on most days.
“The pieces are the pieces that they have,” Girardi said. “You can get better just by work, right? And I think people have improved by work. But this is more of an offense and starting pitching club, and I think we knew that. The defense, I mean, there’s some physical limitations. But that doesn’t mean these guys aren’t busting their butts and doing everything they can to get better because I believe they were, and the coaches were doing that.
“But you can only run so fast, right? And you can only cover so much ground if you’re an infielder by your physical limitations. You can do some things to try to improve that first step, but you can’t make people faster.”
Guess that was Girardi’s way of trying to boomerang some of the blame back on Dombrowski. If Dombrowski was going to make him the scapegoat for failing to win with a $233 million roster, then it’s fair for Girardi to mention how he screwed up putting it together.
Is removing Girardi and replacing him with his bench coach, Rob Thomson, really going to turn these Phillies into a contender? Even someone like Dombrowki, who’s been working in front offices since the 1970s, doesn’t have the answer for that. But there’s only so many things that can be done in the first week in June, and firing the manager is taking your biggest swing early.
“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,” 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. I believe we have a talented group that can get back on track, and I am confident that Rob, with his experience and familiarity with our club, is the right man to lead us going forward.”
Girardi finished nine games under .500 (132-141) during his two-plus seasons with the Phillies, without a playoff appearance. Oddly enough, in 2019, they chose Girardi over Showalter and Dusty Baker — both currently manage first-place teams — and the guy he replaced, Gabe Kapler, was named 2021 Manager of the Year for leading the Giants to a 107-win season.
That’s not to say Showalter or Baker wouldn’t have met the same fate. But Girardi helped the Yankees win a World Series in just his second year as manager and reached the postseason six times in 10 years before GM Brian Cashman let him walk when his contract expired after the 2017 season. By comparison, Aaron Boone has started 4-for-4 in making the playoffs but has advanced to the ALCS only once and has yet to get to a World Series.
Don’t forget, the Mets had a shot at Girardi, too. They interviewed him after the 2019 season, but Girardi wound up being hired by the Phillies in late October. A week later, the Mets gave their job to Carlos Beltran, who “resigned” after 77 days after his role in the Astros’ sign-stealing came to light. He’s now a YES broadcaster. His last-minute replacement, Luis Rojas, lasted two seasons and now is the Yankees’ third-base coach.
Thomson, like Girardi, has an extended Yankees pedigree, tracing all the way back to 1990, and climbing the ladder from minor-league coach to running player development to landing on Girardi’s major-league staff as the bench coach for his first year in 2008.
“I would argue that he’s the best coach I’ve ever been around,” Girardi said. “He’s more prepared than any coach I’ve been around. He has great baseball sense. I think he deserved a chance a long time ago. I hope he turns this around, runs this team to the playoffs and he continues as a manager. I could almost argue that every win — except the wins with the Florida Marlins — Rob Thomson has had a hand in my life. A huge hand. I’m pulling for this guy.”
No regrets over Cano
So much for the Mets being haunted by the May 2 release of Robinson Cano, who chose free agency Thursday when the Padres optioned him to Triple-A El Paso. Cano, 39, was batting .091 (3-for-33) with 10 strikeouts and did not have an extra-base hit in 12 games, five of those at second base.
Cano, a former eight-time All-Star, was trying to come back after missing all of last season because of a second PED suspension. The Mets still owe him roughly $37 million through 2023 and narrowly missed a Petco Park reunion as they’ll begin a three-game series with the Padres on Monday.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
