Yankees manager Joe Girardi will not return to the team next year after 10 seasons, and the recommendation of Yankees Senior VP & GM Brian Cashman to Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner following the team's loss in the ALCS "was to change managers," according to sources cited by ESPN's Buster Olney (TWITTER.com, 10/26). FANRAG SPORTS' Jon Heyman cited sources as saying that the decision to part ways with Girardi came from Cashman with Steinbrenner "signing off on it." Sources said that tension between Girardi and the Yankees' front office, including Cashman, had "bubbled up in recent days, and that the decision appears to be more about what the Yankees wanted rather than Girardi's wishes." There was "uncertainty surrounding Girardi following the conclusion" of the '17 season as his contract "only ran through this season." Sources suggested that Girardi "would have come back" to the Yankees "if it were up to him." Girardi's tenure "featured disagreements over player usage and other things between him and the front office." Differences "sometimes stemmed from disagreements over analytics and scouting/gut" (FANRAGSPORTS.com, 10/26). ESPN.com's Andrew Marchand notes Girardi and Cashman "didn't always agree" toward the end of Girardi's tenure. There was a "clash" the use of 1B Chris Carter, whom the Yankees' analytics staff "thought of more highly than Girardi did." Sources said that he and Cashman "didn't get along as well as they had in years past" (ESPN.com, 10/26). In N.Y., Billy Witz notes though Cashman and Girardi have "divergent personalities and far different interests, they had generally enjoyed a strong working relationship for the last decade." Though they "rarely socialized together, they spoke almost daily during the season" (NYTIMES.com, 10/26).
FRACTURED RELATIONSHIP: ESPN's Aaron Boone said he did not think "there's any question that the relationship between whether it be Cashman and Girardi or, I think, the entire front office and Girardi ... was definitely fractured." Boone: "I don't think they valued him as much as being one of the really high paid managers in the sport" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 10/26). The N.Y. Post's Joel Sherman wrote it was "clear Girardi and front office were not kumbaya" this season. SI.com's Jay Jaffe notes the opportunity for Cashman "to hire a fresh manager to do it HIS WAY is probably something he's been waiting for." YES Network's Jack Curry notes Girardi's replacement likely will be "someone Cashman's worked with" in the past. He also will be "heavily influenced by front office" and "won't make $4M a year" (TWITTER.com, 10/26).
ISSUES HAVE ALWAYS EXISTED: ESPN's Ian O'Connor noted the Yankees have "deep respect" for Girardi's work ethic both as a player and manager, but one problem between Girardi and the front office "has always been .. human relations." The team wanted Girardi to "forge a deeper and better connection with his players." He could be a "distant, tense and robotic figure" and the team wanted to "humanize him a little bit." Girardi acquiesced a little to the front office's "strong recommendation" during the Yankees' World Series run in '09, but he "never really took additional steps along those lines." ESPN's Olney: "It felt like the relationship between Joe and the Yankees seemingly was reaching an expiration point, like a marriage that had run its course." He noted it has yet to come out whether the move was due to the Yankees "saying we are ready for a different voice, or if something happened during the course of negotiations" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 10/26).
WORLD SERIES OR BUST: ESPN's Karl Ravech said Girardi's departure is a "sign of the times." He becomes the third manager to lead his team into this year's postseason that has lost his job, joining the Nationals' Dusty Baker and the Red Sox' John Farrell ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 10/26). USA TODAY's Bob Nightengale writes the Yankees "have done some awfully strange things over the years ... but this one is a doozy." Nightengale: "It makes absolutely no sense" (USATODAY.com, 10/26).
