Yeah what he did. Wait.....what did he did. You mean getting them into the playoffs dispite a bad team? Oh wait, they didn't make the playoffs. Then it has to be that he........well that he...... Holy shit, I know he did something because Ron keeps telling me he did. Hell, I probably just missed it.
. . ^^^ Yeah, obviously you did miss it. Not sure why you're singling me out because if you look I am by no means the only one who disagrees with your "idiot" label. What did he do?...here, lemme help; "Enough fans have cursed me for putting a premature postmortem on the Yankees. They even call me a closet Mets fan, which is more cutting than any voodoo or vulgarity. No matter our disagreement on the Pinstripe State, we are simpatico on one thing. Joe Girardi is managing his a– off. During the Steinbrenner Empire, the Yankees have been a cutthroat operation, a zero-sum, World Series or sayonara endeavor. But if you take a jeweler’s eye on the job Girardi has done, it’s impossible not to tip your cap. Aside from jamming the eject button on Andy Pettitte the other day and letting Joba Chamberlain combust on the mound, G.I. Joe has done a David Copperfield job on his club this year. The Yankees have been a walking triage since spring, with more wounded limbs than 1944 Bastogne. Girardi must have winced every time someone asked for an aspirin. • Derek Jeter was supposed to start the season. Then he didn’t. Then he came back. Then he didn’t. He’s just now getting his creaky limbs back into form. • Kevin Youkilis was supposed to swat at least .290. Yet as of A-Rod’s return, the Chicago Cubs’ pitching staff had more homers than the Yankees’ total from third base. • Mark Teixeira wrecked his wrist, missing the season. - Curtis Granderson out twice • Francisco Cervelli got hit by a pitch and followed Tex into darkness. • Ichiro Suzuki is finally acting his age. • The Yanks were forced to fetch Lyle Overbay, Vernon Wells and Travis Hafner from a retirement home. • CC Sabathia has stunk. • Phil Hughes has stunk. • Hiroki Kuroda essentially went oh-for-August. And if the apocalyptic rate of injuries weren’t enough, there was A-Rod, a corporeal, Page Six billboard. The star of the Biogenesis drama, A-Rod not only wrought white heat on a cold team, he made everything exponentially worse by his foot-and-mouth malady, taking his fight straight to the tabloids. And yet Girardi handled it with the calmness of a mortician, sliding the beleaguered third baseman into the lineup as if he were merely a Class A call-up. Such a scandal could drag a team across the hot coals of last place. Yet the Yanks started winning, aided colossally by Alfonso Soriano, who’s partying like it’s 1999. And it can’t help to watch old salt like A.J. Burnett and Russell Martin live La Vida Loca along the Monongahela River, leading the formerly forlorn Pirates to first place. As they say on the street, Girardi has been a pimp. Up until a week ago, the Yankees were the only team in a pennant race with a negative run differential. Girardi had to perform a rain dance to get the Yankees’ anorexic bats to produce runs. At some points this spring the Yankees’ lineup looked like a casting call for Bull Durham. With all due respect to his iconic predecessor, Girardi has improved upon Joe Torre’s enmity for pitch counts and bullpen rest. The former skipper rode Jeff Nelson, Ramiro Mendoza and Mike Stanton like borrowed donkeys. Torre tapped his arm so often in the seventh inning he may have gotten tennis elbow. Girardi actually takes the pulse of his pitchers before trotting to the mound and summoning his next hurler. Rarely do you see the same number on the mound two games in a row. Since I read their last rites, the Yankees have hopped a few teams in the playoff chase, including Baltimore on Wednesday night. Now only the nose-diving Tampa Rays are between the Yankees and a place on their annual perch — October. Navigating the minefield of injuries, bad luck and back-page fodder with this kind of aplomb has earned Girardi the nod as top manager of the American League. It’s impossible to dislike Jim Leyland, a baseball lifer who can belch better anecdotes than anyone in his husky, Marlboro baritone — but it’s not too tough to fill out a card with Prince Fielder, Torii Hunter, and Miguel Cabrera (perhaps the best right-handed hitter since Joe DiMaggio). And if you survive that car wash of nuclear bats, they’ve got a turnstile of muscular pitching limbs, led by Max Scherzer, who entered the week at 19-1. Boston has performed a revival that would make Jimmy Swaggart blush, but rookie managers don’t tend to get Manager of the Year. Joe Maddon has always worked his magic under the radar, but Tampa can’t even convince their own fans to pay attention, much less America’s elitist baseball scribes. But one of them will probably win because the Yankees are seen as the preeminent bullies of baseball, the emblem of reckless, voracious capitalism. They can’t see Girardi over the stacks of cash they pay their players. It’s silly, but the Yankees’ managerial job has often been framed as a padded chair from which any manager can just flip a switch and watch his coddled millionaires do their thing. There still isn’t enough pitching in pinstripes to convince yours truly that they have a full September sprint left in them. But they’re fighting like Buster Douglas in Tokyo. And the credit goes to one man, who has soldiered on like a war horse."
That's a helleva novel you just wrote there Ron, now allow me to actuately & with pure genius insight debate your short story with only a few lines, So basically he did what any other manager would have done, he dealt with it. Why? because he had no choice. When life deals you lemons you make lemonade. So what EXACTLY did he do that was so extraordinary? did he lead he wounded soldiers to victory? NO! did he take them to the playoffs? NO! did he lead them the world series? NO! He did what he could with the shit he was dealt. The same thing ANY other manager would have been forced to do in his place. So P L E A S E enough with making this IDIOT! sound like he performed miracles. I hope I've cleared this up for you & I've no doubt that going forward you too will see the many floors in this IDIOTS leadership. And maybe even see through the rose colored glasses that this guy is really nothing extraordinary but rather ordinary. In other news, there is no Santa Claus, Easter bunny or tooth fairy. This reality check has been brought to you by Rick. AKA......Mr. reality.
Reading some information on that Career Group I found that starting salaries for those with a BS were 55k per annum to start. Joe G did better crunching pitches in his mitt, then crunching baseballs with a bat. I remember years ago a "cruncher" gave me advice on how to run and keep records on my banking and that guy was right as rain.
...umm, look again Mr. "Reality"...I didn't write shit. Did the quotation marks and italics totally escape you?...evidently so. ...you totally misinterpreted what was copied and pasted from a writer's article. Here's another writer who says essentially the same thing...and please, don't confuse the writer's words with "a novel I wrote; (again, note the quotation marks and italics) "Despite losing Curtis Granderson, Kevin Youkilis, Mark Teixeira, Derek Jeter, and Alex Rodriguez to injuries, Giradi has managed to win close games this season without abusing the Yankees' bullpen, something his predecessor, Joe Torre, was often criticized for doing. Yes, Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell has taken the Sox from worst to first, but he's done so with a healthy and young squad. As aging All-Stars piled up on the disabled list, Giradi collected wins and kept his team in the playoff chase despite a negative run differential -- a statistic shared by only a handful of playoff teams. (The 1987 Minnesota Twins are the only team to have won a World Series despite a negative run differential.) Tuesday, in a game with playoff implications, the Yankees' ninth-inning infield against the Baltimore Orioles included Mark Reynolds at first base, David Adams at third base, and JR Murphy -- who began the season with Double-A Trenton -- at catcher. In all, Giradi has managed a team-record 54 different players this season and, after Tuesday's win, the Yankees signed another player -- shortstop Brendan Ryan. On top of handling an offense that is among the bottom five in the American League in doubles, home runs, total bases, RBIs, batting average, and on-base percentage, Giradi has somehow kept his clubhouse from being contaminated by Rodriguez. Most commentators thought the A-Rod saga would become a distraction for the team yet, somehow, Rodriguez has proven his worth and contributed to the club since returning from the disabled list. As for handling the team's pitching staff, Giradi has dealt with the struggling Phil Hughes, the atrocious Joba Chamberlain, and oftentimes inconsistent CC Sabathia while finding roles for Ivan Nova, Adam Warren, Shawn Kelley, and Preston Claiborne." And where is it written that managers who do not lead their team to a Championship are considered to be "idiots". And where is it written that a manager must lead his team to the PS/Championship to be considered Manager of the Year?
...2 more "novels" for you; "It would have been easy to blame the Yankees’ 2013 season on the manager. The team was expected to win and it did not. The Yankees could have walked away from Girardi cleanly, too, since his contract expired after the season. Instead they signed him to a new four-year deal that exceeds his previous three-year contract. It shows just what upper management thinks of the on-field boss. If anything, 2013 further solidified Girardi as one of the game’s top skippers." http://riveraveblues.com/tag/joe-girardi/ ============================= http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/harper-skipper-earned-bronx-article-1.1471376
And I in turn am only pointing out that Girardi did NOTHING special last year. He did precisely what any other manager would have done. A few of you Girardi worshipers are apparently under the delusion that any other manager not named Girardi would have just picked up there ball & went home during the course of a very disappointing season. NEWSFLASH! they wouldn't have. They'd have done the very SAME thing God Girardi did, they would have hung tough & survived with what they had. No balloons, no streamers, no fallen confetti, just doing there job with what they had. Nothing special. But hey I'm a reasonable guy, perhaps you or someone else here could enlighten me by telling me EXACTLY what God Girardi did that no other manager in baseball would have done. And how what he did that was so different that made what he accomplished so SPECIAL. I'll wait.
"And where is it written that managers who do not lead their team to a Championship are considered to be "idiots". And where is it written that a manager must lead his team to the PS/Championship to be considered Manager of the Year?" ...still waiting. ...and I suppose that according to your reasoning, that they should just simply do away with the MOY award, because after all, "ANY" manager could do the same things.
Oh I don't think he's an idiot because he didn't lead the Yankees to a championship or even to the playoffs, I think he's an idiot because of the MANY head scratching decisions he makes. Or doesn't make. So I've answered your question. Now perhaps you or one of the other Girardi worshiping posters can answer my question, what EXACTLY did Girardi do last year that was so special that AT LEAST a dozen other managers in the game wouldn't have done. I mean besides dealing with what he had. Again....I'll wait.
...yes, because again like I've already pointed out, there's never been a manager who has never made decisions that didn't pan out. (rolls eyes) It's Baseball, it's not an exact science and it's not a video game. ...sorry, but "idiots" don't win MOY and "idiots" are not given contracts extensions after disappointing years. ...and "what did he do that was so special"?...don't look now, but you answered your own silly question. ( "I mean besides dealing with what he had.")...are you still waiting after already answering yourself? ...now, do you think they should do away with the MOY award or not?..."I'll wait."
"Dealing with what he had" which is EXACTLY what ANY other manager is paid to do. again NOTHING special. and no I don't think they should do away with MOY. There are average managers & there are very good managers. Girardi (you better sit down for this) is an AVERAGE manager. And sometimes even average managers get awards.
ASSUME, but isn't that what you're doing? assuming that God Girardi actually did something that a dozen or so other managers in the game couldn't have done if they had managed the Yankees last year? That they couldn't have won 85 games. Seriously? Bottom line is sometimes you're blessed with a great lineup (Torre) & sometimes you're stuck with a shit lineup. Life isn't fair. but you DEAL WITH IT! And yes MANY managers make questionable decisions, its just that IMO Girardi does them with more frequency then many.
Yesterday while waiting for the game I caught the end of Russo and Joe Maddon interview. Mind you I hate the God Dam Rays and all associated with them. Maddon stated that he thinks the present position of his club has given them the opportunity to show what they can do ie make the playoffs. Maddon stated that he was not preaching a company line but really believed his team could do it. The 2013 Yankees like this years Rays team is decimated with injuries. But the 2013 Yankees never went 15 under .500. So lets see if Mr. Maddon has correctly "Nostrodamased" his team. We are contantly bombarded about how smart he is, lets see if he can keep his team loose with pythons in the clubhouse, dressing like nerds and disco queens and see how well he does facing much the same scenario Girardi did last year.
