Is Joe Girardi Matt Williams in pinstripes?

[welch]

Still, one of the questions floating around the clubhouse on Tuesday night was how the Yankees, who at times looked as if they might be becoming a force again in the American League — they had the fourth-best record in baseball and a seven-game lead in the A.L. East on July 28 — could fall apart as the season concluded. There were 10 teams that had better records in the A.L. in August and September.

“There were periods of time this year when this team looked like it had a chance to do some serious damage in October,” Cashman said. “But that team that we saw earlier wasn’t the team that finished.”

The easiest answer is that Girardi was so focused on winning that he ran at least a few players too hard; the Yankees had the oldest opening-day lineup in baseball.

<snip>

Whether Girardi will trust promising young players like Murphy, the versatile Dustin Ackley, Refsnyder or a young outfielder like Slade Heathcott or Mason Williams to take on a bigger role next year is uncertain. Bird might be back in the minors so he can play regularly if Teixeira and Rodriguez return in good health, Cashman said.

Meanwhile, there is little doubt that over the winter, Girardi will examine any data, conduct his due diligence and head to spring training with plans and contingencies. As Cashman said, he does not take anything lightly.

Which may or may not be a problem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/sports/baseball/joe-girardi-always-pushing-for-an-edge-at-times-goes-too-hard.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

[houston-nat]

No.

1. They don't point out lots of obvious, bone-headed tactical errors that Girardi may have made.
2. "Girardi will examine any data, conduct his due diligence and head to spring training with plans" - Matt Williams would never do this. Did Matt Williams know what data is?

[ZIM4MVP]

No.

1. They don't point out lots of obvious, bone-headed tactical errors that Girardi may have made.
2. "Girardi will examine any data, conduct his due diligence and head to spring training with plans" - Matt Williams would never do this. Did Matt Williams know what data is?

MW: "back in my younger day I used to data lot of girls"

[HalfSmokes]

Girardi seems like a reasonably intelligent person, Williams is the meat head embodiment of the peter principle 

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Girardi told off The Loria in front of the world...he gets a pass on that basis alone.

[imref]

did whoever wrote that look at the ages of their starting players?  A-Rod fell apart, hitting something like .190 over the last two months of the season.  Tex is out with yet another injury.  Ellsbury is usually hurt.  Young is pretty useless. 

This is an old team that broke down as the season went on.

[mitlen]

MW: "back in my younger day I used to data lot of girls"

 

[welch]

did whoever wrote that look at the ages of their starting players?  A-Rod fell apart, hitting something like .190 over the last two months of the season.  Tex is out with yet another injury.  Ellsbury is usually hurt.  Young is pretty useless. 

This is an old team that broke down as the season went on.

That was the point of the article. Girardi used the older players all season and they wore down.

[UMDNats]

What?  No. Girardi and Matt Williams are insanely different managers.

[UMDNats]

That was the point of the article. Girardi used the older players all season and they wore down.

What was he supposed to do? Bench his #2 hitter, bench his #3 hitter, bench his #4 hitter and bench his #5 hitter?

[welch]

What was he supposed to do? Bench his #2 hitter, bench his #3 hitter, bench his #4 hitter and bench his #5 hitter?

Maybe give players a day off? Or maybe the point is that the Yankees need a bench? ARod (at DH) and Beltran are each nearly 40. Gardener is about 32. Grigorious is the only starting player under 30. Bird played after Teixeira got hurt, but Tex is 35.

[UMDNats]

Maybe give players a day off? Or maybe the point is that the Yankees need a bench? ARod (at DH) and Beltran are each nearly 40. Gardener is about 32. Grigorious is the only starting player under 30. Bird played after Teixeira got hurt, but Tex is 35.

Chris Young was awesome as a 4th OF. Murphy was great as a backup catcher. The bench was far from a problem all year. Maybe he could have played Garrett Jones more early in the year, but hard to bench a red-hot Tex.

He could try to give guys more days off but at the expense of losing games? I don't think so. He rode the guys early in the year when they were hot and they won a lot of games. Hard to blame him for every single player falling off the face of the earth in the second half.

[welch]

Chris Young was awesome as a 4th OF. Murphy was great as a backup catcher. The bench was far from a problem all year. Maybe he could have played Garrett Jones more early in the year, but hard to bench a red-hot Tex.

He could try to give guys more days off but at the expense of losing games? I don't think so. He rode the guys early in the year when they were hot and they won a lot of games. Hard to blame him for every single player falling off the face of the earth in the second half.

Sounds like Cashman (and Hal Steinbrenner) are not happy, and might blame Girardi for every player collapsing in the second half.