Challenges for Joe Girardi
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Published by Dugout GM on October 30, 2007 10:42 am under Yankees, Uncategorized
Joe Girardi knows player development and in-game baseball strategy as well as anyone. He is as prepared as any manager, but New York is not Florida and the pressure can be overwhelming at times. During the season situations can become tense, and Joe G. is not the type to keep quiet.
The organization will have to supply Girardi with players behind the plate and at third base. Evaluating catchers won’t be the problem but the third base position will be. Wilson Betemit will be okay for a while at third, but if he is forced to play every day he’ll run into the same problems he has run into everywhere else – overexposure.
Girardi is head strong and demanding; these traits have worked out well for him throughout his career. Girardi understands the Yankees aren’t very patient.
The one weakness Girardi has as manager is picking his coaching staff. While with the Florida Marlins he had little say to say about it and was lucky to be supplied with a workable group. The 2007 Yankees arguably had baseball’s best coaching staff in baseball. If the Yankees were to dismantle that staff, in conjunction with the strong possibility of having fewer talented players (Arod, Pettite, Posada, Rivera), 2008 could be a challenging year for Girardi.
Girardi’s key challenges as Yankees manager will be:
- Continue the development of Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain (i.e., prevent the regression the young Marlins pitchers experienced this year).
- Successfully integrate the next wave of home grown talent (Tabata, Duncan, Miranda, etc.) into the major league team, simultaneously developing those players and competing in the AL East. That’s not an easy task.
- Get the Yankees veterans and players acquired by Cashman in the offseason to by into Girardi’s plan.
