Joe Girardi wasn't the miracle

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Joe Girardi’s time as the Phillies manager was not a success, obviously. 

He was fired — sorry, “relieved of his duties” — on Friday morning, with the club seven games under .50 Jorge Soler Marlins Jerseys 0 (22-29) and a doze atlanta braves jersey mens small n games behind the Mets in the NL East standings. It was an all-too-familiar struggle; the club was 110-112 in Girardi’s first two seasons as the Philly skipper and never was a serious championship contender, despite hopeful expectations.

MORE: Why the Phillies fired Joe Girardi

But when baseball historians look back at the the Girardi era and assess his performance, they’ll write something like this: “Joe Girardi was not a miracle worker. He played the hand he was dealt to the best of his baseball-lifter abilities, with an outcome that was overwhelmingly unsurprising based on the cards he was given. Sure, there were curious decisions made along the way that didn’t help — bullpen usage and his handling of young prospects in the bigs are top of that list — but mostly, the final verdict is this: Joe Girardi was not a miracle worker.”

Girardi was replaced on an interim bJavier Baez Tigers Jerseysasis by Rob Thomson, who atlanta braves jersey tshirt will manage the club for the rest of the year. The news release sent out by the Phillies announcing the change didn’t mention anything about Thomson being a miracle worker, so maybe don’t expect the club to catch the Mets in the East anytime soon. 

These Phillies are deeply flawed, from the front office all the way down. There are organizational development issues that run deep — both drafting and developing — but the most visible and frustrating flaws for Phillies fans have been the decisions made concerning the major league roster. These are things Girardi has little to no influence over, and yet he was the one fired Friday morning. 

And try as they might, the Phillies just can’t seem to budge the perception of the team because of comments made by owner John Middleton to USA Today back in 2019. Here’s the passage from the Bob Nightengale story … 

If anyone had any doubt about Philadelphia Phillies owner John Middleton’s intentions this winter, he made it abundantly clear before leaving the Major League Baseball owners’ meetings.

“We’re going into this expecting to spend money,’’ Middleton told USA TODAY Sports. “And maybe even be a little bit stupid about it.’’

Middleton laughed, then said without smilingYasiel Puig : “We just prefer not to be completely stupid.”

They haStanceven’t quite avoided that second part, eh? The Phillies have the fourth-highest MLB payroll in 2022, and they’re seven games under .500. 

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Here’s the biggest example of the flawed roster Girardi had to deal with: The Phillies were an awful defensive team in 2020 and again in 2021. By the fielding statistic Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), the club finished 28th of 30 teams in 2020 and was dead last in the majors in 2021.

Instead of addressing that pressing need, the Phillies — led by veteran general manager Dave Dombrowski — just leaned into the fatal flaw. They completely ignored defense in constructing their 2022 lineup, signing both Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos. Both Schwarber and Castellanos can hit, no doubt. But they were probably the two worst defensive players available on the free-agent market, and the Phillies signed both to lucrative deals.

Girardi went into the season knowing that he’d have to play at least one below-average outfielder every single day. Not ideal, but the ho atlanta braves baseball shirt pe was that the duo would provide enough offense to offset the defensive shortcomings. Only, things quickly got worse. Bryce Harper suffered an injury to his right elbow early in atlanta braves game jersey the season, meaning he can’t throw. And if he can’t throw, he obviously can’t play defense. 

So in 37 of his 51 atlanta braves jersey men 3xl games this year, Girardi had to start BOTH Castellanos and Schwarber in the outfield. Think about that. Two of the worst dTrevor Story Red Sox Jerseysefensive corner outfielders in the sport in the same lineup, night after night. There are 62 outfielders who have played a qualifying number of innings so far this year. Castellanos ranks 62nd in DRS at minus-10 and Schwarber is tied for 54th, at minus-3.

So, yeah. Stupid money spent stupidly. 

And, clearly Joe Girardi is not a miracle worker.