Klapisch: Yankees, Steinbrenner family will regret letting Joe Girardi go

The Yankees are officially looking for a new manager who’ll be versed in advanced analytics, hardworking and honest and can handle daily exposure on the YES Network without embarrassing himself.

Sorry, that sounds a lot like the guy they just let go.

Joe Girardi checked most of those boxes, and the Yankees will find it’s not that easy to replace him.

I’ll go one step further and say the Steinbrenner family will ultimately regret this move. Girardi was not a perfect manager and was never the warmest guy in the room. But that shouldn’t have been sufficient reason to essentially fire him. I spoke to a friend of Girardi’s on Thursday, who emphatically said, “Joe did not walk away.”

It was GM Brian Cashman, with the blessings of ownership, who moved on. There are more personable candidates out there who’ll do better in front of the cameras. But whoever’s next will inherit the near-impossible expectation of winning a championship in his first year in the Bronx.

That’s a recipe for disaster. Surely the Yankees know that.

But back to Girardi: I predicted the other day that a new contract was just around the corner. I called it a no-brainer. Obviously I couldn’t have been more off-target.

I had heard rumblings of discord between Cashman and Girardi, but I never considered them serious enough to end what had been a hugely successful run. The GM finally grew tired of Girardi's constant churning, his inability to lighten up, his snippy answers to reasonable questions after losses. As the highest-ranking uniformed Yankee, Girardi's comunication skills, especially on TV where he was speaking for the organization, should have been better. He was stiff and unimaginative. But so what. Those were not fireable offenses.

Girardi’s teams never finished under .500, nor were they ever embroiled in clubhouse controversy. Girardi himself never became a distraction.

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For the most part, the Yankees’ clubhouse was a stable, healthy place to work. Girardi wasn’t as beloved as Joe Torre was by the Core Four, but he had a solid relationship with the veterans and the respect of the younger players. I could've better understood this move if the next generation of Yankees stars - Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino to name a few - had a problem with Girardi. Or, if on a larger scale, the Yankees simply tanked this season.

Instead, they came out of nowhere to win 91 games and nearly made it to the World Series. Girardi did everything that was asked of him, including turning the Bombers into a contender in a year they were expected to finish no better than .500.

Turns out the Yankees had chemistry and talent in their favor. Now they just have talent.

What’s just as confounding about Girardi’s departure is how few candidates look ready to replace him. Internally, the Yankees might consider bench coach Rob Thomson, an intelligent baseball man who’s been around the organization forever. Former hitting instructor Kevin Long, now with the Mets, is also a possibility. Both are terrific guys with huge personalities. But neither one has managerial experience.

If Cashman really wants to think outside the box, he should consider David Cone, a compelling blend of old-school and new-age sabermetrics, an icon with the ticket buyers who would start on Day One with an excellent relationship with the press. And in terms of his knowledge of baseball, put it this way: Listening to Cone on YES is a promise of a nightly education. 

The question for any of these candidates, though, is how well they'd be received in the clubhouse. Coaches are always attractive until the moment they're promoted or after their first losing streak. Look at the Giants' Ben McAdoo, presiding over the carnage of what was supposed to be a Super Bowl contender.

That's why to those who've called for Girardi's ouster, I say: careful what you wish for. Girardi was a more decent man than he was given credit for. 

In a quiet moment in his office, Girardi revealed a side the public never saw. He said:  "I know there are different types of managers – the brilliant strategists, the charismatic ones, the intimidating ones. But to me, to be successful, you need a servant's heart. You're there to help a player believe in himself. That's what I learned from Joe Torre. He was the best at getting players to believe slumps always end, pitchers always start throwing strikes again. No one ever panicked playing for Joe and vice versa. And that's why I never yelled at my players. The game is hard enough without your manager getting in your face. Time would always take care of what was wrong."

I often wondered if Girardi remembered those words in the late innings. I never had an issue with Girardi's intensity, but wondered if his anxiety inadvertently contributed to the Yankees' poor record in one-run games (18-26). Girardi's preparation was often negated by his stress.

I won't say Girardi was perfect as a strategist, either. Not challenging a hit by pitch nearly cost the Yankees in the Division Series against Cleveland. A subsequent miscalculation in Game 6 of the ALCS against Houston – letting Severino pitch to Jose Altuve with the bases loaded - was instrumental in the Bombers' downfall.

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Still, it’s not fair to pick apart Girardi’s track record on individual mistakes. Despite his flaws, the Yankees flourished on his watch. I sensed Girardi’s Yankees would’ve taken the American League by storm in 2018. Now they’ll have to find someone who had many of his same qualities.