3:06PM: The Phillies made the news official, announcing in a press release that Girardi has been signed to a three-year contract with a club option for the 2023 season.
8:03AM: The Phillies are expected to hire former Yankees and Marlins manager Joe Girardi as their new skipper, according to a tweet from Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. The club had recently been rumored to have Girardi among their final three candidates for the job, but Zolecki indicates that the former Yankee manager’s hiring is expected to be announced today (link). Girardi was reported to have undergone a second interview with the division-rival Mets on Tuesday, after receiving consideration for the Cubs managerial job that ultimately went to David Ross.
Girardi’s hiring comes in the wake of the Oct 10 firing of Gabe Kapler from the club’s managerial seat, and his installment should provide a pretty fair litmus test as to the viability of Philadelphia’s roster. The novice manager Kapler pushed an expectation-laden Phillies club to just a 161-163 record since being installed as manager in 2018, despite numerous high profile additions made by club GM Matt Klentak and president Andy MacPhail. Since 2018, the club added Carlos Santana, Jake Arrieta, Bryce Harper, Andrew McCutchen, and several not-inexpensive bullpen arms on free agent deals, as ownership edicts about “stupid money” forecasted a win-at-all-costs organizational philosophy.
About those edicts: Phillies owner John Middleton was said to have the determining vote in the club’s search for a new skipper after similarly holding the last word in Kapler’s firing. Veteran managers Buck Showalter and Dusty Baker were both said to be among that final mix of candidates, but it appears that Girardi’s World Series pedigree won over Middleton in the end.
After a fifteen-year playing career that saw him capture three World Series rings as a catcher for the Yankees, Girardi was named manager of the then-Florida Marlins in 2006. Girardi incredibly won Manager of the Year and got fired in the same offseason after just one year in Florida, allowing the Yankees to install him as manager in 2008.
Over the next ten seasons in the Bronx, Girardi would win a World Series championship and log six playoff appearances before being relieved of duty at the conclusion of the 2017 season. Since then, Girardi has appeared frequently as a television analyst, in addition to performing as the manager of the USA national team. The 55-year-old, Illinois native will bring a 988-794 managerial record to Philadelphia, leaving little doubt as to whether he has enough experience to guide the club’s assembly of high-profile players.
knew it
So smart! While the rest of us were caught off guard
stfu
You do what you said!
Well said!
Such an intelligent response.
@Sheep
Hilarious
If you knew it you sure kept it a secret!
We are so blessed to have you as a contributor. So insightful. Pulitzer prize worthy. Wow.
Question: did you get an “extra” blue ribbon today for being the first comment on this story? Thats 2 for the day! One for winning the Hungry Hungry Hippo tournament and one for being the first comment. You go!!
you tried a little hard there clepto. I can tell you sat there for a solid 30 minutes writing this, trying to perfect how you were going to type it out. Must be a slow day at Burger King i assume?
weak response. very.
What’s wrong with BK
Give me a Whopper meal Clepto. LOL
Would you like to try our new tacos with that?
My BK. Had NO burgers today the boiler was broke
New tacos those delicious grease tacos have been around for awhile
Wins comment of the day.
Reaching comment even for you clapto.
Way to go New York Mess lolz
You gotta try harder, PeeWee. CrewBrew is getting all the replies.
First response always gets the replies, that’s as far as people scroll.
I think Bernie Madoff is still pulling the strings for the Mets.
Your screen name and avatar are of a brutal rapist and serial killer. Not sure you’re qualified to call anyone or anything a ‘mess’, Mr. Edgelord.
Good day to be a Phillies fan. Seems like Klentak and MacPhail didn’t get who they wanted. Middleton and fans wanted Joe. I like the move A LOT
Now all they need to do is let Bryce Harper go and they can win the WS.
If on Bryce Harper could pitch.
What. The 35 homers and 114 RBIs are just ruining this team.
Just saying… worked for the Nats.
Hopefully this means the Phillies can get Stras, Scherzer, and Corbin. Oh and Soto. Oh yeah and Rendon.
Yes. Because the Nats free agent signings had nothing to do with it…
And they were to sign those players because they didn’t have to pay Harper a fat contract.
Yeah, cuz they got someone better in Soto to take his place.
Hmmmm…from what I see, in big moments of truth…
Harper has just ended the AB dangling his hair, as he glares at the scoreboard to see his team behind after he failed.
Soto comes through with a big hit.
One brings all the sound, fury, and media hype of a Superstar, but it all signifies nothing.
The other just balls like a real Superstar in the making.
One talks the talk while the other walks the walk.
Spending $200 million on pitching worked for the Nats.
The Nationals were trying to sign Harper all the way up until he signed with the Phillies and long after they spent $200 million on pitching.
When Soto puts up a 10+ WAR season and hits .357 with RISP and .307 in high leverage situations then come on back. His 4.7 WAR, .274 with RISP, and .237 in high leverage situations didn’t impress me much.
It seems to impress the Brewers, Dodgers, Cardinals, and Astros. I think their opinions matter a whole lot more.
Bravo, nice rant. Too bad that kid will want way more than what Bryce got. He’s not going to get low balled like Acuna did with the Braves. He’ll desert the Nats for the biggest contract soon enough.
Is it that Bryce Harper left or that the Nats finally showed up in the Postseason?
Well Houston is impressed enough that they don’t want to pitch to the guy. I’ll take Soto right now over Harper
But that’s Harper darn near every AB.
And he will be worth it, just watch
Its that the Nats spent $200 million on pitching in the offseason and in-season trades. Their RF this year was no Harper and Soto would have played whether Harper was there or not.
The ONLY teams that matter are those paying the checks. how much are the Brewers, Dodgers, Cardinals and Astros paying Soto?
As a fan I am much more impressed by the guy that gets it done all year long.
But if you want to compare Harper playoffs at 21 to Soto, you will like Harper better. .294/.368/.882/1.251
Pump the brakes on Soto versus Harper.
Soto is still 21 and has plenty of time to reveal that he is just as much a premadonna as Harper. Also Soto won’t ever have Harpers arm or ability to sell jerseys.
Ok, so you’re Brad Pitt.
The gNats gave harper a token offer but moved on from him quickly. They signed Corbin, traded for Gomes, signed Sanchez and Zuk and never turned back. If the gNats wanted to resign Harper, he would be in their team right now.
Not a token offer or they would have accepted the trade offer from Houston or another team at the 2018 trade deadline.
jleve with the strong Shania Twain reference.
A healthy Rendon sure didn’t hurt. Nationals had a very consistent year and rode a lot of momentum into the post season. Anytime you can run Scherzer, Corbin, Strasburg out in a best of 5 or best if 7 series, you have a real good chance. Getting Turner back at the end of the season and the kids youthful energy in the that outfield sure adds an “x” factor a lot of teams don’t have. No disrespect intended toward the Astros, but the Nats’ season feels special.
NL East is a beast of a division and maybe the playing there all season just makes for a stronger team due to the competition.
…good God, now I have a Shania Twain song stuck in my head.
to be honest, I dont think Girardi is their worst nightmare. Klentak woulf have to have produced an above average roster for Kapler to succeed – that need is less so now.
I don’t know. My Spidey senses aren’t tingling like the Padres hiring.
I believe you mean the Peter tingle!!!
Mets gonna Mets
Front Office will be managing the team in 2019….as they did in 2018.
*Mess
Bring in a Yankee retread who overthinks things to an almost paralyzing degree? I’m a Mets fan, and I’m glad they’re going in a different direction. Check back at the end of the year. Mets will once again have a better record.
Great! Now all that’s needed is a third baseman, starting pitcher, relievers, and so on.
Anthony Rendon and Gerrit Cole.
Gas up the Middleton jet. Same agent for both.
This is great for the Phillies. Thank you. I like a lot the Phillies.
Good Luck Joe, wishing you success in what you love to do.
Harper and him should get along just great
Love it, great move. Philly fans have a great manager
So do the Nats!
And the Mets sit with their thumbs up their rear end
Mets are weighing the “which manager can the front office manipulate (Callaway v.2)” versus the popular media option. Best choice to win now or least controversial hire. I believe it’s an all day, in house front office, closed door tug of war between Beltran and Showalter with Tim Bogar being the neutral ground.
Or they didn’t want to sign an expensive manager who went 14-20 in the playoffs after his WS year despite crazy-high payrolls. The year he won the WS, the Yankees spent 50% more on payroll than any other individual team in the league.
Girardi is overrated and the Phillies won’t be much better with him.
Time to get papelbon next
Best Manager they could get. A solid GET. Hopefully he rights the ship.
MLBTR writers, please add Crew Brew as a new trusted source.
Haha clepto Crew Brew certainly “knew it” Lol
Crew Brew actually has a lot of good baseball insight. He has every right to talk baseball
Ah, we found the Crew Brew burner account!
Crew Brew is right and has a pretty objective opinion. I guess that makes me a burner account too huh?
I’d like my Whopper w/ no cheese and extra onions please.
you seem to be kinda obsessed with me. Just to let you down easy, im not interested clepto. I appreciate your recommendation to MLBTR to hire me. Thanks!
What a great start for a new manager when his FO doesn’t even want him.
Kapler and now Girardi. Seems like the Phils might have a lock on managers who actually look good wearing a uniform.
Great Move for the Phils!
Prepare for his love affair with scrub players, removing pitchers a batter or two too late, different lineups every day and terrible nicknames for his players. Oh and that snort noise he does when he laughs
Phillies already had all this minus the snort with Kapler.
I am baffled as to why any Yankee fan would dislike Girardi.
Bitter. 10 years one ring. Not good enough.
It’s not that. I watched him for 9 or so years and he had numerous managerial habits that annoyed me to death
Compare that to Boone’s record when he is finally replaced.
Yeah they’re all going to have their things that don’t sit well with everyone. But I liked him and respected him as a Yankee skipper. But he treated his players fairly. Red Sox went through several guys during Girardi’s tenure. I was always a little jealous of the continuity. Baseball and basketball teams tend to go through managers and coaches so quickly.
I’ll be comparing Boone’s record to Alex Cora’s record when they’re done.
I don’t dislike Girardi. He’s a good, solid manager but he can get outmaneuvered by a smarter manager in the other dugout. During most of his time he managed a ball club with aging, underperforming ball players yet remained a winner. The big loser here is the Mets, who just can’t force themselves to bring in the right people to get themselves over the hump. It’s always half measures with the Mets.
“Outmaneuvered” ? Come on, man. The chess match you are referring to only takes place between the battery and the batter. The managers only BIG decision during the game comes when bringing in pitchers for more favorable matchups. If the pitcher doesn’t get it done, manager takes ALL the blame, it seems, and EVERY manager makes this “blunder” several times per year. Conversely, if the pitching change ends up successful, then we seem to give the pitcher all the credit for performing rather than the manager for bringing him in. So, pretty much damned if you do, damned if you don’t, with a little sprinkle of the fans’ critical hindsight 20/20 on top. Joe won’t be “outmaneuvered” any more or less than any other guy, unless of course klentak and co continue to swing and miss on acquiring pitching talent. Then maybe Joe wont have much to work with.
By the time the other managers have flipped through their binders to see what to do it will be too late.
They replaced him with Boone. Take that L dude
The 2009 squad won in spite of girardi. Any manager could have won with that incredible squad lik
Any manager wins with 1 starter under 4-era and 1 reliever under a 2-era? Please stop re-writing history with your own team. The 2009 team was very good but they will not go down as memorable aside from the star power and ‘roiders. Girardi overachieved after the 2011 season.
Dude teams were literally scared to play them that year. Any manager could have won with them that season period. Unless you watched joe regularly you can’t make any real judgment on him
right. just like people say about the Astros this year, and look what’s happening… nothing to do with managers, man…its the players. when they are playing well like the Nats, yea they love the manager and he’s the best thing for the team. When they’re losing, must be the manager can’t handle his players.
Teams were literally scared to play them all year? No. 1998 Yankees, sure. 2009? Teams were ready for a track meet. Bonecrusher, never scared.
Watched Girardi regularly and realized some below average Yankee teams played above their heads. They had no business reaching the postseason in 2015. If you’re still upset over him replacing Torre I’d say it’s time to get over it. I have no proof you feel that way, however let’s just assume it’s true.
The Yankees opening day payroll that year was $200+ million. Next closest team was the Mets at $135 million. Let’s not go enshrining Girardi in Cooperstown for winning with the most expensive team, by far, in baseball. With the amount the Yankees spent (and by how much they outspent everyone else), Girardi should have won at least another one.
are you saying Girardi will be bringing back Sean Rodriquez?
Please no. For the sake of everything holy, PLEASE NO!!
He, like Dallas Green in 1980, will restore discipline and accountability. Give the man another quality arm and the Phils will be ready to close the gap with the Braves and Nats.
the Mets sure did fuuk this one up really good !
amen
“Joe, what was the deciding factor in your accepting the Phillies job?”
“Well, I heard the Mets were getting ready to offer me THEIR manager’s position, so I had to act quickly…”
I hear the Mets are going to begin to think about exploring the possibility of maybe ramping up their manager hiring process.
still in the planning stages…
Yeah, how dare they take time and do their due diligence when hiring a manager to run their billion dollar franchise. Lots of Mets haters in the comments.
I enjoyed Joe in New York. The one problem I had was if he already had a series won, he’d pump the brakes. If you win the first three of a series, he’d put out a b lineup the fourth game and not even appear to try and win the game. It was annoying. He handles a bullpen pretty well, but rides whoever his guy is at the moment a little too hard. They burnout after a year or so. He gives position guys too many days off, but with the Phillies being a veteran club, he May be the right guy!
id love the opportunity to pump the brakes after winning the first 3 games of a series;
not sure if they ever wont he first 3 of a 4 game in 2019.
Nice hire. Had a reputation for building and managing good bullpens. Can be a bit intense, but strangely might come across as more relaxed following Kapler. Always prepared. You don’t manage in New York for ten years if you’re not.
There shouldn’t be a comma after “55 year old”
55 years old should have a period at the end of ‘old’ before the quotation mark.
55 years old should not have quotation marks as it is not a spoken phrase here.
thank goodness
Intelligent signing by Phils’ front office. I’ve read in various places that a manager might win 5 games a year with his decisions. In Philly, that should equal about a 20 game turn around from Kapler – IF he uses his bullpen properly.
Now the Mets better add someone cut from a similar cloth if they want to keep up. Showalter, Baker or Valentine. Anyone else available with a proven track record that has recently stepped away?
Ausmus
/s
The Mats pitching are already dealing with sore arms. They don’t need Baker as a manager to cause their arms to fall off,
20 game swing? Not a chance. If Klentak and company continue to believe that VV and Pivetta are worthy of rotation spots, then this team will not have a 20 game improvement–doesn’t matter if its Gabe or Joe or anyone else at the helm. The manager will not make that much of a difference; its the guys on the field, first and foremost.
Joe has experience dealing with a fickle fanbase for a decade, so he should do well in Philly.
You think Girardi is going to be a 20 win swing? And you think the Mets should get Bobby Valentine or Dusty Baker? Some really delusional comments on this thread but yours may take the cake.
Ok Mets fans. You will not have a new manager named for one to two weeks. That don’t want to look like jack wagons and announce someone quickly thus letting everyone know that they just didn’t want to pay Girardi. First they want a puppet. Second they want a cheap puppet. They’ll say they want to continue “the process” which means get the more expensive guy off the board give it some time to make sure people think we’re in an exhaustive search and then announce your cheap manager like it was a really hard. The Mets are so predictable.
Girardi puts the Phillies on the right track, now they need to add some pitching
He won’t tolerate Harper’s primedona attitude either.
He managed A-Rod didn’t he?
This is exactly why they hired Joe Girardi, or at least one reason. He managed many stars over 10 years with the Yankees. He’s made for this, and he was great at it.
As a braves fan who absolutely couldn’t stand Harper; I think hes actually matured. Hes toned it down in Phillie and he didnt lash out like a child this past season. I think Joe will only help his progression. Plus Harper went out of his way to not disrespect the “A” behind the Braves plate at his ABs this season. I think there’s hope with him to be a good guy.
how did Harper act like a “primedona” this season?
I keep reading this “””prime donna””” accusation aimed at Harper..I don’t think you people have a clue..all he did was play hard as can be all year..he never let up..took extra bases…stole bases, laid out for balls hit his way..just what do you need for proof he’s a player??
Great job not missing out on this guy. I always thought he did a great job managing and handling pitching staffs
Mets never wanted Girardi
Brodie has been on a mission with keeping his ppl employed. So why would a new manager be any different. He has no ties to Girardi.
I am telling calling it now Brodie will be making some sort of trade with Astros for AJ Hinch.
Hinch & Brodie are best friends. In each other’s weddings & was Hinch’s agent.
Just got a feeling
You could be right especially if the Astros get swept or even lose. Wonder what his contract situation is? Good call though.
Who do you think you are? BrewCrew or something?
CrewBrew*
Just noticed that. lol
Even if swept why would the Astros even think about letting hinch go? Have you see his record as the Astros manager?
Way To Go Mets and they said they wanted an experienced manager who’s left Buck and Dusty we the Mets fans don’t want a young manager not now.
Hinch better be the new Mets manager then.
So, let’s start a movement to fire Brodie for ineptitude, incompetence, and, a failure to deliver the results expected by the franchise. He should have offered Girardi the job after the first interview. Stupid, Stupid, and more Stupid
not worth being a Mets fan anymore..between Brodie and Wilpons they have ruined that franchise
Bet he wears number 3.
Bryce wears three currently
He can change. Girardi always wears the number of the next world series to be won. It sets the tone and sends a message.
Good now get some starters
What a sorry operation the Mets are..I’m fuc-ing done with them!!!!!
I feel you man. Huge miss on their part.
Good hire for them. I hate it as a Braves fan
They basically hired a guy that will give the same results Kapler would have given. The Yankees finally gave up on him, since he could never lock it down with an even better stocked team. Atlanta has too much young talent, and Washington has better pitching. Expect another 3rd place finish. Though the Mets can knock the Phillies out of 3rd if they ever get healthy. The Phillies only have a few impact players, and Hoskins had a down year for him.
Ummm Girardi won a World Series and kept the Yankees very competitive with an aging and bloated contracts every year when no one gave the Yankees much chance during the latter years of his managing to even finish .500 let alone make the playoffs. Atlanta does have the talent but the hard part now begins would they take it to the next level or would they fall down and not make the playoffs? As for Washington Mad Max will be older, Strasburg can opt-out plus Rendon will command a ton of cash.
This is a good signing by the Phillies as Joe will know how to handle that bullpen and will squeeze more wins than what Kapler did.
Ummmm, even with their bloated salaries, the Yankees had a superstar lineup. They never had to worry about a closer blowing the lead with Mariano locked in. Cano, Jeter, Tex, etc. That lineup was set to win every year. Girardi was just along for the ride. Girardi doesn’t have a superstar lineup in Philly as of now. Don’t expect Girardi to repeat what he did with the Yankees on Philly. With the lineup on the Yankees, it WAS expected to win over half the games. Atlanta knows how to win the division. Washington still has the talent whether Rendon leaves or not. Phillies don’t even come close to Washington on paper even if Rendon leaves. If the Mets can finally get the team healthy, they will knock Philly out of 3rd. That’s basically where Kapler would have gotten them.. Girardi doesn’t have the same bullpen in Phillie than he had on the Yanks, so don’t even try using that. Mariano was the best. No one comes close. Yankee pitching was far better than Nola and the rest, and Nola has peaked. With the talent the Yankees had, they should have been in the World Series every year, so winning one series means nothing.
Teixeira was very average by the time the Yankees could have won another WS. Ellsbury was taking up space on the payroll, McCann and Sabathia were barely crawling along and the rotation was miserable. That’s post Cano. With Cano there the rest of the lineup had names such as Lyle Overbay, Vernon Wells, Raul Ibanez, and Hiroki Kuroda.
There were always massive holes in the lineups and the rotations were miserable nearly every year from 2010 until this 2017. Not Joe’s fault.
Tex was a Yankee for 8 years. 4 of those years he was a superstar. The other 4 he was hurt or mediocre. Ellsbury was never a factor since he was always hurt. McCann put up huge numbers some years, and Sabathia had great or better than average stats for 7 of his 11 seasons. The other hitters you mentioned were replacement players when a lot of regulars were hurt. Kiroda has put up some good years. He may not be a Verlander, but he had respectable seasons. Better than Nola did this year. If you look at most teams, there is ALWAYS holes in their lineups, often due to injuries. The Yankees finally said good riddance after 2017 when he underachieved by 9 additional losses than what was expected. So underachieving in many years from what was expected to be the number of wins based on runs scored actually is Joe’s fault. There was usually 2 quality starters, 2 mediocre starters, and a roster filler. The bullpen was always quality staff. Joe had the resources, but he was not always able to achieve expectations. Games are often lost based on bullpens blowing wins. With a bullpen they had, not many saves were blown. So to underachieve with a quality bullpen reflects negatively on the manager. That would be Joe’s fault.
The Mets always play around for too long. The WilCons need to sell the team! Now we are going to end up with Beltran…
No surprise here..
Guess the Mets about to hire Dusty Baker.. which would fit them right lol
The only issue I would have with this hiring if I was a Phillies fan and I am not but if I was Joe Girardi is not all into the analytics. I saw it for 10 years with the Yankees as a Yankees fan. If you look at the teams who are strictly into analytics you will see teams like Dodgers, Astros, Yankees and Boston. There has got to be something to that. I agree you cannot always go by the book but Gerardi has tried in the past to make decisions based on his gut and turn out he should have gone by the book.
Three of those teams are deep into money. There’s got to be something about that. The other team is a team that built in the old school rebuild mold, which is also a proven method.
You can’t be strictly into analytics any more than can you be strictly into traditional philosophies. Billy Beane’s teams don’t have the money like the Red Sox, Dodgers, and Yankees, and his teams always get exposed with his strictly analytical approach. Look at Sandy Alderso. The only team he had that won it all was a team that was roided out of its mind. He’s failed otherwise.
Two great manager signings in two days and one very puzzling one.
Phillies signed a proven winner in Girardi and will undoubtedly go hard after starting pitching this season and a young and very talented team led by Harper, Segura, Realmuto, Hoskins, Nola, and Eflin will compete for the division title in 2020.
The Cubs got one of the most respected guys in their organization to be the new manager. The players love him and respect him already. While he has no experience, he is coming into a team with a core of WS winning, veteran players.in Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, Heyward, Lester, Kimbrel, Hendricks, and Contreras. They don’t need a manager to set the tone. Veteran players do that.
Going to be an exciting year in those two organizations. Hoping the Angels also go hard after starting pitching because in my opinion that is all they need to compete. Especially if they are taking that pitching away from the Astros.
I wonder if he can set Hoskins back on the right track offensively.
Hoskins may be what we saw this past season..unless he makes an adjustment, he’s just a homer or nothing player..he needs to use the whole field…as strong as he is, there is no need to constantly pull or in his case, attempt to pull everything..
Homer or nothing players don’t lead the league in walks. I think he’s better than a .220-.230 hitter going forward. Hit the ball hard where it’s pitched and no launch angle crap.
we can only hope he makes the adjustment…
Great hire. Wish my Dodgers would’ve let Roberts go and hire this guy.
Not inexpensive? Couldn’t he just expensive?
*Just say expensive
Thinking Joe Espada goes to the Mets or Giants
I think he should go to Kansas City because they have no manager and they aren’t good right now. They are my favorite team too I’ll admit it. We really need Mike Matheny for real tho.
Looks like the Slubbies lost out on him again. Instead they got their “yes man” in Ross. I applaud this hiring by the Phillies.
Am I the only one who can picture him being fired at pretty much the same time next year?
It’s amazing that many Yankee fans have no faith in Girardi staying with Phillies, after Girardi was their manager for a decade. I give it 2 years like Kapler, then hasta la vista.
Yes you are.
He was going to sign with someone.. good for Philly. They simply wanted him more.
If I had a win now team Girardi would be my manager of choice. He’s a proven manager. If it was just the Yankees you could argue it was just the talent he had but he did great with the Marlins. A lot of win now teams are banking on managers with no experience. Maybe it works but if it doesn’t do you give him another year? Your window is only so long
Yea, they will give him another year or 2, if he doesn’t do next season because he did the same in Miami and New York but he got better as time progressed.