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Joe Girardi benches A-Rod again, says 'job description does not entail farewell tours'
Shortly after Alex Rodriguez announced he’d play his final game for the New York Yankees on Friday night, manager Joe Girardi indicated he’d organize additional playing time for his out-going player should he request it this week.
According to multiple reports, A-Rod has in fact been itching to get on the field, particularly during their on-going series against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. However, Girardi hasn’t lived up to his word, instead indicating A-Rod will only receive one additional start on Thursday.
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That has led to some criticism of Girardi’s handling of the entire situation, to which he responded in a most unapologetic manner on Wednesday.
Girardi:"I’m putting out what I feel is the best lineup…That is in my job description. My job description does not entail a farewell tour"
— Erik Boland (@eboland11) August 10, 2016
Winning should come first. That’s all well and good. However, in Girardi’s opinion Wednesday’s best lineup includes a soon-to-be-retired Mark Teixeira playing first base and batting cleanup despite hitting only .196 this season. He also has Aaron Hicks and his .192 average in the lineup again in right field.
In fact, on Tuesday, Girardi was questioned about not pinch-hitting A-Rod for Hicks during the ninth inning of their eventual 5-3 loss to Boston.
Girardi on A-Rod chants in the ninth: "How am I supposed to react? But I have do what I think is best. I liked the at-bat Hicksie gave us."
— Erik Boland (@eboland11) August 10, 2016
Hicksie, if you will, did draw a walk, but a walk wasn’t enough.
Granted, there’s a reason the Yankees are ushering A-Rod out the door. He’s only hitting .204 this season, but his nine home runs indicate there’s still some pop in his bat. Perhaps that pop would have been better served in that situation if winning is the ultimate goal, but Girardi is sticking to his guns.
Girardi on Hicks: "You look at the last 10 days, he’s hit a lot of line drives that have been caught. His at-bats have been good."
— Erik Boland (@eboland11) August 10, 2016
Neither Girardi nor the Yankees owe Rodriguez anything in terms of playing time. Still, there’s no real consistency between what’s being said now, or even what was said of Derek Jeter’s final season in 2014, and how he’s actually managing. Well, aside from Girardi giving the exact same spiel after giving Jeter a day off early in that 2014 season.
“I have to manage him with a focus of winning games and keeping him healthy, not being a farewell tour,” said Girardi, who has Dean Anna at shortstop against the Red Sox. “I wasn’t hired to put on a farewell tour.”
“It is not the last week of the season. These games are obviously very important to us. They are important today, tomorrow, the next month; I have to manage that. I’m sorry if people came to see him today. I have to be smart about it.”
Girardi isn’t here to organize farewell tours. That’s fine. But he didn’t have a problem giving Jeter 634 plate appearances in 2014, almost entirely atop the batting order, despite it being clear he was more of a liability than an asset.
“We didn’t have anybody hitting that year,” Girardi said of Jeter’s playing time. “I didn’t really have a replacement, in a sense. This year, we have people that we want to try. We have replacements, and that’s the biggest difference.”
Well, except at first base, where Teixeira continues to be treated like a difference maker in the lineup.
Again, Girardi and the Yankees are free to handle this any way they see fit. But they’re also fair game to be called on the carpet for lacking consistency.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
