The New York Yankees haven’t disclosed why Joe Girardi won’t return next season as manager, but Mark Teixeira has a theory.
The former Yankees first baseman told The New York Post on Thursday the team decided to part ways with Girardi because he’s too intense and lacked communication skills necessary to thrive in this baseball age.
“We all know why Joe Girardi is not coming back,” Teixeira said. “We all know it’s because of the communication and the intensity was a little bit too much. (General manager Brian Cashman) did an amazing job rebuilding this roster. He just wanted a different voice.’’
Girardi led the Yankees to within one game of reaching the World Series, but New York decided to go in another direction when his contract expired after his 10th season in the dugout. Reports of friction between Girardi and his bosses at Yankee Stadium emerged soon after Girardi’s departure announcement, and Teixeira suspects his former manager’s personality isn’t best suited to lead the Yankees’ young, talented roster into the future.
“Everyone loves Joe, everyone respects Joe, he is a good manager, he is a good man,” said Teixeira, who now works for ESPN. “But with baseball the way it is played today and the need for a manager to be a better communicator and communicate with the front office the reasoning for doing things and to be a little bit more relaxed — especially in a place like New York, where the pressure is everywhere. He just wasn’t the best man for the job anymore.”
Given the Yankees’ reluctance to comment on Girardi’s dismissal until after the World Series, and Teixeira’s eight years playing under Girardi between 2009 and 2016, we’ll have to accept there’s plenty of truth in the current ESPN commentator’s insights.
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
