Joe Girardi has been a name thrown around the Chicago Cubs organization like a visiting team’s home run at Wrigley Field.
And with the Cubs always looking for the big name rather than the right choice, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if they were to get him as the skipper for 2011.
There is just one problem.
Girardi is one of the most overrated managers in all of baseball. He will not only cost the Cubs a pretty penny, but wins as well.
But he won manager of the year four years ago…
He finished fourth in the division with a 78-84 overall record. Not only that, he left his bruises on a lot of young pitchers.
Scott Olson (Girardi year in i talics)
2006 (22-year-old rookie a year after having an elbow injury) -180.2 IP, 4.04 era, 1.30 WHIP
2007 – 176.2 IP, 5.81 ERA, 1.76 WHIP
2008 – 201.2 IP, 4.20 ERA, 1.31 WHIP
2009 (Left shoulder surgery to end the season) – 62.2 IP, 6.03 ERA, 1.72 WHIP
2010 (Out in late May with left shoulder tightness) – 43 IP, 3.77 ERA, 1.37 WHIP
Josh Johnson (Girardi year in i talics)
2006 (22-year-old rookie) – 157 IP, 3.10 ERA, 1.30 WHIP
2007 (Tommy John Surgery) – 15.2 IP, 7.47 ERA, 2.43 WHIP
2008 (returns from Tommy John midseason) – 87.1 IP, 3.61 ERA, 1.35 WHIP
2009 – 209 IP, 3.23 ERA, 1.16 WHIP
2010 – 134.1 IP, 1.61 ERA, 0.97 WHIP
Ricky Nolasco (Girardi year in i talics)
2006 (23-year-old rookie) – 140 IP, 4.82 ERA, 1.41 WHIP
2007 (out 75 days with right elbow inflammation) – 21.1 IP, 5.48 ERA, 1.64 WHIP
2008 – 212.1 IP, 3.52 ERA, 1.10 WHIP
2009 – 185 IP, 5.06 ERA, 1.25 WHIP
2010 – 130.1 IP, 4.35 ERA, 1.24 WHIP
Anibal Sanchez (Girardi year in i talics)
2006 (22-year-old rookie) – 114.1 IP, 2.83 ERA, 1.19 WHIP
2007 (shoulder problems during spring training, demoted to AAA on May 4, surgery to repair tear in his labrum June 21) – 30 IP, 4.80 ERA, 2.07 WHIP
2008 – (returns midseason) – 51. 2 IP, 5.57 ERA, 1.57 WHIP
2009 – 86 IP, 3.87 ERA, 1.51 WHIP
2010 – 115.1 IP, 3.59 ERA, 1.44 WHIP
Dontrelle Willis (Girardi year in i talics)
2003 (Rookie of the Year) – 160.2 IP, 3.30 ERA, 1.28 WHIP
2004 – 197 IP, 4.02 ERA, 1.38 WHIP
2005 – 236.1 IP, 2.63 ERA, 1.13 WHIP
2006 (24 years old) – 223.1 IP, 3.87 ERA, 1.42 WHIP
2007 – 205.1 IP, 5.17 ERA, 1.60 WHIP
2008 – 24 IP, 9.38 ERA, 2.21 WHIP
2009 – 33.2 IP, 7.49 ERA, 1.93 WHIP
2010 – 65.2 IP, 5.62 ERA, 1.95 WHIP
As a Rookie of the Year winner on a World Series winner, Dontrelle Willis pitched 160.2 innings.
If Willis was pitching 160.2 innings, then why were Josh Johnson, Scott Olsen, and Ricky Nolasco, as 22 and 23 year-olds, pitching more or around that same level on a team that was clearly not going to win the World Series?
Notice the setbacks and injuries each of these pitchers have had in their careers and in the case of Willis and Olsen, the essential endings of their careers after Girardi wham-bam-thank-you-ma’amed them in a quest to finish fourth in the division.
The Cubs need look no further than Kerry Wood or Mark Prior to know the effects of overworking pitchers under the age of 25.
Do you want to rebuild a team with young pitching via Giradi’s managing tactics?
But he won a World Series…
Is it hard to put together a lineup featuring Jorge Posada, Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, Melky Cabrera, and Nick Swisher?
Can you close your eyes and point? You could literally be blind and make a good lineup out of that cast.
The New York Yankees went out and got Girardi not just the best talent in free agency, but in the game in the forms of Teixeira, CC Sabathia, and A.J. Burnett, while trading for Nick Swisher.
Yes, I’m sure it was hard putting up with the Alex Rodriguez mess, so Girardi put his thinking cap on and played Cody Ransom and Ramiro Pena? Really? The Yankees went 13-15 during that stint.
I guess the Yankees forgot to buy Girardi a backup third baseman.
With all the problems that usually come with Alex Rodriguez, Girardi received a gift in the fact in 2009 Rodriguez stayed out of the spotlight and just played baseball.
Is it really that hard to hand the ball to a healthy Sabathia, Burnett, and Andy Pettitte over and over again? The only real decision Girardi had during the 2009 season he made a mess of, deciding between the fourth and fifth starter for the Yankees.
Girardi threw around Joba Chamberlain, Chien-Ming Wang, Phillip Hughes, Sergio Mitre, and Chad Gaudin when in reality, for the future of the Yankees and for the best pitching staff, it clearly should have been Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes.
You do not give up on a 23-year-old like Phillip Hughes and stick him in the bullpen. Yes, he did a fantastic job in the bullpen, but after starting 13 games three years previous in his rookie season, you give up on him after eight starts?
Seemed as though Girardi finally learned is lesson, starting Hughes in 2010 where he is 12-3 with a 4.04 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP and made the All-Star team, but beware of Girardi breaking his arm as he is on pace for 200 innings in his first year as an everyday starter.
Hughes has never pitched more than 86 innings.
Chamberlain has never recovered with Girardi’s managing as he’s sporting a 5.95 ERA and a 1.61 WHIP in 42.1 innings out of the bullpen.
What did the Yankees do? Went out and got Girardi Javier Vazquez, since he couldn’t handle the fourth and fifth spots.
Don’t give Girardi credit for finally giving Brett Gardner playing time either. He was forced into that situation as the Yankees did not re-sign Hideki Matsui and traded Melky Cabrera for Vazquez.
Yankees made it easy for Giradi, however, by signing Curtis Granderson.
Best analyzing one can do when looking at the managing of Girardi is what he did two years ago with the New York Yankees.
What happened when the Yankees were hit with injuries to Jeter, Rodriguez, Posada, and the main horses for Girardi’s pitching staff were Mike Mussina and Pettitte? What happened when Girardi had to do some actual managing?
The Yankees didn’t make the playoffs for the first time since 1993, finishing with 89 wins.
In the last two seasons, he was given the perfect team under perfectly healthy circumstances and he will most likely finish with perfect results.
What managing did he actually have to do?
Girardi is just a finger that can point to the bullpen when Mariano Rivera needs to come to the rescue and with one of the worst bullpens in baseball this season, he hasn’t been pointing to the right guys.
That finger, however, may have another ring on it soon thanks to the All-Star Team New York Yankees.
The Cubs shouldn’t put money in his hand, however, for those purchased rings on his finger.
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