Derek Jeter might have given the New York Yankees a memorable moment with a walk-off single in his last-ever home game, but manager Joe Girardi is still not happy about the season.
While the rest of the baseball world was focused on the tribute to the future Hall of Fame shortstop, Girardi kicked off Thursday night’s home finale with an angry tirade at the team after a disappointing year.
Wallace Matthews and Andrew Marchand of ESPN New York reported news of the team-only speech:
According to clubhouse sources who were present for the critique, and backed up by interviews with more than a half-dozen players, most of whom spoke to ESPNNewYork.com off the record for fear of angering their manager, Girardi chided some players for being overweight and others for not being “hungry” enough.
One source described Girardi as “angry,” and said he even took a brief timeout to allow the players, led by CC Sabathia, to present Jeter with the original painting of The New Yorker’s Sept. 8 cover depicting the shortstop waving goodbye, and an expensive watch, before returning to Part Two of his tirade.
The manager did not deny the event when asked about it, explaining:
I addressed the team just to let them know what I expected of them next year. I think that obviously there’s a lot of disappointment when you don’t make the playoffs. And the expectation is, the reason you play the game, is to make the playoffs and win the World Series. We need to get better, and I let them know that.
I felt we had chances to make it and we just didn’t execute. I told them we had work to do to get better.
While his emotional speech might have taken some of the luster away from Jeter early on, Girardi does have a lot to complain about after another miserable season. With two games remaining, the Yankees accumulated an 83-77 record. One more loss would mark the team’s worst winning percentage since 1992.
Additionally, this is the second year in a row the Yankees have missed the playoffs. It’s just the third time since 1995 the squad has not been part of the postseason.
Although Girardi led this team to a World Series title in 2009, things have not gone the way he had hoped lately, and it would not be surprising to see him on the hot seat next season.
There is clearly a lot of talent on the roster, with the highest payroll in baseball, but Girardi will hope to see more production out of this group in the future.
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