Joe Girardi won’t be the last victim of the Phillies’ ineptitude
The Phillies' troubles are a lot deeper than the manager. Firing him won't make up for a decade of dysfunction.
At this point, the only interesting question is: Who will be the Phillies’ next ex-manager?
Which unfortunate soul will get to waste the next two or three years of his professional prime providing cover for baseball’s biggest failed state?
Who will spend his afternoons deciding which designated hitters to play in the field?
Who will spend his evenings deliberating over which minor league reliever to pitch in a major league game?
Who will be the next man hired for the principle purpose of having someone new to blame?
Maybe they can cut to the chase and hire an actual goat.
All of this is to say that, while Joe Girardi may be the Phillies’ latest victim, he will not be the last. When the organization announced on Friday morning that it had fired its veteran manager 51 games into his third season at the helm, it was essentially admitting what has long been clear to anybody with an objective mind. There are no answers. The keg has been kicked. This decade of ineptitude is destined to live on.
» READ MORE: Phillies fire Sleepy Joe Girardi as desperation mounts for a playoff run
The timing of the move only serves to underscore the gravity of their situation. Two days ago, the Phillies’ last ex-manager left town with a series win and a five-game lead over his former employer in the National League wild-card standings. Before Girardi, Gabe Kapler was the reason things were wrong. He was the man with the lifeless roster, with the ill-managed bullpen, with the grumbling veterans and listless youth. He was the one ruining the prospects, disrespecting the game, inflating the pitchers’ ERAs. Now? He is the one who looks to be playoff bound for a second straight season. He is the one sitting in the dugout and pulling all the right strings.
The team needed a new voice, Dave Dombrowski said in the press release announcing Girardi’s firing and the promotion of bench coach Rob Thomson to interim manager. And maybe it did. Few will argue that Girardi was getting the most out of his roster. The Phillies entered Friday ranked 11th in the majors in scoring, their 4.51 runs per game a fraction ahead of the rebuilding Cubs. This lineup was always going to need to hit at or above the track records of its constituent parts in order to contend for a division title. Thus far, that has not happened. Given the reality that John Middleton envisioned during his offseason spending spree, Dombrowski had little choice but to try to jolt it into existence.
Fairness isn’t a valid consideration at 22-29. It’s a results-based business. The results were what they were. It doesn’t matter if Girardi was personally responsible for the Phillies’ struggles. What matters is they were paying him to be. In hindsight, Dombrowski began writing the pink slip the moment he failed to make a full-throated endorsement of Girardi at the start of the Phillies’ disastrous road trip a couple of weeks ago. The moment your manager knows he is managing for his job is the moment that he needs to go. The last thing an underperforming team needs is additional forms of anxiety. There can be a powerful psychological lift in the sense of a fresh start.
» READ MORE: ‘It’s about time.’: Phillies fans, media react on Twitter to Joe Girardi’s firing
But let’s be clear about where the ultimate responsibility lies. The Phillies were 132-141 under Girardi after going 161-163 under Kapler. They were 174-238 under Pete Mackanin after going 119-159 under Ryne Sandberg. They were 134-148 in 2012-13, Charlie Manuel’s last two seasons at the helm. The one thing that all of these managers had in common was a roster that did not have enough talent for them to succeed at their jobs.
Since 2012, the Phillies’ top five hitters by plate appearances are César Hernández, Odúbel Herrera, Freddy Galvis, Maikel Franco, and Rhys Hoskins. Franco has the second-highest home run total of any Phillie since 2012, behind Hoskins. Ryan Howard is third. On the pitching side of things, the top 10 in innings pitched are as follows: Aaron Nola, Cole Hamels, Zach Eflin, Vince Velasquez, Kyle Kendrick, Cliff Lee, Jerad Eickhoff, Héctor Neris, Nick Pivetta, and Jake Arrieta.
The Phillies are an underperforming team because they are an underperforming organization. For more than a decade now, their failure to draft and develop talent has been near total. There has been one constant during that time period, one man present for all of the decisions.
Which brings us to the biggest reason for the consistent ineffectiveness of the Phillies’ long track record of firings. In the end, it’s the same guy doing the hiring.