Joe Girardi Already In The Managerial Hot Seat As Phillies Struggle To Stay At .500

Joe Girardi got his managing start with the Marlins in 2006 — a baseball lifetime ago — and even though he won National League Manager of the Year honors, Girardi also earned a pink slip that October from then team owner Jeffrey Loria, which made for a one-and-done South Florida tenure.

“Since we let (Girardi) go, he won a World Series with the Yankees and he’s still managing all these years later,” said David Samson, the former Marlins president who held that post in 2006 when Girardi was in the dugout. “The biggest thing he had to learn was that the front office was going to be a factor in his (managing) life. That’s something that he did not like early in his career. I can’t speak to what he thinks about it now. But certainly in 2006 he was not excited at all to have any front office involvement.”

Yes, Girardi’s second managing experience yielded a championship with the Yankees in 2009 and he remained with that storied franchise through the 2017 season, but his latest managing stop with the Phillies has been anything but smiles since he took the job before the 2020 pandemic-shortened season.

The Phillies have yet to reach the playoffs on Girardi’s watch, and already this season the club is off to a rough start and in danger of letting the Mets run away with the NL East division. For a roster that already boasted Bryce Harper and pitcher Zack Wheeler and which was bolstered this offseason with the addition of sluggers Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos, the Phillies’ below-.500 record entering Wednesday (11-13) is giving Philadelphia’s notoriously opinionated fans plenty of reasons to direct their ire at Girardi.

The team’s 2022 payroll is approximately $240 million — fourth-highest in the majors. If the season goes south early for the Phillies, could Girardi pay the price?

Samson said Phillies owner John Middleton “has shown that he’s willing to spend money and wants to win a championship.

“But he can’t fire himself,” said Samson. “(Middleton) has put his faith in (team president) Dave Dombrowski, who has proven that he knows how to spend money and knows how to try to get an owner a championship who’s never gotten one. I don’t believe that (Dombrowski) is in jeopardy of being let go. And you can’t trade all of the players. The team was just put together. So that leaves your manager.”

But Samson said Girardi is not likely to lose his job at this point, and will probably be afforded the chance to try and guide his team to a playoff berth. Girardi’s contract expires at the end of the season, although there is a club option for 2023.

“You have to let the season play out, especially with expanded playoffs,” said Samson. “Girardi would have the opportunity to get his team into the playoffs, and then try to have a hot October.”

In addition to the Phillies’ defensive miscues, Samson said ace Wheeler and Aaron Nola have underperformed.

“They’re counting on Wheeler to repeat what he did last year. He’s been short of that so far this year,” said Samson. “You want Nola to be an A-1 starter, and we’re pretty sure that’s not what he is.”

If the Phillies can’t get back on track soon, Girardi’s seat will only get hotter, a scenario he hasn’t confronted during his managing career since those long-ago days with the Marlins.

“The expectations are very high in Philly. I just don’t know if they have a good enough team. The bottom line is winning,” said Samson. “That’s it.”