Joe Girardi Of Philadelphia Phillies Is First Manager Fired This Season

Joe Girardi is the first managerial casualty of the 2022 baseball season. The 57-year-old pilot of the Philadelphia Phillies was fired Friday with his team floundering in the National League East standings, seven games under .500 and an even dozen behind the first-place New York Mets.

Defense – or lack of it – was the major culprit.

According to Outs Above Average, the Phillies are the worst defensive team in the major leagues.

Newly-signed sluggers Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber, while anchoring the outfield corners, are both better suited to duty as designated hitters. To compound the felony, defending National League MVP Bryce Harper is filling the DH role because of a torn elbow ligament. Harper, normally stationed in right field, and second baseman Jean Segura, who might miss three months with a finger fractured earlier this week, were among the few bright lights Girardi had during his tenure.

Even catcher J.T. Realmuto isn’t quite the all-around standout he’s been in previous seasons.

The entire infield seems so defensively challenged that it sometimes resembles the Bad News Bears.

Alec Bohm won’t make fans forget Mike Schmidt at third base and Rhys Hoskins, at the opposite corner, has not produced his usual prodigious power. He’s one of many leadoff men tried by Girardi without much luck this season.

A team built to pound opponents into submission, the Phils have failed – despite their latest spending spree.

Thanks in part to Schwarber’s .192 batting average, Philadelphia ranks 10th in the majors with 230 runs scored and only ninth (tied) with 58 home runs – hardly good production for a team that plays half its games in Citizens Bank Park, a notorious bandbox that visiting pitchers detest.

“It’s been a frustrating season for us up to this point,” said president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who signed Schwarber to a four-year, $79 million deal and Castellanos to a five-year, $100 million pact.

“I felt that a change was needed and that a new voice in the clubhouse would give us the best chance to turn things around.”

Dombrowski promoted bench coach Rob Thomson to interim manager, a post that will probably last through the end of this season.

Girardi, in his third season with the Phils, had been charged with the mission of getting the team into the playoffs for the first time since 2011. After managing the Miami Marlins for a year, the former catcher took the New York Yankees into the playoffs six times in 10 years, winning a world championship in 2009.

While with the Yankees, Girardi developed a reputation as a good handler of pitchers – especially the relief corps. But the Phillies never showed the same stability in the late innings.

This year, its 4.15 earned run average ranks 21st among the 30 teams but its walk rate ranks dead last.

That sabotaged a decent starting rotation headed by Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, and Kyle Gibson, backed by Ranger Suarez and Zach Elfin. That tandem has a combined ERA of 4.02, ranked 14th in the majors.

Should the Phils continue their plunge in the standings, they might consider trading veterans for prospects – not only to pare payroll but to build a better base for future years.

The Phillies have a payroll of $233,209,325, fourth-highest in the majors, according to SpoTrac. Harper and Wheeler, the highest-paid players, both will earn $26 million this season.