Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
April 20, 2006
Demanding Girardi

Baseball Primer Newsblog notes Joe Girardi criticizing his team over mistakes and comments:

That’s pretty mild as team-ripping goes. Maybe a 0.5 on the Larry Bowa/Billy Martin/INSERT NAME HERE scale.

Which is the right level. He's upset, but in a constructive way. The "we're young and inexperienced" excuse isn't going to work with Joe, but he's not tearing down individuals either. I particularly like this part of his quote:

“This was our first chance that we had to win a series and we should have won the series,’’ Girardi said. “And the way you make the playoffs is by winning series. You don’t give series away.’’

Here he is with an awful team, and he's talking about making the playoffs. It's clear Joe wants to win, and he's going to drill that into the players, too.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:40 AM | Management | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Look at that team position by position and you'll come away convinced they are NOT an awful team as you said. They are young and will make some young team type mistakes, but watch them gel and start winning games consistently in the second half.

Posted by: LargeBill at April 20, 2006 09:44 AM

The Fish have late-season spoiler written all over them, especially if they hang onto Willis and Cabrera. In the last three weeks of the season, they play the Braves 3 times, the Mets 7 times, and the Phillies 9 times.

Posted by: Dave S. at April 20, 2006 11:29 AM

They're a team of blue chip positional prospects + Cabrera. If you look at them "position by position" you will NOT come away convinced that they are not an awful team...because right now, they basically are. Loads of potential. By the end of the season, guys like Ramirez, Jacobs, Willingham, and Hermida could be reaching a level of development that will make them, like Dave said, a major spoiler. By next season they'll probably be a legit offense, and if not then, then certainly by 08.

Right now they remind me of a much more well-rounded version of the D-Rays. Unlike Tampa the Fins have lots of young pitching talent, and two legit superstars in Willis and Cabrera. But they do not have the pitching to be a consistantly winning team at any stage this season, and as high as their offensive ceiling might be, it's still going to be a question of development. When guys like Anibal Sanchez and Yusmeiro Petit come up, not to mention the continued improvement we should see out of Olsen, Vargas, and Mitre, the Marlins may be a solid club. But realistically that is still a season or two away, and although Girardi has no reason to expect an abysmal season, the playoffs are a long way off.

Posted by: the other josh at April 20, 2006 03:20 PM

The guy that seems to be writing the book on criticizing his team constructively is Guillen.

Apparently, his players have coined a term for it: getting thrown under the bus.

Posted by: Bob Kunz at April 21, 2006 12:41 PM
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