Given that the Yankees entered the season with the top player payroll in Major League Baseball (almost $223 million, per usatoday.com's annual unveiling), were coming off a year in which they were the top AL Wild Card and now currently sit in last place in the AL East at 17-22, talk about the job security of manager Joe Girardi was bound to happen.
It's been happening for a few weeks, in fact.
For his part, the always-stand-up Girardi is totally accountable. Via ESPN New York:
"I always take full responsibility for what happens here -- good or bad. It's my job to get the best out of the players and right now, we're not performing to the level I think we're capable of."
--snip--
"Everybody is frustrated," Girardi said. "If I was the owner, I'd be frustrated, too."
And, yes, owner Hal Steinbrenner is frustrated, but his ire is totally directed at the players (ESPN.com).
"The coaches are doing a good job," Steinbrenner said. "These are professional athletes. They're the best baseball players in the world, and sooner or later it comes down to them, on the inside, to push through whatever it is they're going through and to persevere."
Steinbrenner ends up mentioning the following players, as being part of the problem, by name: Mark Teixeira, Michael Pineda, Luis Severino and Chase Headley. In turn, in the above mentioned ESPN.com report, but Teixeira and Pineda were accountable and said they agreed that they need to be better. Steinbrenner also went out of his way to praise Starlin Castro, Aaron Hicks and even general manager Brian Cashman, in the latter case noting that he believes the correct personnel is in place.
One might recall that earlier this season, Cashman took the blame for the personnel not being good enough in an attempt to absolve Girardi of any blame.
So, basically, this entire organization is in a race to take the blame and not blame anyone else. No in-fighting whatsoever.
This is the Yankees and a good part of the reason we featured Girardi on a list of managers who could be next to get the ax.
I'm lost.
Does anything even make sense anymore?
