Thursday night’s game between the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles may have been all about Derek Jeter and his final home game at Yankee Stadium, but that didn’t stop Joe Girardi from telling his players what he thought about their 2014 season. According to a report from ESPNNewYork.com, Girardi unloaded on the Yankees before they took the field.
Several sources, including more than a handful of anonymous players, reportedly told ESPNNewYork.com that Girardi went off on the team for everything from players being overweight to others not being “hungry” enough to win.
One source described Girardi as “angry,” and said he even took a brief timeout to allow the players, led by CC Sabathia, to present Jeter with the original painting of The New Yorker’s Sept. 8 cover depicting the shortstop waving goodbye, and an expensive watch, before returning to Part Two of his tirade.
“It was a speech the likes of which I’ve never heard him give before,” said the source, who was in the room during the meeting. “It’s something he probably should have said back in spring training.”
Girardi confirmed the incident took place — he preferred to describe it as “a team meeting” — but refused to supply any details of what he said to the team or if any particular players were singled out.
Girardi said he was more “disappointed” than angry, but he admitted that he confronted the team about what he felt was a failure of a season.
“I addressed the team just to let them know what I expected of them next year,” he said. “I think that obviously there’s a lot of disappointment when you don’t make the playoffs. And the expectation is, the reason you play the game, is to make the playoffs and win the World Series. We need to get better, and I let them know that.”
The Yankees skipper also said he chose to blast the team on Thursday rather than before the final game of the season because he felt he needed to address the team at home. Some would argue that he should have done it on Wednesday night, when the Yankees were mathematically eliminated from the postseason.
Catcher Brian McCann disagreed with Girardi’s belief that some players didn’t try hard enough.
“For whatever reason we came up short, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort,” McCann said.
There’s nothing wrong with a manager going off on his team for losing — especially when you have a payroll as high as the one they have in New York. The Yankees are supposed to be among the MLB’s elite, yet they have missed the playoffs in back to back seasons. However, the timing is a bit puzzling.
They say no individual player is bigger than the game, but no one deserves a warm farewell more than Jeter. I don’t know if Girardi was trying to beat his chest in front of the team’s front office or what, but his explosion probably would have been received better on a different day.
