Remember how I said that Girardi sounds like Willie Randolph? Read the following quote from Joel Sherman’s column:

His players want Girardi, among other items, to stop walking through the clubhouse without making eye contact, to stop closing his office door so frequently and to stop shutting out coaches they respect. In other words, they want him to show he cares about more than Xs and Os.

Now Steve Lombardi makes a great point about how Girardi protected his players numerous times in 2008. Was this protection real or was Girardi doing this as a defense mechanism for his discomfort in dealing with the media?

I firmly believe this type of management style is doomed to fail. Once Willie stopped communicating his team shut down on him. When they faced a crisis (September of 2007) the team pulled apart instead of coming together as a group. They never were one unit from top to bottom.

Now I am far from the “touch-feel” advocate of managing. I also know, from experience, that you have to add a human element with any group that you run. I took a lot away from Pat Riley during his Knicks tenure. Everyone remember the “hard-knocks” approach that he took with the team. What is rarely discussed are the team building events and atmosphere that he created. When that team was on the brink of a collapse in February of 1994, he brought them to a movie before a huge West Coast trip. He always talked about the team making a covenant before training camp and holding them accountable. When there was a fight (i.e. Jo Jo English and Derek Harper) Riley was right in the scrum with them. He administered accountability and instilled a work ethic while still partnering with the group as human beings.

The point is a manager is in charge, but also needs to partner with his team. Once you establish a partnership you are holding them accountable to their own rules. Any players that become outliers (i.e. Cano) are most likely handled by a peer well before the managers gets involved. It makes the difficult parts of your job relatively easy.

This will be a huge theme in Yankees camp this coming spring. I hate to say this so early but, based on what I am reading, my money is Girardi not surviving this situation.

Tags: Joe Girardi, New York Yankees