Joe Girardi Hired as Yankees Manager

The Florida Marlins fired Joe Girardi on October 3, 2006. Six weeks later, the Baseball Writers' Association handed him the National League Manager of the Year award anyway -- the first time a manager of a losing-record team ever won it. A little over a year after that, the New York Yankees hired him to replace Joe Torre, making him the 32nd manager in franchise history on October 30, 2007. Baseball has a strange sense of humor sometimes.

The Job Only Opened Because Torre Walked

The Yankees lost the 2007 ALDS to Cleveland in four games -- the last postseason game ever played at the original Yankee Stadium -- and instead of firing Torre outright, the front office did something colder. On October 18, 2007, team president Randy Levine offered him a one-year, $5 million deal with $1 million bonuses for every additional round the club reached that October. It was already a pay cut from the $7.5 million Torre made in 2007, restructured so his own postseason success had to buy back the salary he'd already earned four rings for.

Levine framed it as fairness: "We thought it was very fair -- clearly at the top of the market -- but we respect Joe's decision." Torre didn't see it that way. "The fact that somebody is reducing your salary is just telling me they're not satisfied with what you're doing," he said the next day, declining the offer and ending 12 seasons in the Bronx. (Twelve years and four championships, and the answer was a pay cut with strings attached. That's not really "respect." That's a business decision wearing a tie.)

From Backstop to Fired Manager of the Year

Joe Girardi wasn't a name that came out of nowhere. He'd caught for the Yankees from 1996 through 1999, picking up three rings before he'd managed a single inning, then spent a few years in the YES Network booth before Torre brought him back as bench coach for one season in 2005.

Then Florida happened. Girardi took over one of the lowest payrolls in baseball in 2006 and somehow turned an 11-31 start into a club that reached 69-68 by early September -- the first team in modern history to climb from 20 games under .500 back above the break-even mark in the same season. The Marlins finished 78-84 anyway, but the turnaround was the story, not the final record.

It didn't save his job. On August 6, 2006, Girardi and his bench coach told owner Jeffrey Loria to knock off heckling the home-plate umpire from his seat behind the plate. (Standing up to your own boss to defend an ump who's about to eject you anyway is a specific kind of stubborn.) Loria nearly fired him on the spot. Two days after the season ended, the Marlins let him go anyway -- not over the Loria blowup specifically, GM Larry Beinfest said, just a general failure to "mesh" with the front office. Six weeks later, Girardi won Manager of the Year for a team that had already shown him the door. Try explaining that sequence to someone who doesn't follow baseball. They won't believe you.

Three Internal Candidates, One Job

With Torre gone, the Yankees didn't look outside the family. All three finalists had worked on his own staff: Girardi, back in the YES booth for 2007; Don Mattingly, Torre's hitting coach and the sentimental favorite; and Tony Peña, the first-base coach who'd already managed the Royals for parts of four seasons (real managerial experience, no firing attached -- and it still wasn't enough to get him the job).

Mattingly had the emotional pull -- a former captain, beloved in the clubhouse, a guy half that roster already trusted. He'd also never managed anywhere, not even in the minors, and Cashman couldn't get past that gap for a job with this much scrutiny attached to it. Girardi's one season in Florida ended in a firing, sure, but it was still a real year of real in-game decisions under real pressure. That experience, however brief and however messy the ending, tipped the scale.

Mattingly took the loss in stride publicly, left for the Dodgers' coaching staff, and became their manager himself in 2011. Both guys got dugouts eventually. Only one of them got this one.

The Hire

The Yankees and Girardi agreed to a three-year deal worth roughly $7.5 million on October 30, 2007, and introduced him at Yankee Stadium two days later, on November 1. He became the 32nd manager in franchise history, and just the fourth former Yankees catcher to run the dugout, joining Bill Dickey, Ralph Houk, and Yogi Berra. Not a bad group to land in.

There's a strange footnote buried in the math here: Girardi's new deal averaged out to something like $2.5 million a year, less annually than the $5 million base the Yankees had just offered Torre for a single season. The guy who'd been fired by his only other managerial employer just over a year earlier was, in salary terms, the cheaper hire. Ownership wasn't paying for a name anymore. They were paying for whoever could relate to a roster about to turn over -- Jeter, Posada, and Rivera on one end of it, a wave of kids on the other.

That bet paid off in November 2009, when Girardi delivered a championship over the Phillies -- his only ring as a manager, and proof the Yankees had read the moment correctly. Ten years and one title later, they let him go too, for reasons about as vague as the ones that got Torre pushed out, and handed the job to Aaron Boone. Torre's understudy became the next guy nobody saw coming. Baseball really does have a strange sense of humor.

Frequently Asked Questions

When was Joe Girardi hired as Yankees manager?

The Yankees agreed to terms with Joe Girardi on October 30, 2007, and introduced him at Yankee Stadium two days later, on November 1, 2007. He replaced Joe Torre, who'd declined a one-year contract offer on October 19, 2007, ending his 12-season tenure.

Why did the Yankees choose Joe Girardi over Don Mattingly?

GM Brian Cashman weighed three internal candidates -- Girardi, Don Mattingly, and Tony Peña, all members of Torre's own coaching staff. Mattingly had the emotional pull as a former captain but had never managed at any level. Girardi's one season managing the Florida Marlins in 2006, even though it ended in a firing, gave him actual in-game managerial experience that tipped the decision in his favor.

Did Joe Girardi play for the Yankees before he became their manager?

Yes. Girardi caught for the Yankees from 1996 through 1999, winning three World Series titles as a player before returning as manager in 2008. He's the fourth former Yankees catcher to manage the club, following Bill Dickey, Ralph Houk, and Yogi Berra.

What happened between Joe Girardi and the Florida Marlins in 2006?

Girardi managed the Marlins to a 78-84 record in 2006, highlighted by a climb from 11-31 to 69-68 -- the first team in modern MLB history to recover from 20 games under .500 to a game above .500 in the same season. He nearly got fired mid-season for confronting owner Jeffrey Loria over heckling an umpire, then was let go two days after the season ended. He won NL Manager of the Year six weeks later.

How much was Joe Girardi's first contract with the Yankees?

Girardi signed a three-year deal worth roughly $7.5 million, covering the 2008 through 2010 seasons. That averaged out to less per year than the $5 million base salary the Yankees had just offered Joe Torre for a single season -- the departing four-time champion's one-year offer outpaced the new hire's annual rate.