New York Yankees: Joe Girardi Supports Youth Movement
By Nick Ziegler
The New York Yankees are in the middle of a major philosophy change, but it is one the front office and coaching staff are both in favor of.
Joe Girardi has been with the Yankees when they were spending a ton of money to win, and now he will try to lead them to success with a roster that is getting younger.
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“I love what we’re doing,” Girardi said to Dan Martin of the New York Post. “We expect to win. I think it’s important that you get as athletic as possible. We have young players coming. Starlin Castro is a young guy, and we got Didi [Gregorius] last year.”
The price to add some young talent has come cheap for the Yankees, as they had to part with key pieces of their bullpen, as both Justin Wilson and Adam Warren were traded this season
“We lost two really important pieces, [and] I think we will work now to fill those holes as we’ve had to sacrifice to get what we needed,” Girardi said to Martin.
The Yankees had a good bullpen last season, which was worked an awful lot with the struggles of their rotation for good chunks of the season.
“We dealt from a position of strength. … We’ll work the rest of it out as we move forward.”
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“I think some of these kids can be really helpful,” Girardi said to Martin. “I think they will continue to grow and provide us with some good arms down there.”
The Yankees having been trying to stockpile young, powerful arms in their minor league system to help the bullpen in the majors.
“It’s a long time before we go to spring training, so those names could be different than the cast of characters we’re pulling from now,” Girardi said to Martin. “It’s probably going to get bigger.”
Girardi also responded to questions about how the veterans on the team are handling the Yankees going with a bit of a youth movement the past two offseason’s.
“Some of our players that have been here a long time are nearing the end of their contracts and are older,” Girardi said to Martin. “We’re filling [spots] with younger players, which I think is important. People have asked me about, ‘The Yankees didn’t make a big splash this offseason.’ Well, every one of our position [players] is in a long-term contract. If you do make a big splash, where are you putting him?”
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“It hasn’t been difficult because I think our veterans have done a really good job with the young players and helping them,” Girardi said of the transition to Martin. “You think about Alex going out and talking to Didi about playing short and Carlos talking to him.”
There is still the possibility of the Yankees trading away more players this offseason, as both Andrew Miller and Brett Gardner’s names have been mentioned in a lot of rumors.
“You deal with it when it happens,” Girardi said of the potential of losing more important parts of last year’s team to Martin. “We’re doing everything we can to win a World Series as soon as possible, and that’s the most important thing.”
There is still a lot of time before Spring Training starts, and the Yankees may look to get even younger with some more trades in the coming weeks.