New York Yankees and Joe Girardi agree to part ways

The New York Yankees and manager Joe Girardi have agreed to part ways.

It’s the end of an era for the New York Yankees. There is news coming out of the Bronx and it is big.

As first reported by ESPN, the Yankees and Joe Girardi have agreed to go their separate ways, ending Girardi’s tenure as the manager. His contracted expired at the end of the 2017 season and they have agreed not to sign another one. So despite getting to a game 7 against the Astros, the Yankees begin a search for a new manager.

After the ALCS, Girardi stated he would talk things over at home and make the best decision for his family. This had come up before but he had always come back to managing. Not this time. Girardi ends his ten years with the team with a record of 910-710 and a World Series title to his credit.

ESPN had some speculation about what is next for Girardi:

"Girardi has had aspirations to work in baseball operations, possibly in the commissioner’s office. He also could return to broadcasting. Girardi also has a passion for college football, and while he has said it is a long shot, he’s spoken about serving as an athletic director."

It’s hard to imagine that this was a firing dressed up as a mutual decision. Let’s be fair. Girardi took a team that was supposed to do very little in 2017 to within one game of the World Series. One could argue this was one of, if not his best, managerial job to date. It’s tough to believe that if Girardi wanted to come back he wouldn’t have been welcome.

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Yes, many held him accountable for not challenging that one call during the ALCS. It likely would have been overturned based on the replays we all saw. However, weighing that will all of the good he did, he would have been back if he wanted to be. This was clearly a mutual decision just as it was reported.

Girardi was a good manager for this team and deserved the chance to go out on his own terms.