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Phillies Manager Girardi Could be on the Hot Seat

The Philadelphia Phillies hack gotten off to a lackluster 4-6 start, could it spell the end of manager Joe Girardi's time with the club?

Author:
Ben Silver
Apr 18, 2022 1:00 PM EDT

Jack McKeon and the 2003 Florida Marlins are the shining example of a perfect managerial firing.

Going through a youth movement, Jeff Torborg brought the club to a 16-22 start that year before getting canned for McKeon. McKeon had managed for twelve big league seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres, Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals, failing to make the postseason a single time.

In 2003, the Marlins rallied for 91 wins and a six-game defeat of the New York Yankees in the World Series.

Just three years later, Joe Girardi managed that same club to 78 wins and a Manager of the Year trophy. Three years after that, Girardi won a World Series of his own in 2009, but the high point of his career may have come with that young Marlins club.

Today, he manages a Philadelphia Phillies club predicted to break an 11-year postseason drought. Coming into the season, expectation were perhaps unreasonably high.

As of Sunday, they were 4-6, coming off an embarrassing defeat from the dreaded Marlins, a club mired in yet another rebuild. At what point will Dave Dombrowski and the Phillies brass consider what the Marlins did back in 2003?

It's clear Girardi is feeling the pressures of his job. He and the front office are both aware that this is the final year of his contract, pending a club option for 2023.

After Sunday's defeat, Girardi was noticeably nervous.

Of course, a manager's visage shouldn't be a monitor for his job security. But looking at the entire picture, Girardi's critics have been out in force.

He's deigned against starting his hottest hitter, Alec Bohm, in five of the last six games. He's tinkered with a lineup specifically designed to bat free agent signee Kyle Schwarber lead-off. And he's failed to remove starters Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler on multiple occasions once they've lost command.

Though there's no way to measure Girardi's leash, we can hazard a guess at who his replacement could be.

Potential inside hires include third base coach Dusty Wathan, who's been with the Phillies organization since 2008 and bench coach Rob Thompson.

Going into 2018, there was some thought that Wathan might take over the club then, but Gabe Kapler won the job and brought him onto the staff as a coach. His Minor League managerial career spanned 10 seasons and received high praise throughout the organization. He could be the manager should Girardi be removed mid-season.

Thompson is another inside candidate that's been with the Phillies since Girardi brought him over in 2020. As bench coach, he manages games when Girardi is ejected, but the Phillies might shy away from a coach who's tendencies are so similar to that of the man they already have.

Former players mentioned as potential candidates are Placido Polanco and Raúl Ibañez.

There's been buzz around both former Phillies interviewing for the managerial position for some time, but neither have any prior managerial experience at any level.

Polanco currently works for the Los Angeles Dodgers in player development, a notable spring board for many MLB managers, the most recent of which was Gabe Kapler.

Meanwhile, Ibañez serves as Senior Vice President of On-Field Operations for MLB. As far back as 2014 he interviewed with the Tampa Bay Rays and was named a finalist for their managerial vacancy after the departure of Joe Maddon.

Ibañez is well-liked in the Phillies organization and around the game. He was chosen to speak at Roy Halladay's number retirement ceremony in 2021 and was voted MLB's second nicest Major League player in a poll of former player's by Sports Illustrated, losing out to Jim Thome.

Hensley Muehlens is another name that has come up as a potential outside hire.

Since 2010, he's spent time coaching the San Francisco Giants, New York Mets and currently works as assistant hitting coach for the New York Yankees. He could likely be pried away from his current job mid-season if the Phillies see fit to bring him aboard.

Of course, there's still 152 games of the season to go. The Phillies could turn on a winning streak tomorrow and end the discussion entirely, but what we've seen so far hasn't been inspiring on the players' side or manager's side.