Joe Girardi could have played this postseason to limit criticism. He could have stuck with Jorge Posada catching everyone, which means you, too, A.J. Burnett.
Freddy Guzman could have stayed on the bench rather than pinch-run for Alex Rodriguez. Girardi could have adhered to a relief strategy more similar to the regular season when he would let his best guys pitch mainly an inning at a time.
Instead, he has leaned toward over-managing this October, becoming a major figure in just about every postseason game. Heck, there have been times you thought he might summon a reliever while the starter was warming up before the game.
He had to make another call when last night’s ALCS Game 6 was postponed, and he decided to stay in turn with Andy Pettitte for tonight’s makeup rather than turn to ace CC Sabathia on full rest. But Girardi showed all season he is not averse to making choices that are unpopular with players or the media.
Here are five of his biggest calls:
Batting Derek Jeter leadoff — Publicly, Jeter has always said he does not care where he bats. But within the confines of the team, it was understood he strongly preferred hitting second. However, Jeter is one of the majors’ foremost groundball hitters. At second, he simply was in too many double-play situations. So Girardi flip-flopped Jeter with Johnny Damon.
Jeter hit into double plays at roughly the same rate in double-play situations (runner on first, less than two outs) in 2009 (17 percent) that he did in 2008 (18 percent). But he had fewer double play opportunities in 2009 (106) compared to 2008 (134) despite coming to the plate 48 times more. You can’t hit into a double play leading off an inning.
Keeping Hideki Matsui at DH — Matsui badly wanted to play the field. But Girardi’s instinct was not to risk losing Matsui’s bat. His decision was galvanized before interleague play, when Matsui’s knees swelled simply by intensifying outfield workouts.
On occasion, Matsui’s knees were drained. But Girardi preserved his DH’s body and Matsui had one of his best offensive years as a Yankee.
Being flexible in center — Brett Gardner won the center-field job in spring, but struggled the first month. Rather than obstinately sticking with the plan, Girardi transitioned to Melky Cabrera as the starter by late April. And over the course of the year, Girardi continued to find ways to utilize Gardner. The result was that the Yankees prevented a sinkhole and received about league average production at the position, which was fine since the starting center fielder hit ninth in a powerful lineup most days.
Sticking with Joba Chamberlain in the rotation — Obviously, this choice had a lot of detractors. But the organization made a decision in the offseason that Girardi was in favor of, and stuck with it through Joba’s growing pains and immaturity. As opposed to Gardner/Melky, Chamberlain was viewed as a long-term answer at a position and also there were no better alternatives. In fact, if there were better options in August, Chamberlain would have been demoted to the minors.
There still may be no payoff to this, since Chamberlain could end up in the bullpen long-term. But when things turned bad for Joba, Girardi did not look to distance himself from the front office and instead followed the established guidelines for his usage.
Refusing to abuse relievers — Around the Yankees, games in April and May can feel must-win. It is easy to go to the most dependable relievers over and over. Girardi, though, spread the responsibility. Alfredo Aceves was the only Yankee in the top 60 in the majors in relief innings pitched (80.2). However, Aceves pitched multiple innings on consecutive days just once, and that was in May, and he never pitched three days in a row all year.
Part of the reason Girardi limited workload on relievers was the in-season transition away from responsibility for Brian Bruney, Edwar Ramirez and Jose Veras to Phil Hughes and David Robertson. But Girardi also mostly adheres to a policy of never pitching relievers on three straight days no matter how must-win any game feels during the season — at least during the regular season.