The Phillies Hire Joe Girardi While The Mets Hold Their Dicks In Their Hands
Jordie wrote about this from the Phillies point of view, but I felt obligated to write about this hiring since the VAST majority of Mets fans have been begging for the Mets to hire Joe Girardi for weeks knowing full well the Mets would probably pull their patented move of meeting with a big name, saying they would follow up with him, then dragging their feet and watching him land somewhere else. Instead Girardi lands in the Philadelphia branch of the NL East just like Bryce Harper and JT Realmuto did last offseason. Good times!
Now obviously those two acquisitions did nothing outside of land the Phillies in 4th place behind the Mets. But I like to think a big part of that was due to the Phillies having worse pitching than the Mets and somehow a worse manager the Mickey Callaway. Girardi at the very least is a manager with a track record, a World Series title, and actually got the current core of the Yankees closer to the World Series than Aaron Boone has despite them being more inexperienced with less talent. Not to mention he has experience dealing with the demands of New York fans as well as the way the New York media works, so the odds of Girardi causing a shitstorm where him and a reporter get into a shouting match that ends with a player threatening to kick that reporter's ass probably aren't that high.
We can argue about why Girardi will end up managing in Philly instead of New York. Maybe the Wilpons didn't want to pay a proven manager the money he deserves. Maybe Girardi didn't want to go near a franchise that is infamous for half measures. Or maybe the Mets wanted Joe to throw his binder in a fire so he can simply be a figurehead that shakes hands, kisses babies, and simply executes whatever moves his GM texts him from the couch as his bonehead owner fucks up every part of the franchise by meddling in every part of the organization like a braindead Littlefinger with Hodor's brain.
Whatever the reason is Joe chose the Phillies over the Mets, ya gotta believe that it started at the top of the org chart in Queens. We'll see about the other candidates, including this bombshell that we are DYING to know about. But being reminded of what it's like being a small market team with a big market mail address before the World Series was even over was a hell of a way to kick off the offseason.
God I fucking hate Jeff Wilpon.