Joe Girardi: Players Manager?

Whoops indeed:

Congratulations were in order for Michael Young after Joe Girardi named him to the American League All-Star team on Monday morning. Congratulations, though, quickly turned into apologies as MLB officials informed the Texas Rangers third baseman that he wasn't actually an All-Star and that he shouldn't get on a plane to spell Boston's Adrian Beltre. Whoops. In a confusing little case that ended almost as quickly as it began, Young was named to the All-Star team when AL manager Joe Girardi announced at a press conference that he'd be replacing Beltre, who injured his hamstring on Sunday. But that came as news to Beltre and the Red Sox and Rangers beat reporters, who hadn't been told of the plan. After a little bit of sleuthing, it turned out that Girardi spoke too soon, because Beltre hadn't officially ruled himself out of the game.

Something here sounds very... familiar...

OAKLAND - Robinson Cano won't have to worry about a Home Run Derby hangover after all. Cano agreed to withdraw from the event following a conversation with Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman before Wednesday night's game, not wanting to take any chances with the minor back injury that has bothered the Yankees' second baseman since Sunday. The Daily News first reported on its website Wednesday that Cano would withdraw from the Home Run Derby due to the back injury, but when he arrived at the Oakland Coliseum, the second baseman said he still planned to take part in the event. "As far as I know, I'm doing it," Cano said. "I saw on the computer that I'm not going to the Derby, but nobody has talked to me yet." That conversation took place about two hours later, as Cano was summoned into Girardi's office. With Cashman on the phone, Cano was informed that team trainer Gene Monahan had expressed his concern over Cano participating in the Home Run Derby, prompting the team's decision to pull him from the event. "They spoke to me, so now I know what's going on," Cano said. "It was our trainer's decision. He's been here for a long time and he knows better than me what's best for me and for the team. I agree with him." Cano admitted that the lack of communication earlier in the day bothered him. "To be honest, I was upset," Cano said. "I came in and (reporters) were talking to me when I didn't know what was going on." Before he met with Girardi, Cano said he still hoped to participate in the Derby on Monday and that his back doesn't bother him when he swings the bat. "Why not? First time in your career, go out there and have fun," Cano said. "That's the kind of thing that might happen once in your life. I take BP every day, so it's not going to be a big deal."

(H/T to Zoolander in the Google Group for the Beltre article)

From the beginning of spring training in 2009, Joe Girardi set out to correct the mistakes he made in 2008, and not just missing the playoffs. Girardi was a notoriously bad communicator in 2008. The clubhouse was constantly spinning with contradictions as players were reporting injuries that Girardi was downplaying or outright denying. It seemed as if there was little to no communication coming from the managers office. That seemed to change in 2009 as Girardi worked hard to be a better communicator toward the press and to his players. He even went so far as to incorporate a team building exercise in the form of skipping practice for billiards. For the most part, Girardi has been successful at running a tighter ship than before and in truth, the Cano situation could have been more due to a chatty coaching staff than Girardi neglecting to talk to Cano in a timely manner. Maybe that led to Girardi jumping the gun a bit in the Beltre scenario without ever talking to the player or, gosh, maybe the Red Sox first? It's interesting. The Yankees under Torre and Cashman ran a pretty tight ship. Rarely did you ever hear about these types of miscommunications from the clubhouse and Cashman certainly plays his office extremely close to his chest. Torre, diligent manager that he wasn't, probably had a little more free time on his hands than Girardi. But Torre understood how important the lines of communication were in his clubhouse. Girardi is getting there. It's just taking him a little bit longer. Now, if we can address his use of the bullpen we can

Really

make some progress.