Philadelphia Phillies: Joe Girardi, Gabe Kapler were different kinds of frustrating

Joe Girardi is out as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies and bench coach Rob Thomson will take over as the skipper for the rest of the season. The firing that everyone saw coming took place after a series against the team’s last manager, Gabe Kapler.

Girardi and Kapler gave the Phillies exceptionally average results. Kapler’s teams were 80-82 then 81-81 before Girardi took over prior to the shortened 2020 season. His Phillies clubs would go on to finish with records of 28-32 and 82-80. Upon his departure, the Phillies held a 22-29 record.

Undoubtedly failures during their tenures in Philadelphia, each was a different kind of frustrating.

Former Philadelphia Phillies managers Joe Girardi and Gabe Kapler failed in the same ways but the frustration feels different.

After two years of Kapler, Phillies fans couldn’t have welcomed Girardi more. Finally, after so many years of losing, they were about to get an experienced manager. It was going to change everything.

When it comes to modern managers, there are only a certain number of ways they can get criticized. The way they handled their pitching staffs ranks at number one. Starting lineups are important but most will acknowledge a manager these days has much less input as the front office does in this regard.

Both Girardi and Kapler made questionable pitching changes at times—but which managers don’t? Only because the results weren’t there will many of the choices they did make go down poorly. If the slop the Phillies bullpen has had in it over the last decade wasn’t so messy, surely the results would have been much different and at least one of these managers would still be working for the club.

Two Philadelphia Phillies managers with the same result, two different expectations.

It’s the frustration level with these two that is vastly different because of the expectations from the start. Kapler was disliked heavily before even managing a game and seemed to grind that sports hatred out of fans quite easily. He was much different from Charlie Manuel—the manager many fans hold up as the highest standard to this day. Kapler was a definer of analytics and let this lead his team over the moment. As a younger manager and someone without any big league experience in the job, he came to the Phillies at a very interesting time in their club’s history.

It’s hard to believe Kapler managed Bryce Harper for only one season. The 2018 team—which lacked star power—won only one less game than the 2019 club would eventually capture. Kapler actually got a lot out of the team in his first year much like he has with the San Francisco Giants. Unfortunately, all of the spending the Phillies did in the offseason between his two years didn’t show up in the standings.

Girardi can get a pass or be held accountable for the team’s failings in 2020. The season was short and if they had played 102 more games, maybe things would have ended up better. In 2021, he had a chance to earn himself a more permanent stay in Philadelphia. That loaded Phillies team managed to do very little. Already on the hot seat entering this year, their slow start in 2022 and losing three straight to the New York Mets then two out of three versus Kapler’s Giants put an end to the agony.

While Kapler’s firing was celebrated for the possibility of “what’s next?” it feels as if Girardi’s dismissal is a more puzzled version of the same. Where do the Phillies go from here? They hired the man most people wanted for the job and the result was the same all over again—arguably worse given what the front office has done to try and better this team.

The fault doesn’t fall solely on Girardi. But you can’t fire the team. You have to get rid of the one person you can. Will the next manager be able to inspire the Phillies a little more? If so, maybe they can be fixed quickly. If not, history could be repeating itself very quickly.