Girardi's protection a Sori excuse
This isn't about what the media needs from Rafael Soriano. Seriously. It's about what Soriano must provide to his teammates.
And, as this little morality tale wrapped up Wednesday afternoon, it also proved to be about Joe Girardi's odd proclivity of publicly coddling his players.
Before the Yankees postponed their game against Minnesota due to rain, Soriano apologized for his actions Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium. After pitching very poorly, Soriano, the primary perpetrator in the Yankees' 5-4 loss to the Twins, bolted the ballpark before taking questions.
"The reason I [did] it was because I got mad, because I think that game that CC was supposed to win and it didn't happen," Soriano said. "And that's why I get mad. I [didn't] feel comfortable to talk to you guys. I know last night, I know I'm supposed to talk to you guys and I left."
Fair enough. He said what he had to say, whether he meant it or not. We'll see, as the season progresses, whether he applies that supposedly learned lesson or whether this becomes a recurring problem.
This, we know for sure, however: Whenever one of his players commits a transgression, Girardi will spin like crazy to minimize the wrongdoing.
"There's no rule that says a player has to talk to the media after the game. There's not a rule. I have not seen one," Girardi said. "There are times when players need to blow off a little steam. He could've sat there and been real short with you. There are different ways you can handle it.
" . . . He's new to New York. Maybe in a situation in another town, it's not such a big deal. But he has to learn the ways of New York, as well. This guy's been here a week. I think we can be a little patient. We can show a little forgiveness for not talking to the media one day."
Forgiveness? By all means. But the rest of Girardi's defense is a bunch of disingenuous nonsense.
Of course there isn't a "rule" about speaking to the media. However, Girardi -- back in his playing days -- helped establish a culture of accountability in the clubhouse that still gets enforced by Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera, among others. When you mess up, you stand in front of your locker and take your medicine.
Yes, Soriano could've sat there and been real short with us. That would've been better. He could've made a five-second speech -- "I'm sorry, I'm just really upset. I'll discuss this more tomorrow" -- and taken off, and he wouldn't have received any flak.
And this isn't a New York thing, either. This is baseball-wide. When you're "the story," particularly when it's a bad story, you don't disappear and require your teammates to clean up your mess.
"It's an important aspect of the job," said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who worked with team president Randy Levine and Soriano's agent, Scott Boras, on yesterday's damage control. "Not just playing on the field, but being accountable in that clubhouse."
Alas, we know by now that this is how Girardi operates. He refused to publicly scold A.J. Burnett last July 17 when Burnett slammed his hands into hard plastic, suffering multiple cuts and forcing Girardi to remove him after just two innings of work. So he certainly won't take Soriano to task for a relative misdemeanor.
The best work environments, I humbly submit, are those in which wrongdoers fully serve their penance. In which Soriano's wronged teammates, in this instance, feel that the manager has their back.
Based on the way Girardi tried to talk away Soriano's decision, the only back he had was that of the eccentric, high-maintenance new guy.
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