World Series champion Joe Girardi was interviewed Friday by the Texas Rangers in their search for a new manager.
Girardi, the former New York Yankees and Florida Marlins manager, was the first person with big league managerial experience interviewed by the Rangers as they look to replace fired manager Jeff Banister.
People familiar with the details said the Rangers interviewed Girardi inn Arlington. The team is making no public comments about the first round of managerial interviews.
Girardi managed the Yankees to a World Series title in 2009, their 27th overall and only one since 2000. He had a 910-710 record over 10 seasons in New York (2008-17). His contract wasn’t renewed after the Yankees lost to eventual World Series champion Houston in a seven-game ALCS last October, and he was a studio analyst for MLB Network this season.
In his only season managing the Marlins in 2006, Girardi was the NL manager of the year after a 78-84 record with the team that had the lowest payroll in the majors.
Girardi, whose 54th birthday is Sunday, played 15 seasons in the big leagues. The catcher was part of three World Series championships in his four seasons with the Yankees, and also played for the Chicago Cubs, Colorado and St. Louis.
The Rangers previously interviewed Chicago Cubs bench coach Brandon Hyde, Astros bench coach Joe Espada and Texas assistant general manager Jayce Tingler.
Banister was the AL manager of the year in 2015, his first season in Texas. The Rangers won the AL West titles in 2015 and 2016, but are coming off consecutive losing season. He was fired with 10 games left in a 95-loss season when the focus shifted to the development of younger players.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/tag/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Please read our comment policy before commenting.