Because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, we are encouraged to stay at home to avoid the disease from spreading around. MLB is also staying at home, having decided to halt its operations for the foreseeable future. Both the Yankees and Mets, as well as the other 28 teams, don’t know when they will return to the field.
The situation provides us with plenty of time to think about hypothetical, future scenarios that could take place. For example, MLB.com released a list of five AL East players, one from each team, that could be managers in the future.
Do you know who they chose as the Yankees’ potential skipper down the road? Yes, Brett Gardner. Aaron Boone has done a terrific job managing the Bombers, but we are talking about five, ten years down the line. It won’t be immediate, as Gardy is still an active player that keeps producing.
A terrific, respected Yankees’ lifer
The choice, to me, makes sense. Gardner has been a terrific player for the Yankees (he has a career .260/.342/.401 line with a 104 wRC+, 124 home runs and 267 stolen bases) and has earned respect around the league for being a one-team player in his 12-year career. He is a fiery, competitive player that will do anything to win, but win the right way.
Here is Bryan Hoch’s writeup about Gardner and his managerial prospects: “The longest-tenured player in Yankees pinstripes, Gardner has served as a frequent sounding board in the clubhouse and dugout for managers Joe Girardi and Aaron Boone over the last decade-plus, helping his teams forge a strong connection between the coaching staff and the players.”
He also said that “while Gardner is focused on finishing his playing career and might prefer a quiet retirement of hunting and fishing in the woods of South Carolina, Boone has said that he believes Gardner’s work ethic would translate well to the challenges of being a big league manager. Gardner has also taken well to helping younger players, citing Johnny Damon’s example when Gardner was trying to establish himself as a regular.”
It could be five years from now, it could be ten. Or it could be two or three. We don’t know, but Brett Gardner is looking like a future manager of the New York Yankees.