Joe Girardi had been connected to the New York Mets job since the first whispers of Mickey Callaway being fired started in May. Mets fans were understandably excited for what would have been one of the biggest hires in franchise history.
It’s rare for the Mets to hire big fish as their manager. The only examples of them doing so were the hires of Casey Stengel, Gil Hodges, and Arte Howe. The rest of the bunch fall into two categories: first-time managers and re-treads after disappointing somewhere else.
So the prospect of Girardi in the Mets’ dugout was a tantalizing one for fans.