Phillies manager Joe Girardi says he picked Philadelphia for several reasons
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- With Phillies pitchers and catchers set to report to Spring Training in less than three weeks, we caught up with new manager Joe Girardi.
He's been on the job for three months, self-scouting his team but he, purposefully, has not drawn too many conclusions.
"I will not come in with a prejudgment of what a player could do or not do. I think that's unfair. I want to see with my own eyes. Players mature, players change, they start to understand what they're supposed to do and need to do to be successful. So I don't really want to prejudge players."
But he has already gotten a feel for Phillies fans.
"It's all good because we haven't lost yet, Girardi joked. "It's all 'good luck' and 'we're happy you're here'. The fans have been very welcoming to me and my family, so we're really looking forward to Opening Day here."
Girardi, having already won a World Series in 2009 with the New York Yankees, could have had his pick of jobs. He chose the Phillies for several reasons.
"Because they want to win and they're passionate. This is a great baseball town and I've known that for a long time," he said.
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Girardi also cited the abundance of good Italian restaurants in our area because he "loves to eat!"
We asked Girardi what would make 2020 a successful season for the Phillies. His answer was simple, "Be the best team that we can be. There's a lot of things that have to go right for one team to win the World Series, but that's obviously our goal."
The Phillies' first Spring Training workout is February 12.
