Add Title of Benedict Arnold to Joe Girardi's Resume

Last year, Joe Girardi became the second manager ever to win the Manager of the Year award and be fired in the same off-season. Maybe it's because of purported behavior like this:

Florida Marlins officials were unhappy to hear that their manager last year, Joe Girardi, gave rival pitcher Jon Lieber helpful tips during the season. Lieber said his season with the Philadelphia Phillies turned around shortly after he was roughed up by the Marlins last July 31, and he credits a phone call from Girardi, a former major league catcher. They played together with the Chicago Cubs from 2000-02. "He just mentioned that the hitters said everything that was coming in was just very flat," Lieber told the Philadelphia Daily News. "I wasn't on top of the ball like I should have been."

Both teams contended for the NL wild-card berth, and Lieber beat the Marlins twice in September.

Talk about much ado about nothing. Sheesh. Last time I checked, pointing out facts, e.g. "your pitches flattened out," doesn't qualify as giving advice to the enemy.

Now had Girardi told him, "You need to bend your back more because you're not following through enough and it's causing your pitches to flatten out, especially in 1-2 counts with runners on 2nd base when you're trying to throw your curveball from the stretch," then we might be talking about crossing competitive lines. Last time I checked, Girardi didn't take Lieber out to catch him in a bullpen session, nor did he watch film with Lieber and compare Jon's '01 form to his '06 form. Seems to me that the Marlins front-office is looking for another reason to bury Girardi.