Big question: How will Joe Girardi manage next year's Yankees?

The finale of a 10-part series looking at the Yankees’ big offseason decisions, we’ll turn to a matter of evolution and not necessarily change. There’s no reason to believe the Yankees are going to change managers this winter, but will their manager adjust to the changing roster?

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On the final day of the regular season, when there was little to do but look ahead to next year, Yankees manager Joe Girardi was asked whether he manages a young team differently than he manages a veteran group.

The question might as well have been: Will you manage next year differently than this year?

“I think you manage each year, every group, somewhat differently because there’s different types of players,” he said. “But, yes, obviously with older players, they’ve been through a lot more. They’ve been through a lot more experiences. You have a history of how they handle those experiences and maybe handle slumps or a couple of bad starts in a row.

“With younger players, you don’t have that history and you’re not sure how they’re going to react and what they’re capable of doing in a big situation; how they’re going to handle it. It is different, but again, you manage all groups different depending on what your strengths and weaknesses are.”

There’s no reason to think the Yankees are going to make a managerial change this offseason. In fact, there’s no reason to think their coaching staff will see any changes at all. But as the roster evolves, Girardi’s managerial style might have to evolve with it.

Will he follow this postseason trend of using top relievers in key situations rather than specific roles? How long of a leash will he give to the Yankees veterans in their mid-30s? How much patience will he have with young kids still establishing themselves?

“I don’t think Joe’s slow to trust young players,” Brian Cashman said. “I don’t think that’s the case at all. I just think he evaluates what’s in front of him.”

To be fair, some of Girardi’s reputation for distrusting young players seems unfounded.

His first Yankees rotation included young Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy. His go-to relievers in 2009 were all 20-somethings. He caught Francisco Cervelli ahead of Jorge Posada in 2010. He gave Yangervis Solarte every day at-bats when Solarte had no previous big league experience. He managed the emergence of David Robertson and Dellin Betances from occasionally erratic prospects to dominant setup men. Just last year he showed early patience with Didi Gregorius and put late-season faith in Luis Severino and Greg Bird.

But there’s little doubt that next year’s roster is shaping up to be different from any Girardi has ever managed.

Girardi has a tendency to put his faith in statistics and track records. He likes to play matchups. He likes to put relievers into roles and stick to them. Next year’s team might not have significant track records, it won’t have proven matchups, and many of its players are going to require time and opportunity to figure out which roles fit best.

Is Luis Severino a starter or reliever? Is Aaron Judge a cleanup hitter or a floundering strikeout machine? Are Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury a viable one-two punch at the top of the order? Can any of the shuttle relievers show some staying power?

“There's some (prospects) that I haven't seen a lot of,” Girardi said. “I'm not sure who's going to be invited to camp, who's going to be on the 40-man roster, how that's going to take place. But there's a ton of talent down there. Some of it was in A-ball, some of it was in Double-A, some of it was in Triple-A. There's some guys that I haven't seen yet, some guys that I haven't seen because of the trades that we've made. Next year could be an interesting Spring Training because it's a WBC year. I don't know if we'll have more people there. I'll get a look, probably, at more than I would have.”