Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
November 09, 2005
Managers of the Year

Ozzie Guillen and Bobby Cox took home Manager of the Year honors today. Both are very good choices for the award. Ozzie does bunt too much for my taste, but the team did very well in one-run games. If a manager's decisions matter, it's in those tight games where selecting the right pinch hitter, or relief pitcher, or strategy can make a big difference. I may not agree with everything, but Ozzie certainly pulled all the right strings this season.

I'm surprised Joe Torre didn't finish higher. This was his worst Yankees team in terms of personnel, and he still pulled off a division win. Wedge did a good job in Cleveland, but I'm not sure why the writers rate his performance that far ahead of Macha's, who basically did the same thing (coming back from a big deficit with a bunch of youngsters).

Cox, of course, took a bunch of youngsters, wove them into an injured lineup and emerged with a division crown. The surprise to me here is that Frank Robinson didn't do better. Given that the Nationals were not a very good team, keeping them in competition as long as Robby did was impressive.

Congratulations to Guillen and Cox on their well deserved awards!


Posted by David Pinto at 02:31 PM | Awards | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Torre didn't get more votes, I think, because voters are not going to fall for the sympathy vote. He may have had the worse on-field personnel of his reign, but he was working with a team that has a $200 million payroll.

As for Guillen, he probably didn't deserve it. I don't have the Bill James book, but I'm curious to see how many outs Guillen gave up through sacrifice bunts and bad stolen base attempts. Manager of the Year should go the guy who gets the most of out his team. But after yesterday, who cares?

Posted by: Benjamin Kabak at November 9, 2005 02:43 PM

I agree with Ben's Torre thought but his second paragraph loses sight of the point of major league baseball. The point isn't to get the most wins per dollar of total salary or make great trades involving overlooked or undervalued players. The point is to win the World Series. In the American League, any manager that takes a team that wasn't the Angels, Yanks or Red Sox and gets them to sweep the World Series, can be given Manager of the Year with little argument, IMHO.

Posted by: Phil at November 9, 2005 03:07 PM

OT, ESPN.com now has its report on steroid use in baseball up, and it's free. So far, it is pretty good and names names.

Posted by: rbj at November 9, 2005 03:14 PM

Phil: I think you're right. Although I have long wondered what standards Manager of the Year should encompass, I think Ozzie did an admirable job with the White Sox. I just don't think his style can sustain long-term success.

Posted by: Benjamin Kabak at November 9, 2005 03:33 PM

Why are all the categories for all the recent posts suddenly "Purchase NFL tickets?"

Posted by: Linkmeister at November 9, 2005 03:41 PM

I don't think mr.Kabak likes the yankees or joe torre very much. who died and made him the hose " Maven" --expert.
in fact i think r. Kabzk is an anal retentive.
jerry rabninowitz

Posted by: jerry rabinowitz at November 9, 2005 04:47 PM

Thanks for the kind words (and great spelling too), Jerry. If you knew anything about me from these boards, you would know that I am indeed a life-long Yankee fan.

Posted by: Benjamin Kabak at November 9, 2005 04:55 PM

The irony is that while the perception of the good job Wedge did is probably valid (the A's are historically a good team), he presided over a truly monumental last-week collapse as well. I'm not sure what I think about that.

Posted by: Martin at November 9, 2005 05:43 PM

Linkmeister, those aren't categories. The category is after the permalink. That's advertising for my ticket site.

Posted by: David Pinto at November 9, 2005 06:10 PM

I would disagree that Guillen's style can't win over the long haul. I definitely think his offensive management is questionable, even mediocre, as we all watched a team that relied heavily on the home-run badly run itself out of more scoring opportunities. That said, his managment of his pitching staff and his team's defensive performance were so off-the-charts that he can likely be forgiven the extra outs he gives up on the basepaths. No doubt Guillen managed his pitchers incredibly: he never got stuck in a "one-closer only" rut, and used the best pitchers that any situation called on. He didn't waste his best in low-leverage situations, and tightened his grip on late-game leads. This goes for his use of his starting pitchers, as well. I also don't think that it was any coincidence that the White Sox had far and away the best defense in the majors under Guillen's watch. Much credit to Williams there, certainly, but Guillen deserves quite a bit himself.

Posted by: Dave S. at November 10, 2005 08:32 AM

Getting the most out of a team can come from several avenues. We know that bunting can lose outs and be counterproductive, yes.

But what Ozzie might excel at is motivating his team. I hate to speak of "intangibles", but man... have you ever heard him talk about his team? Even before the playoffs ever started... the way he spoke about his love for his team and how proud he was of them was damn near poetic. I'd love to play for that guy... and I bet I'd play a little better because of it.

Posted by: Mike at November 10, 2005 11:27 AM

Truly, a great motivator. Plus you gotta love the flake factor. He's just bizarre.

Posted by: Dave S. at November 10, 2005 04:57 PM
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