SB Nation Awards: Manager of the Year

by Jim McLennan on Nov 9, 2009 11:25 AM EST in News Comment 19 comments

More photos » David Zalubowski - AP

Jim Tracy = NL Manager of the Year

As well as the ongoing 'Pitties, we also have an SB Nation-wide set of awards, voted upon by two contributors from each site - in the case of the SnakePit, it's myself and 'Charmer. This week, those awards will be handed out: we start with the Manager of the Year today, and then tomorrow we have the Rookie of the Year; Wednesday is the Cy Young, and Thursday will be the MVP. As with the BBWAA awards, there's one for each league; for obvious reasons, we'll be concentrating on the National League awards, though will also mention the top few finishers in the American League, for completeness.

Rk	Manager	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Jim Tracy	Colorado Rockies	24	1	2	125
2	Tony LaRussa	St. Louis Cardinals	3	7	10	46
3	Fredi Gonzalez	Florida Marlins	2	6	5	33
4	Joe Torre	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	9	2	29
5	Charlie Manuel	Philadelphia Phillies	-	3	5	14
6	Bruce Bochy	San Francisco Giants	1	1	1	9
7	Bobby Cox	Atlanta Braves	-	1	4	7
8	Bud Black	San Diego Padres	-	1	1	4
9	John Russell	Pittsburgh Pirates	-	1	-	3

Probably not too much of a surprise here, with the stunning turnaround achieved by Jim Tracy on the Colorado Rockies impressing the members of the SB Nation academy. After starting the season 18-28 under Clint Hurdle - a win percentage fractionally worse than the one that got the other 2007 NLCS manager, Bob Melvin, fired here in Arizona - Colorado went 74-42 the rest of the way. That extrapolates to a 103-win full season, an amazing reversal to disprove the argument that in-season managerial changes never work. It worked immediately in Denver, where they went 18-5 over his first four weeks, including a 16-1 run.

Be interested to hear from some of the visiting Rockies fans why they think it made such a difference to the team. I am, of course, supremely jealous that it didn't work out quite so well in Arizona - Bob Melvin's winning percentage (.414) was only improved upon slightly by AJ Hinch (.436). One of the suggestions touched upon in 'charmer's end of season review, was that the players in Colorado were much more on board with the change. The ones here had to be convinced, to varying degrees, both of the need for change and that Hinch was the right man for the job, given his lack of managerial experience.

My ballot is actually sitting at work, so I'm not certain who I picked, though I'm fairly sure that it was Tracy as my #1 - odds in favor, since he got 80% of the first-place ballots [looks like one blog didn't take part]. A lot less unanimity for the second- and third-place spots, with nine of the 16 NL teams seeing their helmsmen mentioned. I think I went for Fredi Gonzalez as my runner-up, based on the wonders worked in Florida on a budget that could be funded from the back of the sofa in George Steinbrenner's office. Fire sale or not, the Marlins are probably the poster-child for winning in a small market, and one can only wonder what Gonzalez might do if given a reasonable amount of cash.

Of course, this is as much an award for the front-office who construct the team: I'm really not certain how much influence the manager generally has. There are exceptions, however, and if any manager does affect his team, it's probably third-place finisher, Tony LaRussa. He has absolutely no hesitation in rejecting "conventional" wisdom when he feels it's in the best interests of winning, e.g. batting his pitcher eighth. If I could pick any other major-league manager to be in charge of Arizona, it'd be LaRussa. Elsewhere on the ballot, I'm not sure who voted for John Russell in Pittsburgh, for leading his team to a brilliant 62-99 record, ahead only of the Nationals. I went over to Bucs Dugout, and if it was them, they're not 'fessing up, yet...

I trust it wasn't 'charmer, anyway - I'm sure she will be along a llttle later to discuss her ballot and explain her picks. I'll finish with a quick mention of the American League results, where both Ron Gardenhire of the Twins and the Angels' Mike Scioscia ended up with nine first-place votes. However, Scioscia got more X's further down the ballot, and so took the award, with Don Wakamatsu of Seattle finishing behind Gardenhire. I can't believe that almost half the voters left Gardenhire off their ballots entirely: again, we're talking about a man who has worked wonders with little or no cash, and has got to be in the running, at the very least. He'd have got my vote, certainly, though as we only get to vote for our own leagues, that's a token gesture. Here's the full results there:

Rk	Manager	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Mike Scioscia	Los Angeles Angels	9	8	3	72
2	Ron Gardenhire	Minnesota Twins	9	5	1	61
3	Don Wakamatsu	Seattle Mariners	6	3	8	47
4	Joe Girardi	New York Yankees	2	4	2	24
5	Ron Washington	Texas Rangers	1	4	4	21
6	Terry Francona	Boston Red Sox	1	1	3	11
7	Jim Leyland	Detroit Tigers	-	2	4	10
8	Joe Maddon	Tampa Bay Rays	-	1	1	4
9	Ozzie Guillen	Chicago White Sox	-	-	1	1
10	Trey Hillman	Kansas City Royals	-	-	1	1

Tomorrow, we'll continue the series with the Rookie of the Year award.

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Jim Tracy ALL THE WAY BABY!

As a Rockies fan as well as a DBacks one, I can tell you EXACTLY why Tracy deserves this award. He took this team from worst to first and his repoir with these players is a much deeper one that Clint Hurdle ever had with many of these players. Hurdle was loud in his teachings. He got his points acrossed, but to some of the guys, he was a bit TOO loud, and that caused friction amongst Hurdle and many of the youngsters on the team. Jim Tracy has a more soft, quiet approach but the boys all respect him, they love him, and he’s a father figure to many. His methods were different than Hurdle’s and the guys related a lot better to his ways.

Jim Tracy is definite Hall Of Fame manager caliber too. I hope he remains the Rockies manager for many years to come. He has done well and may he continue to be successful.

For the season he and the team had, Jim Tracy deserves this ward

"AUGIE AUGIE AUGIE...OY OY OY!"

by Rockkstarr12 on Nov 9, 2009 1:18 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Yeeeeeeeah

there is absolutely no reason to believe that Jim Tracy, at least as he stands now, is Hall of Fame caliber.

I am Shiva the Destroyer, your harbinger of doom this evening.

by soco on Nov 9, 2009 5:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

C'mon

All he’s gotta do is keep up that winning percentage, and do so for about 15 or 20 years, and he’s a shoe-in! Better than that Connie Mack loser- almost 4000 loses and he’s in the Hall of Fame? Apparently anyone can get voted in!

"Spam headline: 'YOU ARE CHOSEN!' Oh, Morpheus, you're getting pretty lazy."
"Or they are informing you you are Jewish in a very lame conversion campaign."
"In either case, sending me spam is not the way to invite me to Zion."

by kishi on Nov 9, 2009 5:50 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

There's a ways to go

before we can talk about Mr. Tracy and the Hall of Fame. There is no doubt he’s a good manager, and seems to be a good person, but there are some guys out there who have better credentials at this point, including Joe Torre, Tony The Russian, and of course, Mr. Dodger Blue himself (unless he slipped in without me noticing).

by NASCARbernet on Nov 9, 2009 7:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Lasorda

was inducted as a manager back in 1997.

I am Shiva the Destroyer, your harbinger of doom this evening.

by soco on Nov 9, 2009 8:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Great, thanks.

What else happened in 1997? Anything else exciting that I should know about?

by NASCARbernet on Nov 9, 2009 11:31 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The

Packers won the Super Bowl?

I am Shiva the Destroyer, your harbinger of doom this evening.

by soco on Nov 9, 2009 11:58 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Jeff Gordon won the Cup

But your name suggests you already knew that :-)

I wonder if Bud Selig will give the Yankees a receipt with their World Series purchase

by RhodeIslandRoxfan on Nov 11, 2009 2:34 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Uh, yeah

Hence my highly sarcastic comment.

by kishi on Nov 9, 2009 8:50 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Jim Tracy is not a Hall of Fame caliber manager

He needs to have about 10 more seasons like this before that is even a discussion. He is the hands down winner of this award though

I wonder if Bud Selig will give the Yankees a receipt with their World Series purchase

by RhodeIslandRoxfan on Nov 11, 2009 2:33 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too. " ~Greg, age 8

by njjohn on Nov 11, 2009 3:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Why replacing Hurdle with Tracy made such a big difference

To put it simply, Hurdle got in the way of the players’ talent; Tracy helped the players perform to their abilities. Trust is kind of an unquantifiable thing, but both the players and us fans trusted Tracy’s decisions (well, mostly.)

Hurdle managed like someone who knew his job was on the line- benching Tulo because for swinging at the first pitch, changing the lineup every night, etc.

For the most part, Tracy kept the lineup consistent, playing the best players everyday. He thinks ahead in terms of which pitchers to bring in, who to pinch-hit, etc. (We all got really annoyed when Hurdle would have the SP hit for himself and pull him the next inning). Where Tracy lost it a little was when the rosters expanded in September and he started tinkering with the lineups again, and not in a good way. He’s notorious for doing it, and I don’t think it helped anyone.

Of course there’s more to it than this…That’s my nutshell version of it.

Never give up, never surrender.

by coolopotamus on Nov 9, 2009 2:18 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Nope, it wasn't me :)

My love for Pittsburgh disappeared when they sent Salazar away. :/

My notes are on my other computer, but I’m pretty sure I went:
1. Tracy
2. Torre
3. LaRussa

Things ’Skins has in common with foulpole for 400, please. -- soco

by snakecharmer on Nov 9, 2009 3:40 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Turns out

My third place vote was for Charlie Manuel, not LaRussa.

"Win, or die" -- Marquise de Merteuil

by Jim McLennan on Nov 10, 2009 10:04 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I went back and forth between them

I really didn’t care at that point LOL. Tracy deserved it.

Things ’Skins has in common with foulpole for 400, please. -- soco

by snakecharmer on Nov 10, 2009 1:41 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Based on the regular season, I would have put them:
1. Tracy
2. LaRussa
3. Gonzalez (considering what he was working with in his starting rotation to stay in the race as long as the Marlins did was a Herculean feat).

"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too. " ~Greg, age 8

by njjohn on Nov 10, 2009 2:26 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hurdle vs Tracy

I don’t follow the Rockies (except as a division foe of the D-Backs), so maybe I am remembering this incorrectly, but wasn’t Hurdle hired the year the Rockies finished with the amazing winning streak to get to the Series? If so, doesn’t it seem like it is CHANGE that the Rockies seem to like, more than who is hired?

by Craig from Az on Nov 10, 2009 10:16 AM EST reply actions 0 recs