(The following is being syndicated fromThe Captain’s Blog).
Joe Maddon and were named the , and, all things considered, they were probably the most deserving candidates for the award. Both managers overcame diminished pre-season expectations and led their relatively young teams to the playoffs, so it’s hard to argue with either selection, especially when you consider how intimately each team’s style of play has become entwined with the personality of their manager.
Not many people pay attention to who wins the Manager of the Year award, much less who finishes further down the ballot. However, the relatively poor showing of is a little hard to figure. For the third straight year, the Yankees finished with one of the top-3 records in all of baseball, and yet their manager has finished third, sixth, and fifth in the balloting. Although all three of the managers selected since 2009 have been worthy choices, at what point will Girardi get more recognition?
Most MoY Winners, by Franchise (click to enlarge)
Source: mlb.com
Based on the divergence between the Yankees’ record and Girardi’s showing in the MoY balloting, it seems obvious that the electorate is holding his team’s payroll against him. After all, Girardi won the award with a losing record as manager of the 2006 Marlins, so it can’t be personal. Just ask Terry Francona, the Red Sox’ much respected former manager who rarely poled well in the MoY voting. Apparently, it’s easy to manage a ballclub full of high-priced superstars? That’s probably a question that shouldn’t be posed to Francona.
I am not one of Girardi’s biggest fans, but one doesn’t have to be an advocate to appreciate the job he did this year. Not only did the Yankees exceed their own deflated pre-season expectations (ESPN’s experts were unanimous in selecting the Red Sox to win the division), but they did so because of contributions from several surprising sources. In addition to patching together a starting rotation with veteran retreads, Girardi once again crafted a league-leading bullpen, something that has become a hallmark during his tenure with the Yankees. Girardi also had to deal with several key injuries to veterans, while integrating an unprecedented number of rookies into the team. In many ways, the 2011 Yankees did not break camp as your typical Bronx Bombers, but they still found away to end the season as such. Much of the credit for that belongs to Joe Girardi.
Multiple MoY Winners
Source: mlb.com
It’s clearly an advantage for a manager to have a roster as talent-laden as the Yankees’. However, with those big names come big egos, and, as the Red Sox learned this year, it isn’t always easy to get a team full of superstars to come together. I am not suggesting that Girardi did a better job than Maddon, Jim Leyland, or , but, even if he did, it seems likely he wouldn’t get the recognition. Even though I am sure Girardi wouldn’t trade place with any of those managers, it’s kind of a shame to think he would have to in order to improve his chances of being named Manager of the Year.
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Well I’m not a fan of Joe Girardi and I count myself among those who think that teams’ success or failure is > 95% about the players and luck and the rest, maybe, is about field managing. So I don’t really care who wins MOY.
That said, it seems to me that you’re giving Girardi credit for things that he couldn’t possibly influence (the Red Sox collapse) or had little or no choice about like Colon stepping in for an injured and ineffective Hughes and Garcia filling a slot in the rotation that would not have existed if Cliff Lee hadn’t decided he’d rather be in Philadelphia. Girardi didn’t decide to sign those guys (OK, he may have agreed to the NRI invites but it was hardly his idea) and I’m 100% certain he had no idea they would pitch as effectively as they did. If Colon and/or Garcia had been ineffective it would have been stupid to blame Girardi so why should he get credit for their success?
True the Yankees had injuries to key players and not only survived but won the division title. How exactly does Girardi get credit for this? He played the guys he had to play in the absence of A-Rod and Jeter and the rest of the team picked up the slack, and by the way, their chief competitor suffered an unimaginable collapse in the last month of the season (in case you hadn’t heard). How exactly does this reflect superior field/clubhouse managing by Girardi? Again, if Swisher, Granderson, Cano and Tex hadn’t supplied enough extra-base power to mask A-Rod’s absence it wouldn’t have been Girardi’s fault. Nunez sure made a lot of errors when filling in at 3B and SS and didn’t really hit all that much so it’s not like using him was some stroke of managerial genius.
Yeah, Girardi does a good job (most of the time) managing the bullpen’s workload but follows the LaRussa, slave-to-the-save cookbook 99% of the time so there’s nothing really innovative going on there. And how difficult is to have a good bullpen when you have the greatest reliever of all time for your closer and a guy like Robertson for the 7th or 8th inning? Combine that with Joe’s silly small-ball fixation and I don’t really see anything exceptional about him or the job he did in 2011 that distinguishes him from the pack of AL managers.
It’s not clear at all you dislike Joe haha.
Your questions, while valid, would seem to apply to any manager on any team.
Girardi didn’t know what he’d get from Bartolo Colon/Freddy Garcia. Joe Maddon didn’t know what he’d get from Kyle Farnsworth.
If Girardi couldn’t influence the collapse of the Red Sox then surely Maddon couldn’t either. And since a large part of Maddon’s MOY victory is based on the fact that the Rays — and not the Red Sox — made the playoffs, one wonders how Maddon can receive credit for something that he obviously had no control over.
That isn’t to diminish Maddon, just to say that MOY is a pretty absurd award and that your valid questions about Girardi apply across the board to the winners of the award as well.
Exactly. That was part of he point I was making (read my first paragraph). The original post was only about Girardi and why he might have received more consideration from the MOY voters so I focused on him. I agree, there seems to be little reason to favor one guy over the other in most cases but if someone wants to argue that one specific guy like Girardi should have won or received more votes it’s perfectly legitimate to provide specific counterpoint to those arguments.
But Maddon is the mad genius for the underdog Rays. He has to be the best manager in baseball.
Well, somebody has to give a little true love to Joe G, who deserves it for having the patience to weather the storms, and keep the team moving forward. Eg, Jete not hitting, Nuney making errors, Arod not hitting for power, AJ and Phil not pitching effectively: did the team fall into a funk, and sulk? Hell, no. That’s a pretty good bunch o’ guys, and I bet they appreciate Joe’s patience and consistent support.