2009 SBN Baseball Awards: AL Manager of the Year
by Ian Casselberry on Nov 9, 2009 12:00 PM EST
in News
10 comments
This week, we'll be posting the results for each of Major League Baseball's regular season awards, as voted upon by the SB Nation baseball bloggers. Today's announcement is for the 2009 Manager of the Year balloting.
Each SB Nation blog was given two ballots to fill out, voting for awards in the particular league their team belongs to. Those with only one primary writer, such as BYB, were allowed to invite another team-specific blogger to submit the other ballot. Voting with me for the American League awards was Kurt Mensching from Mack Avenue Tigers.
You can see how each of the SB Nation baseball bloggers voted at their respective sites, as we'll all be sharing our ballots. The remaining SBN Baseball Awards will be announced in succession throughout the week. Rookie of the Year winners will be posted tomorrow, with Cy Young winners to follow on Wednesday, and we'll conclude with the winners of the Most Valuable Player awards on Thursday.
Here are the 2009 vote totals for American League Manager of the Year:
| 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 |
On my ballot, Don Wakamatsu got the first-place vote, with Mike Scioscia second, and Jim Leyland third. Scioscia deserved strong consideration, given all that his team had to go through this year, but ultimately, I felt no other manager got better results from a less talented roster (though they had great talent on defense) than Wakamatsu did. And I'm not sure anyone had to deal with more underperformers (especially in his lineup) than Leyland.
How would you have voted?
The National League ballot is after the jump:
| 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 |
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thank goodness for google chat archives!
I went with Mike Scioscia first, Joe Girardi second and Don Wakamatsu third.
I felt like you had to give Girardi some runner-up consideration for winning six more games than anyone else, and for the way the team went 87-42 from mid-May until the end of the year. He might have a lot more tools on the field than most managers, but he still has a tough off-the-field job of keeping a bunch of overpaid egos happy in the clubhouse. Today I’d probably vote for Gardenhire, but that was my thinking at that time.
by MackAveKurt on Nov 9, 2009 12:13 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
seriously
Someone voted for Trey Hillman?
http://www.fromthecopa.blogspot.com
by rock n rye on Nov 9, 2009 12:23 PM EST via mobile reply actions 0 recs
We’re trying to find out who cast that vote. It wasn’t Royals Review.
by Ian Casselberry on Nov 9, 2009 1:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
When are all the awards actually awarded?
by jman077 on Nov 9, 2009 12:25 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I believe those get announced next week.
by Ian Casselberry on Nov 9, 2009 1:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Tom Brookens
Is the New first base coach~
by Justin Osborn on Nov 9, 2009 12:51 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I think I agree with you, Ian, on the AL list.
Though Gardenhire’s team had an impressive run (sigh), I don’t think it took a lot of managing. He had some damn fine players.
I really support the first place finish of Tracy in the NL, but I would go with Gonzalez 2nd and Bobby Cox 3rd. I think they all took their teams farther than anyone expected, and that took some talent as a manager.
by NCDee on Nov 9, 2009 2:00 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Also
Am I the only one that thinks Gardy is a poor tactical manager?
President, Vice President and Secretary of the Casey Crosby Fanclub.
by demondeaconsbaseball on Nov 9, 2009 4:22 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Too Bad.
Wakamatsu was by far the best AL manager this year. Honestly, besides a few true talents, he was working with a bunch of unknown commodities and inconsistent play.
by baum on Nov 10, 2009 8:28 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
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