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AL East Positional Rankings – Manager

buck showalter staring off into distance with hat and sunglasses on
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In the conclusion of our positional rankings, we here at Eutaw Street Report take a look at the managers in the AL East. For some teams, the talent on the field is enough to make the manager’s job easy, while for others, the manager is the driving force that takes that team from good, to great.

AL East Positional Rankings:

Catcher
First Base
Second Base
Third Base
Shortstop
Left Field
Centerfield
Right Field
Designated Hitter
Bullpens
Starting Rotations

Perhaps two of the best managers in all of baseball reside in the AL East. But who are they? Who are the best, and worst, managers in the division? Well, since you asked…

 

Managers

1. Buck Showalter – Baltimore Orioles

Career Record: 1429-1315-1 (.521)

Orioles Record: 547-482 (.532)

When Buck took the helm for the Baltimore Orioles in 2010, he was given the unenviable task of turning around a once-proud franchise that was in the midst of what would ultimately become 14-straight losing seasons. And though the three-time Manager of the Year only managed 57 games for Baltimore that season, they had the best record in the league over that time span, going 34-23 to end the year, giving Orioles fans a glimpse of what was soon to follow in Birdland.

Though 2011 was a hiccup (the team went 69-93 and finished in last place), the Orioles have never again looked back. Under the tutelage of Showalter, the Orioles have won more games than any team in the American League since 2012, never posting a losing season and making the playoffs three times in those five years, including their 96-win 2014 season that earned them their first division crown since 1997.

What Showalter has done in Baltimore is nothing short of a miracle. There is not a better manager in the game at maneuvering a bullpen, putting a player in the best position to succeed (see Nate McLouth, Zach Britton, Chris Tillman and others), and getting the most out of every single one of his players. Showalter is simply a manager that men want to play for.

In the beginning of this post, we talked about managers who were the difference in taking a good team and making them great. That is 100% the case with Buck Showalter. Buck is the reason that PECOTA and FanGraphs are wrong every single year when they pick the Orioles at or near the bottom of the season. Nobody can seem to understand how the Orioles, with a bottom-feeding rotation and boom-or-bust offense, continue to win year-in and year-out.

Some call it smoke and mirrors. In Baltimore, they call it Buck Showalter.

2. Joe Girardi – New York Yankees

Career Record: 897-723 (.554)

Yankees Record: 819-639 (.562)

They say that catchers make the best managers, and in Joe Girardi’s case, that rule holds true. Girardi’s managerial career got its start with the Florida Marlins in 2006, and though Girardi managed just one season for the Marlins, he left a lasting impression, taking a team whose average age was just over 25 and keeping them relevant well into September. Girardi earned National League Manager of the Year honors in his lone season in Florida in what is ironically the only losing season of his career.

Since taking over for the Yankees in 2008, Girardi has never posted a losing season, winning at least 84 games in each one of his nine years at the helm. 2009 was his pièce de résistance as he led the Yankees to 103 wins and their first World Championship since 2000. Granted, that team had a payroll of more than $200M, but it’s his work over the last four years that warrant his high ranking on this list. He has taken teams that had no business breaking even, and kept them in the thick of the playoff race year after year. For example:

In 2013, the Yankees batted .242 as team and scored just 650 runs. They had a run differential of -21. They won 85 games.

In 2014, the offense was worse, scoring 633 runs, though the team average improved to .245. They had a run differential of -31. They won 84 games.

In 2015, not one starter made 30 starts, and of the five starters that pitched 94 or more innings, only one (Masahiro Tanaka at 3.51) had an ERA below 4.20. They won 87 games.

And in 2016, they had a -22-run differential, traded away their best hitter (Carlos Beltran) and two of the game’s best pitchers (Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman), and ranked 12th in the AL in runs scored. They won 84 games.

Only one of those teams, according the Pythagorean Theorem of Baseball, should have been above .500. But that theorem doesn’t account for managers, and clearly, Girardi is one of the best.

3. John Farrell – Boston Red Sox

Career Record: 493-479 (.507)

Red Sox Record: 339-309 (.523)

Let’s be honest–Dave Trembley could win with this Red Sox roster as it’s currently constructed. Not to throw shade at Dave, he just wasn’t a very good manager. Having said that, John Farrell has won a World Series and two division titles in his Red Sox managerial career, and there is something to be said for that.

In his first season in Boston, Farrell had the job of taking a 69-win team from the season before, a team that traded away the likes of Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, and Kevin Youkilis, and making them relevant. That team would win 97 games, a division title, and the World Series.

Still, stability has been fleeting in Boston, as sandwiched in between those two division titles were two more last-place finishes. But Boston would appear to be the team to beat in the division, if not the American League, and John Farrell is the man in charge. As long as he and the Red Sox keep winning, it will be hard to rank him lower on this list.

4. Kevin Cash – Tampa Bay Rays

Career Record: 148-176 (.420)

Rays Record: 148-176 (.420)

Kevin Cash really deserves an “incomplete” for his managerial career to this point. He has only been on the job for two seasons and has never really been afforded the talent to make a serious run at the division, let alone the playoffs.

Amazingly enough, Cash took a 2015 Rays team that ranked 14th out of 15 teams in runs scored, and led them to 80 wins and a positive run differential, even if it was only +2. In 2016, he wasn’t so lucky, as a slew of injuries and ineffectiveness in his rotation allowed the team just 69 wins, even though they ranked fourth with 216 home runs.

For Cash, the sample size just isn’t big enough to warrant a higher ranking. But if the Rays pitchers return to form in 2017–and all signs are pointing in that direction–and Cash can somehow turn that into a winning season, then he will surely rank higher on this list next time, especially considering how bad the Rays look on paper.

5. John Gibbons – Toronto Blue Jays

Career Record: 644-614 (.512)

Blue Jays Record: 644-614 (.512)

John Gibbons might be the worst manager with a winning record in baseball. Nevermind the mind-numbing umpire challenges he asks for on a nightly basis, or the energy that he exudes while making a mound visit (think slug in a salt field in mid-July). The fact that the Toronto Blue Jays haven’t run away with the East, or the American League for that matter, over the last two years is absolutely absurd.

This is a team that has ranked in the top 5 in runs, home runs, AND team ERA each of the last two seasons, yet they have nothing but two ALCS series losses to show for it.

Don’t get me wrong, it is an impressive feat to make it to the LCS, let alone two years in a row. But give Buck Showalter or Joe Girardi the talent that John Gibbons has been afforded, and they are at least managing in the World Series, if not winning the whole damn thing.

It has become apparent in Gibbons recent tenure with Toronto (he also managed the club from 2004-08) that the inmates run the asylum, and Gibbons is nothing more than a stooge at a podium.

That does it for our managerial rankings, and thus concludes the positional rankings series. As always, this list is just one man’s opinion and is up for respectful debate. Stay tuned as I use these rankings to construct my 2017 AL East preview and predictions, and also keep an eye out for my MLB preview and predictions, both of which will be out just in time for Opening Day.

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