MLB Awards: 2017 American League Manager of the Year
Few jobs involve being second guessed more than being a MLB manager. Which of those skippers had the best performance this season in the American League, and deserve to take home the Manager of the Year award?
Every MLB season, there are teams that surprise, and teams that disappoint. We spend the preseason making predictions, and analyze offseason moves in an attempt to prognosticate the standings at the end of the year. Alas, we more often than not prove that Nostradamus is indeed dead, and completely miss on the standings.
A number of factors can lead to those results. Injuries, inconsistency, and dramatic performance swings all impact those final results. Teams can dramatically change their fortunes as players mature, or if they fill one of two holes in the lineup. Sometimes, it just takes a manor tweak or two for a team to reach its potential.
Whenever a team overachieves, or underachieves, the manager gets the credit or the blame. It is a part of the job description – making those managers some of the most second guessed people in America. Rightly, or wrongly, they are criticized for every move that does not pan out. The wins and losses are all that matter.
Which of these managers deserve the American League Manager of the Year award? Let us look at the top three candidates.
3. A.J. Hinch: Houston Astros
It is easy to look at the Astros lineup and imagine that A.J. Hinch had one of the easier MLB managerial jobs this season. However, Houston did have a dramatic turnaround in performance this season.
After making their way into the postseason in 2015, Houston struggled the following year. An 84-78 record, and a third place finish in the AL West, was not what the franchise had in mind. They made a flurry of moves to shore up the lineup, acquiring Brian McCann, Josh Reddick, and Carlos Beltran in an attempt to inject more power into the lineup.
While those players led to mixed results, the final equation worked out. The Astros lineup was greatly improved, and with better pitching, the team never looked back. They ended the season with a 101-61 record, a 17 game improvement over last season as they returned to the playoffs.
However, Hinch still needed to plug in the right pieces. He turned Marwin Gonzalez into another Ben Zobrist, leading to an All Star appearance. Yuri Gurriel took over at first, and proved to be competent. Jose Altuve had another MVP caliber season, and the Astros young sluggers made dramatic improvements.
After a disappointing 2016 campaign, A.J. Hinch guided the Houston Astros to an impressive 101-61 record. One of the bright young managerial minds in the game, he could be in the Astros dugout for years to come.
2. Terry Francona: Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians came within a game of breaking their own World Series curse last year. They could have used that disappointment as an excuse this season, and for the first few months, that looked to be the case.
After the games on August 1, the Indians were languishing with a 57-48 record, just two games up in the AL Central. They certainly did not look like the team that pushed the Cubs to the brink last year, leading us all to wonder what had gone wrong. And yet, Terry Francona stayed the course, confident that his team would turn their season around.
They did exactly that. Cleveland closed out the season on a 45-15 run, including an amazing 21 game winning streak to set a modern MLB record. The Indians finished the year with a 102-60 record, taking the top seed in the AL, just two months after there were questions as to whether or not they would return to the postseason.
Perhaps this is the year that curse ends. Francona had come within a game of ending the Indians misery last season, and he did end the Curse of the Bambino in Boston. A title with Cleveland would likely be the capstone to a Hall of Fame career. Not bad for a manager who was run out of Boston for Bobby Valentine.
It took some time for the Cleveland Indians to find their stride. Once they did, they never looked back.
1. Paul Molitor: Minnesota Twins
The old axiom is that the great players cannot make great managers, as they cannot teach natural ability. Well, Paul Molitor had a Hall of Fame career, and had an excellent season as the Minnesota Twins manager.
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In 2015, the Twins came close to slipping into the postseason, making them a trendy pick heading into 2016. Instead, everything that could have gone wrong did, as they had a 59-103 record. Given that performance, expectations were low for the Twins heading into this season.
Minnesota had a back and forth season. In July, they looked like a potential contender, and acquired Jaime Garcia to help for the stretch run. Then, after a losing streak, Garcia was traded after making just one start. Closer Brandon Kintzler was traded to the Nationals. Bartolo Colon was brought on board in a desperate attempt to find stability in the rotation. And somehow, it worked.
The Twins ended up finishing as the second Wild Card team, marking the first time in MLB history that a team that lost 100 games made the postseason the following year. They made it despite having only two starters that were better than average, and a run differential that was negative heading into September. The job that Molitor did to coax this ragtag group into the postseason was nothing short of amazing.
Next: Breaking down the NL Rookie of the Year award
Paul Molitor deserves to be the American League Manager of the Year. The Minnesota Twins turnaround may be the best performance of any manager this year.