10 MLB teams with new managers for the 2020 season
Ten MLB teams have new managers this season, the highest turnover in more than 15 years. How well do you know their accomplishments?
Major League camps open this week with new managers leading a full one-third of the MLB teams. That winter managerial turnover is unmatched since 2003 when there were also 10 new managerial faces.
The ranks of new managers cross league and divisional boundaries, and they also cross profiles. Four are first-timers, but three others have more than 1,000 major league managerial games under their belts.
Two, Luis Rojas with the New York Mets and Jayce Tingler with the San Diego Padres, are still in their 30s. But two others, Dusty Baker with the Houston Astros and Joe Maddon with the Los Angeles Angels, are eligible to draw Social Security.
Aside from those four, the new managers are David Ross with the Chicago Cubs, Ron Roenicke with the Boston Red Sox, Joe Girardi with the Philadelphia Phillies, Derek Shelton with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Gabe Kapler with the San Francisco Giants and Mike Matheny with the Kansas City Royals.
Technically there was an 11th manager hired over the winter. The Mets hired Rojas to replace Carlos Beltran, who they hired to replace Mickey Callaway in November only to fire him when he was implicated in the sign-stealing scandal.
Two of those managers, Maddon and Kapler, managed with different MLB teams in 2019. Maddon managed the Cubs for five seasons until his contract expired and was not renewed. Kapler managed two seasons with the Phillies and was terminated in favor of Girardi.
How well do you know this coterie of new managers – or old managers in new uniforms? Test yourself with this quiz on both their playing and managerial careers.
The quiz consists of a dozen questions, four in each of three topic areas. The areas focus on the managers’ performance as pre-major league players, major league players, and major league managers.
And for the record, the quiz considers only the 10 functioning managers, so “Carlos Beltran” is never a correct answer. Answers are at the bottom of each section.
10 MLB teams with new managers for the 2020 season
Part 1…Non-major league experience
- Question 1: Four of the 10 never played in a major league game. Name the four.
- Question 2: Which of the 10 played part of his career in Japan?
- Question 3: Which of the 10 played the most games as a minor leaguer?
- Question 4: One of the 10 had a minor league season that included 146 RBIs. Who?
Answer 1: Maddon was a catcher during parts of four minor league seasons, all in the Angels system. He never rose above Class A. Between 2000 and 2005, Roja played sporadically in the Orioles, Marlins and Nationals systems. From 1992 to 1993, Shelton was a catcher in the Yankees system. He hit .341 but his career was ended by shoulder surgery. Between 2003 and 2006, Tingler played in the Jays and Rangers systems.
Answer 2: Kapler played part of the 2005 season with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan’s Central League. He hit .153 in 120 plate appearances before signing a free-agent contract with the Red Sox for 2006.
Answer 3: Roenicke may have been a major league journeyman, but he dominated the minors. In addition to 527 major league games, he played 919 games across 12 minor league seasons, 622 of them at AAA. That’s more AAA starts than any of the other new managers played during their entire minor league careers.
Answer 4: Back when he was a hot prospect, Kapler fairly torched Southern League pitchers, Playing for Jacksonville in 1998, he hit .322 with 28 home runs and 146 RBIs. Promoted to Detroit in 1999, he batted .245 with 49 RBIs.
10 MLB teams with new managers for the 2020 season
Major league playing experience
- Question 1: This is a two-part question. Which new manager had the best career WAR as player? Which had the worst career WAR?
- Question 2: Name the three new managers who hit post-season home runs as a player?
- Question 3: Baker, who began his minor league career in 1967, has the longest professional baseball resume among the 10 new managers. Who stands second on the seniority list?
- Question 4: Which of the new managers started the most games at his most commonly used major league position?
Answer 1: Part 1 is easy: With a 37 career WAR, Baker is the runaway leader among the new managers. The answer to part 2 is Matheny, who over his major league career compiled a -0.4 WAR.
Answer 2: With five post-season home runs – two of them on the way to being named MVP of the 1977 NLCS – Baker is the leader. Ross hit three, including a key one in the seventh game of the 2016 World Series. Matheny hit two post-season home runs.
Answer 3: Maddon launched his professional career with Quad Cities in the Angels system in 1976. That was one year before Roenicke made his debut with Clinton in the Midwest League.
Answer 4: The first instinct is probably Baker, or maybe Girardi. Neither is the correct answer. Matheny played 1.285 games at catcher, 38 more than Girardi and 194 more games than Baker started in left field.
10 MLB teams with new managers for the 2020 season
Major League managing experience
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- Question 1: Two of the 10 new managers have won World Series. Name them.
- Question 2: With a minimum of 500 games as a major league manager, which of the 10 has the best career winning percentage?
- Question 3: Counting full seasons only, which of the 10 had the best single-season winning percentage, and in what season?
- Question 4: Counting full seasons only, which of the 10 had the worst single-season winning percentage, and in what season?
Answer 1: Joe Girardi led the Yankees to the 2009 World Series championship over the Philadelphia Phillies. Joe Maddon managed the Cubs to the 2016 World Series win over the Cleveland Indians.
Answer 2: Matheny may have been fired from St. Louis a few years ago, but he still wins this one. His 591-474 career record translates to a .555 winning percentage, ahead of Maddon (.540), Baker (.532) and Roenicke (.508).
Answer 3: Maddon’s .640 percentage (103-58) with the 2016 Cubs edges out Girardi’s .636 (103-59) with the Yankees in 2009 by the margin of one unplayed game.
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Answer 4: Maddon is th4e winner, or loser, here as well. During his 2006 rookie season with the Rays, Maddon suffered through a 61-101 season that equated to a .377 winning percentage. The runner-up is Baker, whose Cubs went 66-96 (.407) in 2006.