Comments on: The McCloskey Awards

By: Owen

Owen — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:44:05 +0000

I would give the NL award to Jerry Manuel, who took a team that was supposed to be at least respectable and made them god-awful to watch. I think Nyjer Morgan turned the Nats around more than Riggleman.

By: Steve Buffum

Steve Buffum — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:48:31 +0000

#29:> The problem is the 2nd best power hitter on the Tigers (Curtis Granderson, 30 HR) was batting behind them since he was the leadoff hitter. Granderson had a .327 OBP with 30HR and 141 strikeouts. Why was he leading off again?

I agree! I mean … wait, I thought you were talking about Grady Sizemore.

The better question is why Leyland let Granderson bat against a left-handed pitcher.

By: Eric Walker

Eric Walker — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:46:42 +0000

Good grief–no consideration for Bruce Bochy? Sure, the team finished over .500, but look at the pitching staff he was given. I won’t even begin to tally his strange behaviors–check any Giants forum.

By: JohnR

JohnR — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:03:26 +0000

Another Nats ST holder here. Manny was bad. I like him a lot, and I think he will be good with a more veteran team, but his motto of “preach and teach” fell on deaf ears and he needed to do something drastic rather than expect them to listen. The first year, he benched people for not hustling. By the end, no one could do any wrong. That was a problem.

Trust me, Bowden did him no favors by putting 5-6 left fielders/DHs in a NL lineup, fielding a defense up the middle that was atrocious at its best, and having 5-8 #5 starters in the rotation/bullpen. But Riggleman at least got their attention and they played better.

I like what Rizzo has started, and I agree, they might be OK in a couple of years.

By: Bryz

Bryz — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:15:12 +0000

There is no way that Jerry Manuel should be considered. The Mets were hurt by injuries all season long, so how is that his fault by poorly managing the team?

Yes, Jim Leyland made some bad choices, but the Tigers were in first place for almost the entire season.

I completely agree with Joe’s decisions. It’s hard to have been a worse manager than Hillman.

By: KC Oracle

KC Oracle — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:26:31 +0000

Onthemark is on the mark about Hillman combining arrogance and condescension. It is amazing to listen to him cockily explain his various strange moves. He always has some dumb explanation, yet appears confident that he is exactly right. He also does not hardly move his lips when the talks. Looks very weird when he has his huge mustache.

Why would Moore interview him and decide that’s the guy to be my manager?

Normally, I think managers make little difference. Hillman might be an exception, but even if he isn’t, hehas lost the town and needs to be replaced. I always thought a smart GM would recognize when the Royals were about to be good (or at least better), and make George Brett manager. It would be a great story and I think it is inevitable that he someday manages the Royals.

By: RedRobot8

RedRobot8 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:51:17 +0000

Joe, your Manny Acta selection is embarrassing. Acta is definitely in the top half of baseball managers, and as a Mets fan I was praying that Omar would fire Manuel and jump on Acta. You really need to take a closer look at Acta himself rather than just using the Nats’ record as a crutch. This was a bad team that everyone knew was going to be bad.

For what it’s worth, my finalists for this award would be:
[1] Jerry Manuel, NYN
[2] Jerry Manuel, NYN
[3] Cecil Cooper, HOU

Yeah, Jerry did that little with that much.

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:29:27 +0000

Nationals season ticket holder here. Manny Acta was terrible. He was severely hamstrung by the EPIC FAIL of Jim Bowden’s reign of error, but even that can’t explain the awfulness of the Nats in the first half. The Nats aren’t that bad, and are going to be an exciting team to watch, probably in 2011, once they clear out the rest of the Bowden terribleness.

By: Mark Daniel

Mark Daniel — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:45:55 +0000

Jim Leyland could be a winner here. First, he had a terrible bottom of the order – Gerald Laird and Adam Everett. Their OPS+ for the year were 64 and 59 respectively. That’s fine in and of itself. The problem is the 2nd best power hitter on the Tigers (Curtis Granderson, 30 HR) was batting behind them since he was the leadoff hitter. Granderson had a .327 OBP with 30HR and 141 strikeouts. Why was he leading off again? He was your 2nd best power hitter and had poor on base skills. He should have been batting behind Magglio and Miguel Cabrera (the two highest OBP guys on the team). But he continually batted 1st all year long despite the fact that the Tigers weren’t really a power-hitting team. Magglio, meanwhile, had no power at all (9 HRs), but he was run out there in the 3rd spot in the order for much of the season. He should have been batting in front of Cabrera and Granderson because his .376 OBP was 2nd best on the team. Also, Brandon Inge hit 21 HR in the 1st half, but then was putrid in the 2nd half (.186/.260/.281) in 292 PA. This didn’t stop Leyland from running him out there every game. The only thing Leyland did was move him down to 7th in the batting order. That meant the 2nd half OPS+ values for the 7-8-9 hitters in the Tigers order were 45, 48 and 43, respectively. It wouldn’t be as huge a problem if these guys weren’t also the table-setters for Granderson. Did I mention that Granderson had a .327 OBP and 30 HR and was batting leadoff? Combined with the poor performances of the Tigers mid-season pickups (Aubrey Huff and Jarron Washburn) is it any surprise they lost the division?

By: onthemark

onthemark — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:47:17 +0000

Not sure why brilliant writer Joe feels bad about awarding the inaugural McCloskey award to Trey Hillman. I mean seriously, talk about your obvious choice!

Much like how we hometown fans can take pride in the Cy Young award going to Zack, and deservedly so, so must we embrace the fact that in the roster of Major League managers, there are not many contenders who can put up not just the stats of Trey, but combine that with both arrogance and condescension. Trust. The. Process!