2020 Managers of the Year

Before getting into the Managers of the Year, I've gotta address Boston's decision to re-hire Alex Cora.  Cora was, of course, fired in January after he received a one-year suspension for his role in the Astros' cheating scandal.  He was out of a job for a grand total of 10 months.  I'm sorry, but that's just ridiculous!  The Red Sox are basically saying that they have no problem with what Cora did.  I won't say they condone it, but they clearly don't care as much as they should.  And they're pretty much admitting that they only "fired" him to save face after he was suspended.  They clearly never wanted to.

Yes, A.J. Hinch was immediately scooped up by the Tigers, but what Cora did is infinitely worse.  Hinch deserved his punishment.  As the manager, he was ultimately responsible for the scheme.  But Cora didn't just participate in it...it was his idea!  Sorry, but that deserves more than a 60-game suspension and getting your old job back as soon as it's over.  Much like the players involved, Cora was barely punished for his role.

I could go on and on about that, but instead I'll move on to a happier subject--the Managers of the Year.  They said two things about the Manager of the Year on the nomination show that definitely ring true.  It generally goes to the manager of a team that most exceeded expectations, so it's basically the writers saying it was the them they were most wrong about.  And, because of that, managers whose teams are already good are often overlooked.  That's especially true this year.  You'll notice Dave Roberts isn't a finalist, even though the Dodgers went an absurd 43-17!

That's not to say that the six finalists for the award aren't deserving, though.  In fact, I'd argue that this season might've been the hardest job that any of these managers have had to do.  Everything they had to deal with just to play, then having every game magnified in a season that was one-third the length.  Yes, 16 teams made the playoffs instead of 10, but that doesn't mean getting there was easy.  Not even close.  Which is why there are easily five or six names in each league who could've been finalists.

In the American League, the top three managers did stand out, so I'll start there.  And of the three, I'll start with the Blue Jays.  They didn't play a single home game all year.  They had a young core that was considered to be at least a year or two away.  Yet Charlie Montoyo guided his team to the postseason.  Would they have gotten there if they didn't expand the field?  Probably not.  But the fact that they did really does speak to the job he did this season.

The White Sox, meanwhile, were the team nobody wanted to play.  Their rebuilding process came to fruition in 2020, as they contended for the top seed in the American League before fading down the stretch.  Rick Renteria guided Chicago through the rebuild and was poised to reap the rewards.  Except he won't.  He could very well end up winning Manager of the Year despite being fired to make way for Hall of Famer Tony La Russa.

However, the choice for AL Manager of the Year is clear.  Kevin Cash has never won the award...until this year.  For all the unorthodox things he's done (successfully) with the Rays, this is the year it all came together.  They went 40-20 and won their first AL East title in 10 years en route to the pennant.  They did this with their "stable of guys" and a rotating cast of anonymous position players.  Yet it all worked!

Over in the National League, there are two rookie finalists--David Ross of the Cubs and the Padres' Jayce Tingler.  Ross was in his first year as a manager at any level.  And he was managing a lot of guys who were his teammates just a few years ago.  Yet the Cubs responded.  They had a terrible bullpen and got terrible years from their best players.  And they managed to win the NL Central anyway.

Like the White Sox, the Padres were considered that on-the-verge team who nobody was gonna want to play.  Everybody knew it was coming, but I'm not sure they expected it to be this year.  Tingler took over a team that went 70-92 last season and led it to the playoffs for the first time in 14 years.  Beyond that, the young, exciting Padres finished with the second-best record in the National League--behind only the Dodgers--and look poised to challenge LA in the NL West for years to come.

Three other managers belong in this conversation, as well, starting with last year's winner, the Cardinals' Mike Shildt.  St. Louis went two weeks without playing and had a ton of make-up doubleheaders in September.  Yet they still remained in the playoff hunt.  They still had two games left on the final day of the season, but avoided having to play that doubleheader in Detroit by winning their last game and clinching the No. 5 seed.

And let's give the two NLCS managers their due credit.  Yes, the Dodgers went 43-17.  Yes, they were already the best team and added Mookie Betts.  But from David Price opting out of the season to Kenley Jansen's struggles it wasn't all as easy as the World Series champions made it look.  And, their .717 winning percentage translates to a 114-win pace over 162 games.  Had they played a full season and done that, Dave Roberts would be the runaway NL Manager of the Year.

Then there's 2018 NL Manager of the Year Brian Snitker.  The Braves' entire projected starting rotation (from both Spring Training and Summer Camp) didn't end the season in the rotation.  They used 14 different starters in 60 games!  And they still won the NL East going away!  And, even though it doesn't count for Manager of the Year, it's worth noting that this once-makeshift pitching staff had four shutouts in its first five playoff games.

However, while those five managers all did admirable jobs, the choice for NL Manager of the Year is clear.  Don Mattingly should and will win after what he was able to accomplish in Miami.  The Marlins were the "worst" team in a loaded NL East.  The Marlins had a COVID outbreak a week into the season.  The Marlins spent a week quarantined in a Philadelphia hotel.  The Marlins used 61 players, including 18 rookies who made their Major League debuts.  Mattingly didn't even know some of their names!  None of it mattered.  He led them to a completely unexpected playoff berth--their first in 17 years!

So, while you could make the argument for each of the finalists, both winners should be obvious.  And they both come from the State of Florida.  My AL "vote" would be 1. Cash, 2. Renteria, 3. Montoyo.  In the NL, my top three is different than what the writers had: 1. Mattingly, 2. Tingler, 3. Shildt, with honorable mentions to Snitker (4), Roberts (5) and Ross (6).