AL Manager of the Year Race: Who is Terry Francona's Competition?
Sep 8, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona (17) talks with umpires in the third inning against the Houston Astros at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona is one of the frontrunners to win Manager of the Year in the American League, but he’s got competition for the award. Who are the other contenders to take home the hardware?
As we wrote yesterday here at Wahoo’s on First, Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona has a compelling case in the competition for the American League’s Manager of the Year award. The Indians, who on Monday night clinched their first AL Central Division championship since 2007, have navigated their way through adversity all season long, and Francona has been the steady hand at the wheel.
Cleveland finished 81-80 in 2015, some 13.5 games behind division winner Kansas City, and that was with a healthy Michael Brantley and a pitching staff among the league’s best that stayed far healthier than this season.
That the Indians have won 91 games and clinched the division title despite Brantley’s absence for all but 11 games, the struggles and injuries of catcher Yan Gomes, and the losses of both Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar from the starting rotation is a testament to the culture and attitude that Francona has instilled in the ballclub.
The Tribe isn’t the only team that has experienced a significant turnaround from last season or endured injuries to key players, though, and Francona’s competition to win Manager of the Year is stiff. Across the American League, there are skippers pushing the right buttons with their roster, making critical in-game decisions, and pushing their teams to be successful.
Let’s take a look at who Tito is up against, and why they deserve consideration for the award.
John Farrell – Boston Red Sox
Sep 5, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell (53) looks on before the game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
It’s widely reported that Farrell and Francona are close friends, so it’s hard to imagine that Tito would be upset if he lost out on the award to the Red Sox head man. Farrell was a teammate of Francona’s with Cleveland during their playing days, and later served as pitching coach under him with Boston for four years.
The Red Sox finished 2015 with a 78-84 record, sitting in the cellar of the AL East, 15 games behind first place Toronto. Complicating matters, Farrell was diagnosed with Stage 1 lymphona in August, and did not manage the remainder of the season.
Both Farrell and Boston came back strong in 2016, though, as the club clinched a playoff spot on Monday just as Cleveland did, and currently have the best record in the American League. The BoSox have done so amid the media circus of David Ortiz’s final season, and with a young lineup that has developed faster than many believed it could.
The Red Sox have seen the trio of Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, and Jackie Bradley, Jr. mature into all-stars this season, and have ridden them to the most prolific scoring offense in the league by a wide margin. While Farrell alone is not responsible for their development, he certainly deserves some credit for putting them into a position to succeed.
Boston has been a juggernaut in the AL East for better than a decade now, so perhaps its place atop the division this year shouldn’t be too surprising. But Farrell has taken his team from worst to first, and that makes him arguably the chief contender Francona has for top honors among the league’s managers.
Jeff Banister – Texas Rangers
Sep 19, 2016; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers manager Jeff Banister (28) argues a call with second base umpire Joe West (R) during the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Last season’s Texas ballclub won 88 games and the West Division championship before being knocked out of the playoffs by Toronto in the ALDS, good enough for Banister to be named Manager of the Year, so his inclusion in this list may seem a bit suspect. But perhaps no team, not even Cleveland, has persevered through injuries as well as the Rangers in 2016.
Texas enters play on Tuesday with 92 wins, and has already wrapped up the AL West title. What’s extraordinary about that is how the Rangers have done so given the volume of injuries they have had in their starting rotation. Banister has used 11 different starting pitchers throughout the year, with only ace Cole Hamels and Martin Perez making it through unscathed.
The quartet of Yu Darvish, Colby Lewis, A.J. Griffin, and Derek Holland have all missed significant portions of the season on the disabled list, and Texas ranks third-worst in the AL in team earned run average. Yet the Rangers are just a half a game behind Boston for the best record in the league.
With a lineup full of thunder that includes Adrian Beltre, Rougned Odor, Jonathan Lucroy, Ian Desmond, and Elvis Andrus, among others, Banister’s club is third in the American League in runs scored, but that has translated into a run differential on the season of just +6. Texas has not been utterly dominant, yet has managed to win its division for the fifth time since 2010 and make the playoffs for the sixth time in that span.
Buck Showalter – Baltimore Orioles
Sep 9, 2016; Detroit, MI, USA; Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter (26) in the dugout prior to the game against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Baltimore is currently playing for its postseason life, holding a two-game lead on the AL’s second wild card spot, but just a game back of the Blue Jays for the first one. Showalter has guided a team heavy on offense yet extremely light on pitching to 85 wins and counting.
The Orioles were a .500 club in 2015, going 81-81 and finishing a distant third, 12 games behind Toronto in the AL East. Their turnaround this season has been fueled by an approach reminiscent of former skipper the late Earl Weaver, as they have pummelled opponents with a major league-high 245 home runs entering play on Tuesday.
Showalter has utilized that offensive firepower to offset a pitching staff that ranks 10th in the league in ERA and has posted the third-from-last number of quality starts in 2016. Despite the dominance of closer Zach Britton, who may become one of the rare relievers to take home the Cy Young award, the O’s staff has been mediocre at best.
If Baltimore holds on and makes the playoffs, its offense, led by Manny Machado, Chris Davis, and a resurgent Mark Trumbo, coupled with hitter-friendly Camden Yards, makes the club dangerous. The way Showalter orchestrates his roster, no team will be in a hurry to face them.
Prediction
Aug 23, 2016; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell (53) and first baseman Hanley Ramirez (13) congratulate each other after they beat the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Boston Red Sox defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Wahoo’s on First is a Cleveland Indians community, so naturally we’re biased towards Francona being named Manager of the Year. But all of these candidates are deserving of consideration, and any one of them winning the award would not be surprising.
That being said, Farrell will be difficult to beat. The narrative of his battling through illness, leading the Red Sox from the basement of the AL East to perhaps the best record in the league, and all of the star power his team possesses in one of the largest media markets in the country would appear to be too much for Francona or any of the other contenders to overcome.
And Farrell would be deserving of the award, as he has battled through illness and taken a Boston club that underachieved mightily in 2015 from worst to first, all the while contending with perhaps the most competitive division in all of baseball.
We’ll have to wait until after the World Series to find out who will take home the hardware, and there’s still a whole lot of baseball left to be played. As the final week of the regular season winds down and the postseason picture becomes clearer, pay attention to the men at the helm of the league’s playoff teams. They never receive the credit they deserve when things go right, and take too much of the blame when things don’t, but they’re in that dugout game in, game out, doing all they can for the team.
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