10 Best Managers in MLB

[Gerk]

From Jon Heyman of SI

Discuss

. La Russa, Cardinals: We can't ever forget he won a World Series in 2006 with a team that was generally considered the eighth-best of eight in the playoffs. But even better, he and pitching coach Dave Duncan consistently have gotten the most out of their roster ever since. "He did his best job the last two years," one competing GM said. The Cardinals consistently play to win, and they consistently outplay their talent. La Russa might not win personality or popularity contests, but you can't argue with the results. It'll be interesting to see if he stays in one of the greatest jobs in sports beyond this season, because his contract's up again after the year and he doesn't appear as close to new GM John Mozeliak as he was to the deposed Walt Jocketty, now the Reds' GM.
2. Scioscia, Angels: He's kept his disheartened team focused on the field after the worst-imaginable scenario, the tragic death of promising pitcher Nick Adenhart, one of three victims hit by a drunk driver hours after Adenhart threw six shutout innings in his season debut. The team easily could have quit after that, or after the injuries to John Lackey, Ervin Santana and Vlad Guerrero. But Scioscia has made sure the Angels continue to give their best effort. The Angels are only two games back in the division race and Lackey and Santana are expected to return within two weeks. No one plays a more exciting brand of baseball than the Angels under Scioscia, a true leader. He just signed a 10-year contract, with the last three years voidable at his option. I don't know the price and can still say it's a good deal for the Angels.
3. Terry Francona, Red Sox: He knows how to treat people, even folks like Manny Ramirez, who may be a little bit whacky. Players said much of Man-Ram's wackiness in Boston never even made the papers, and that's probably to Francona's credit. He's also not bad with strategy, a fact that seems to be overlooked.
4. Joe Torre, Dodgers: Sure, I thought his time was up with the Yankees. And I've heard the claims that he's lucked into yet another great situation with the Dodgers. But his teams just keep winning, and you can't argue with that kind of success. On Tuesday night, they made it 12 straight home wins to start the year, tying the record of Ty Cobb's 1911 Tigers. The Yankee Years, the best-selling book written with Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci, has not adversely affected the Dodgers one iota, as Torre has this very young team playing hard and staying focused. Matt Kemp, for one, appears to be growing up before our eyes.
5. Ron Gardenhire, Twins: If La Russa gets the most out of seemingly average teams in the National League, Gardenhire has mastered that same trick in the AL -- the tougher league. Gardenhire has continued the tradition of Twins teams playing all-out all the time, which started with underrated skipper Tom Kelly. Gardenhire's overlooked on these lists all the time.
6. Cito Gaston, Blue Jays: It's really a shame the 65-year-old Gaston was out of the game for a ridiculous 11 years. It could have been because Gaston doesn't exactly light a room up with his personality, though closet racism on the part of some can't be ruled out as a cause. Whatever the reason, it was baseball's loss. It seems the Jays always play best when he's their manager.
7. Ozzie Guillen, White Sox: There's really no good reason not to love Ozzie besides occasional political incorrectness. Sure, he's goofy. But don't let that fool you. He's smart. We can't forget he ran the table with a very good but not great team in 2005.
8. Charlie Manuel, Phillies: He wasn't afraid to take on his biggest stars when necessary last year, and that was no small thing on the way to the Phillies' first World Series title in 28 seasons. This year he's keeping a team together with a pitching staff that seemingly allows two or three homers every game.
9. Joe Maddon, Rays: Like Torre, he always seems to know the right thing to say. And the right way to say it. And like Scioscia, a young mentor of his, he has his team playing a winning style of baseball. He performed a miracle last year by calling a 27-game improvement, and then pulling it off with room to spare in a historic 31-game improvement (66 wins to 97). He's running into tough going now, though, trying to get his team to duplicate that magic.
10. Lou Piniella, Cubs: One of the two most entertaining managers in the game (sharing honors with cross-town colleague Guillen). But that bad defeat in the division series to Torre's Dodgers is hard to ignore, so he's slipped a few spots. Piniella won with the 1990 Reds, which was certainly a very neat trick, but he's struggled in the playoffs since and wasted time in hometown Tampa.

[canadiens11]

Cito!
Jays are now 71-47 .602 since he took over midway last season.

[canadiens11]

Scioscia, Francona and Gardenhire are all great.

[PHILLYBIRDS20]

#1,2,3,10 all extremely overrated Francona maybe the most. Lou has never won a thing, LARUSSA dont get me started on that guy and Sciosa being 1 in his division is like being the tallest midget in circus. Would move GARDENHIRE up and Cito up

[belmont kid]

joe maddon gets my vote for #1

[Seanie Mac]

bobby cox is and its really not even close

[BigdaddyQH]

The problem with Cox is his failures in the post season, when he had tons of talent. I think that is what is holding him back. But he is a very good manager.

[PigSkinTerror13]

Definately switch out Cox for Pinella... 0-6 in the playoffs the last two years does make you a top-10 manager.

[PHILLYBIRDS20]

AGREE I forgot about Bobby Cox also

[Seanie Mac]

i always thought cox was a dick until gammons said hes the best coach ever to play for.

he looks like a mean old dude, but apparently hes a really nice guy who really loves his players. chipper jones said he would take a bullet for him.

what failures? he won what 13 straight divisions, an unbreakable record? he has a WS. do you know how hard it is to win in baseball, harder then any other sport. 162 games, 1 player gets injured and they miss 15 games.

i respect cox alot.

[uva3021]

maddon higher, cox is good, a lot of good managers nowadays, kc and seattle both have solid managers

[RanPicks]

This IMO is very hared to quantify, but I believe Gardenhire, Gaston and Cox are under-rated.

[RanPicks]

Originally Posted by uva3021

maddon higher, cox is good, a lot of good managers nowadays, kc and seattle both have solid managers

I think Wakamatsu (Sea) and Hillman (KC) are going to be in the conversation soon

[RanPicks]

and please, someone tell Ron Washington to get a damn haircut - quit lookin like a 70 yr old crack head!?!

He looks like HE should be coaching the nappy headed hoes (Imus)...

[Seanie Mac]

wakamatsu is Seattle coach....