DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Wedge Named AL Manager of the Year

NEW YORK (TICKER) -- Eric Wedge, who guided the Cleveland Indians to ther first division title in six years, was named American League Manager of the Year on Wednesday.

It was the second major award won by a member of the Indians in as many days, as C.C. Sabathia captured the American League Cy Young Award on Tuesday.

Wedge was the only manager listed on all 28 ballots cast by two writers in each American League city. He collected 19 first-place votes and 116 points - based on a five-three-one tabulation system - to easily win the award.


Mike Scioscia of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim finished a distant second with 62 points. Scioscia received four first-place votes.

Only four managers received votes. Former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, now the Los Angeles Dodgers' skipper, got the other five first-place votes and finished third. Terry Francona, who guided the Boston Red Sox to their second World Series title in four years, was fourth.

Wedge, the only manager named on every ballot, guided the Indians to a 96-66 record, winning the Central Division crown by eight games over the Detroit Tigers. It was an 18-game turnaround from 2006, when Cleveland finished in fourth place with a 78-84 record.

The Indians, who have not won a championship since 1948, fell one game short of the World Series.

They beat the New York Yankees in the division series, but squandered a three games to one lead to the Red Sox in the AL championship series.

In five seasons as Indians' manager, Wedge owns a career mark of 415-395.

Two years ago, he finished runner-up to Chicago's Ozzie Guillen in the Manager of the Year voting. The Indians were eliminated on the final day of the season after losing six of their last seven games.

At 39 years, 10 months of age, Wedge is the third youngest manager to win the award. Only Buck Showalter (1994) and Tony La Russa (1983) were younger when they won.

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Congrats to Wedge. I have been a critic and have been humbled (a bit).

I still (and will) get a bit aggrivated by some things he does, but the regular season record is what it is. Congrats again.

Just saw this, and you beat me to the posting!

Good job Eric!

Congrates....Well Earned.......

Nice job!

Gee and to think for some reason we didn't "To quote several posters from this board" "Fire the Bum"

I believe his knowledge and ability to coach small ball remains in question.

But I never called for his firing. I did suggest that we all wait until the end of the year to pass judgement.

I got to speak with Wedgie personally at one of the Columbus pre-season rallies. He is not one of these arrogant, over-sophisticated, stick-up-his-rear, stuffed shirts. So I was really pulling for him to have a good year.

I'm glad he's the Tribe's manager, and he definitely deserved this award.

Again, like CC's, I would like to see the announcement before the playoffs start though.

Francona made him look like a puppy dog.

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I believe his knowledge and ability to coach small ball remains in question.

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Grrr....

"Small ball" doesn't win as often as playing actual baseball, you know, hitting with runners in scoring position, not giving up outs, etc. I'm not a huge Wedge fan (Still really like Skinner...), but if anything, he overused small ball, especially in the postseason.

Also, tell me exactly what Francona did. Was it starting the $40 million pitcher, or the $100 million pitcher? Or was it not pinch-hitting for the $20 million left fielder? Managing in baseball really isn't as difficult as people make it out to be. There are some managers that really get more out of their players than any others, but most successful managers are a function of extreme spending or extreme luck over their win probability. A manager's biggest job is simply to keep a level head, shelter his team from media overreaction, and not destroy the team by making stupid decisions like overplaying smallball.

Sorry to disturb you,....

Probably our outlook on small ball differs, and that's OK. He played big ball letting Blake hit without trying to advance the runner to second first.

It cost them a chance to tie the game, possibly winning the the game, and thus, the ALCS.

Therefore, what did Francona do,...?? He won.

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Probably our outlook on small ball differs, and that's OK. He played big ball letting Blake hit without trying to advance the runner to second first.

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Based on run probability tables runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs average 1.504 runs. Advancing those runners to 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, lowers the run probability to 1.410. Statistically, you are less likely to score with advancing the runners. There are times, no doubt, down 1 run in the 8th/9th for example, to get the runner over. But, overusing that kills big innings and big innings have a high correlation with wins.

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Therefore, what did Francona do,...?? He won.

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Which, statistically, he should have. He had a higher win expectancy and a much higher payroll to work with. Its the great managers that can overcome that. Wedge is a good manager, not great, but above-average. Its amazing how getting a drastically larger payroll makes a mediocre (to less) manager (.440 winning percentage in Philly) into a great manager (.579 winning percentage in Boston). The same could be said about Torre (.471 winning percentage before NYY, .605 in NYY). It makes great stories about great managers, but there are very few... very, VERY few.

What you presented was all well and good, but was NOT the situation in question. The Tribe already had ONE out with runners at 1st and 3rd, not 1st and 2nd with none. That 's why the DP ended the innning. All I'm saying is, he should have -- at least at a minimum -- attempted to steal second BEFORE allowing Blake to swing at all. OR, suicided the run home.

And you can stick the payroll argument where the sun don't shine; the Tribe trashed the Yankee payroll, and then had the Boston series in the books, and blew it. It had nothing to do with payroll.

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All I'm saying is, he should have -- at least at a minimum -- attempted to steal second BEFORE allowing Blake to swing at all.

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Attempted a steal? That could leave a runner on 3rd with 2 outs. Run probability shrivels if that happens.

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suicided the run home.

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Suicide squeeze? No. Not unless its Grady/Droobz at the plate and Grady/Barfield/Gutierrez on 3rd. It has to be a very good bunt and a very good jump from 3rd. Not with that situation I wouldn't.

The actual solution in that situation is quite simple. For Casey Blake to hit a flyball. That situation wasn't a matter of poor managing, but rather poor execution. With the lack of 3B depth on that roster, there was no real move to be made there (Would Chris Gomez have made you feel better about that?). That was on the player in my book, not the manager. (By the way, I was thinking of the ALDS in my example, not the ALCS game, my bad.)

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And you can stick the payroll argument where the sun don't shine; the Tribe trashed the Yankee payroll, and then had the Boston series in the books, and blew it. It had nothing to do with payroll.

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I disagree. Payroll doesn't buy wins, but it makes them much easier to get. Poor spending (like the Yanks have done and are doing with the Posada and Rivera offers on the table right now) can be more destructive that a lack of spending, IMO. When payroll is properly spent (as was largely done with both Boston and Cleveland), the bigger payroll will typically win. The Tribe was up 3-1 and had a large advantage, yes. But, using win expectancy, Boston was 10 games better than the Tribe. You had to be expecting that the Sox weren't going to roll over. I wanted them to, oh how I wanted them to, but you couldn't expect it to happen. The better team won, albeit in a heartbreaking fashion.

So, you accept what happened. That's fine. I respect your opinion.

Go Wedgie!