Hello, everyone! It’s the main event: Manager and Rookie of the Year! Everyone’s FAVORITE! Seriously, interesting choices abound on the four ballots we’ll be considering. More after the jump.
This was actually a really great year for rookies! There weren’t necessarily Acuna–Soto level players like last year, but there was such a huge number of second-tier rookies that I think, to save space, I’m just going to list their name, team, games played, batting slash, and one other little fact (for the pitchers, it’ll be innings, ERA/FIP, strikeouts, and one other little fact). Or, something like that. Anyway, here are some of the candidates, as Doug and I see them (unless noted otherwise, references below to “rookie seasons” are for 250 PA or 100 IP minimums).
AL Rookie
- Yordan Alvarez, HOU – 87 G, .313/.412/.655, 27 HR (second rookie, after Trevor Story, with 25 HR in fewer than 100 games)
- Bo Bichette, TOR – 46 G, .311/.358/.571, 144 OPS+ (better than Dad‘s best season)
- Vladimir Guerrero, TOR – 123 G, .272/.339/.433, .089 walk rate (better than Dad‘s career mark)
- Cavan Biggio, TOR – 100 G, .234/.364/.429, 0 GDP (like Dad in ’97) and 0 CS (first 0-0 season of 300+ PA)
- Luis Arraez, MIN – 92 G, .334/.399/.439, .334 BA (led MLB rookies)
- Eloy Jimenez, CHW – 122 G, .267/.315/.513, 31 HR (led AL rookies)
- Brandon Lowe, TBR – 82 G, .270/.336/.514, .850 OPS (AL rookie record for second basemen) and 124 OPS+ (best by AL rookie second baseman since Del Pratt in 1912)
- John Means, BAL – 155.0 IP, 3.60/4.41, 121, winning record (12-11) for the Orioles
- Spencer Turnbull, DET – 148.1 IP, 4.61/3.99, 146, 0.8 HR/9 (3rd in AL, min. 140 IP)
- Zach Plesac, CLE – 115.2 IP, 3.81/4.94, 88, 3.1 BB/9 (better than Uncle‘s career mark)
- If you’re wondering about Mike Tauchman, NYY, 87 G, .277/.361/.504, 1.4 dWAR (most by any Yankee slugging .500 in fewer than 100 games), he is not eligible to receive your vote as MLB has determined that he was no longer a rookie in 2019 (despite only 69 career PA before this season).
NL Rookie
- Mike Soroka, ATL – 174.2 IP, 2.68/3.45, 142, 0.7 HR/9 (led NL)
- Sandy Alcantara, MIA – 197.1 IP, 3.88/4.55, 151, 2 SHO (led MLB)
- Dakota Hudson, STL – 174.2 IP, 3.35/4.93, 136, 16 wins (3rd in NL, led MLB rookies)
- Chris Paddack, SDP – 140.2 IP, 3.33/3.95, 153, 2.0 BB/9 (led MLB rookies)
- Tommy Edman, STL – 92 G, .304/.350/.500, 15 SB (most by Cardinal rookie slugging .500)
- Pete Alonso, NYM – 161 G, .260/.358/.583, 53 HR (rookie and franchise record, and MLB-leading total)
- Keston Hiura, MIL – 84 G, .303/.368/.570, .938 OPS (MLB rookie record for second basemen) and 138 OPS+ (best by rookie second baseman since Jim Viox in 1913)
- Fernando Tatis Jr., SDP – 84 G, .317/.379/.590, 152 OPS+ (better than Dad‘s best season)
- Victor Robles, WSN – 155 G, .255/.326/.419, 28 SB (led MLB rookies)
- Bryan Reynolds, PIT – 134 G, .314/.377/.503, 37 2B (most by NL rookie outfielder since Warren Cromartie in 1977)
- Mike Yastrzemski, SFG – 107 G, .272/.334/.518, 21 HR (SLG better than Grandpa‘s at age 28)
- Kevin Newman, PIT – 130 G, .308/.353/.446, first rookie Pirate shortstop since Arky Vaughan (1932) with qualified .300 BA
- Christian Walker, ARI – 152 G, .259/.348/.476, 29 HR/67 BB, with Pete Alonso, became 19th and 20th rookies with 25 HR and 65 BB; since RoY Award was introduced in 1947, 13 of 16 such rookies (not incl. 2019) finished in top 3 in RoY vote, incl. 9 RoY winners
- As with Tauchman, Giovanny Gallegos (STL – 74.0, 2.31/3.05, 93, 0.811 WHIP) is not considered a rookie by MLB, despite only 31.1 IP before 2019.
AL Manager
- Aaron Boone – More injuries than anyone & no starting pitching… yet still won 103 games.
- Rocco Baldelli – First-year manager gets breakthrough seasons from most of the Twins young’ns for just the second 100-win team in Twins/Senators history
- Kevin Cash – In year of the home run, skippered 96 win season for team with only one 25 HR man (but an AL-leading 15 position players with 50 games)
- Terry Francona – Nearly made playoffs despite below-expectation performances by most players
- AJ Hinch – Third-straight 100+ win season, league-high 107 W’s
- Bob Melvin – On 6/16, his A’s were one game over .500 with only a 5.2% chance of making playoffs, but finished 56-33 for a second straight wildcard berth
NL Manager
- Brian Snitker – Braves get there a year early; predicted to finish in lower half of division, but instead fashioned NL’s 2nd-best record
- Dave Martinez – Harper-less Nationals go 69-36 over final 105 games to hold off Mets and Phils, and make playoffs
- Torey Lovullo – D’Backs punt on season by trading Greinke, yet still win 85
- Dave Roberts – 106 Wins, 4th-straight NL West crown
- David Bell – I’m not saying the Reds were good… but they went 75-87, which isn’t half bad
- Mickey Callaway – I didn’t see the Mets competing for the playoffs. Did you?
- Craig Counsell – Third-straight winning season for third time in team history (1978-83, 1987-89 being the others). Brewers outscored opponents by 3 runs yet finished 16 games over .500 (very lucky, or perhaps it was shrewd management?)
Rules: Vote by making a comment below and numbering your choices with 1 being the MOST preferred candidate, and 3 being your LEAST preferred candidate of your three choices. Your ballots will be EXACTLY three places for each award, just as the BBWAA does. You must vote for three players and/or managers for each award. Scoring will be 5-3-1, just as the BBWAA does. You are not required to vote for all awards; only vote for the ones you would like to. You may make vote changes, if the discussion so moves you. If you change your vote, please do so in a new comment, not as a reply to your original comment (it’s a lot easier to find new comments than replies to old ones). Please don’t vote strategically; we’re trying to get the best result, not to manipulate the vote totals based on what others have done. Voting will remain open about one week. When players are tied, tiebreakers go as follows: first tiebreaker is number of ballots on which players were named; second tiebreaker is highest placement on a ballot; third tiebreaker is the first player to be named (as this usually only happens when a bunch of players are tied for last). Results will be posted when balloting closes.
AL Rookie
1. Jordan Alvarez
2. Bo Bichette
3. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
NL Rookie
1. Pete Alonso (topping last years unanimous AL RoY Judge in HR….)
2. Fernando Tatis Jr.
3. Mike Soroka
AL Manager
1. Aaron Boone
2. Rocco Baldelli
3. AJ Hinch
NL Manager
1. Dave Martinez
2. Dave Roberts
3. Brian Snitker
Spencer Turnbull has quite the stat line, with a 3-17 record in 30 starts, but 104 ERA+ and 2.3 WAR. His .150 W-L% is the third lowest qualified mark in any 2 WAR season. Turnbull, Alcantara and fellow rookie Merrill Kelly all recorded 30 starts and led their league in losses, a feat accomplished before this season by only 15 rookies since 1901. The 2019 season is the first with more than one such rookie, and the first time any rookie has done so since Ken Hill in 1989.
Other rookie notes include:
– Bo Bichette established a searchable MLB record with a double in 9 consecutive games
– Cavan Biggio became the 19th searchable player to hit for the cycle during his first 100 career games
– Luis Arraez’s .334 BA is the highest by a Twin over the first 92 games of a career, since Tony Oliva batted .338 in 1962-64
– Eloy Jimenez is just the second player (after Ryan Braun) with a rookie season of 30+ HR and fewer walks
– Fernando Tatis is the first rookie shortstop to reach 20 HR in fewer than 400 PA. He’s also the youngest rookie shortstop with a 20 HR season.
– Mike Yastrzemski’s 21 HR are the most by a Giant rookie since Dave Kingman launched 29 in 1972
– Bryan Reynolds and Kevin Newman are the first rookie teammates to each post a qualified ,300 BA since Jim Rice and Fred Lynn on the 1975 Red Sox
– Keston Hiura’s .570 SLG and .938 OPS over his first 84 career games are second only to Ryan Braun (.641/1.017) among Brewers
– Chris Paddack recorded 5+ IP starts with 5 or more strikeouts in 8 of his first 10 career games, tied with Andy Benes for the most by a Padre. Only 6 pitchers have had more such games to start a career.
Just a quick Trout stat….
WAR Leaders through age 27:
72.5 … Mike Trout
69.0 … Cobb
68.1 … Mantle
63.7 … Hornsby
63.6 … Alex Rod
62.6 … Foxx
59.2 … Griffey
59.1 … Ott
56.0 … Aaron
55.7 … Speaker
55.0 … Collins
54.9 … Pujols
53.7 … Mathews
53.2 … Arky
51.0 … Mays
50.9 … Frank Rob
50.5 … Rickey
50.3 … Bonds
50.3 … Ruth
49.9 … Bench
Voom,
……and here are the bumbs that make up the oWAR list thru age 27
1 Mike Trout 71.5
2 Ty Cobb 67.8
3 Mickey Mantle 66.1
4 Alex Rodriguez 61.9
5 Rogers Hornsby 60.1
6 Jimmie Foxx 59.6
7 Mel Ott 54.7
8 Eddie Mathews 53.5
9 Arky Vaughan 51.6
10 Ken Griffey Jr. 51.0
11 Hank Aaron 50.4
Adding in the total oWAR of their teams.
1. Mike Trout…………71.5/218.3 (32.8%)
2. Ty Cobb……………..67.8/259.5 (26.1%)
3. Mickey Mantle……66.1/259.4 (25.5%)
4. Alex Rodriguez…..61.9/264.8 (23.4%)
5. Rogers Hornsby…60.1/187.7 (32.0%)
6. Jimmie Foxx……….59.6/275.0 (21.7%)
7. Mel Ott………………54.7/236.4 (22.9%)
8. Eddie Mathews….53.5/208.5 (25.7%)
9. Arky Vaughan…….51.6/176.7 (29.2%)
10. Ken Griffey Jr……51.0/201.6 (25.3%)
11. Hank Aaron……..50.4/237.7 (21.2%)
Doug,
I guess it’s same to assume that the difference between Trout/Hornsby and Aaron/Foxx/Ott would be the quality of teammates? With this kind of data, we could possibly re-write and possibly eliminate the “Winner” label from the annals of baseball history 🙁
Quality of teammates and nature of their debuts. Foxx had three seasons (191 PA total) and Hornsby one (61 PA), in which they made a minimal contribution to their team’s WAR total. Others similarly affected include A-Rod (two seasons, 208 PA), Ott (two seasons, 241 PA), Trout (one season, 135 PA) and Cobb (one season, 164 PA).
Doug,
Just noticed this above:
“Christian Walker, ARI – 152 G, .259/.348/.476, 29 HR/67 BB, with Pete Alonso, became 19th and 20th rookies with 25 HR and 65 BB; since RoY Award was introduced in 1947, 13 of 16 such rookies (not incl. 2019) finished in top 3 in RoY vote, incl. 9 RoY winners”
How about Willie Montanez never reached his Phillies’ rookie-record 30 homers nor his debuting 67 BB’s again?
Yep, Montanez was one of those 13, finishing 2nd in NL RoY voting in 1971. He’s one of those unusual players with more WAR in their rookie season (1.9) than in their career (1.7). Here are the 25/65 rookie club.
Davis, Zauchin and Bissonette are all like Montanez, in posting their best season as rookies (will have to wait and see about Judge in that regard). The 34 year-old Easter almost had his best season as a rookie, but WAR likes his 1952 campaign a bit better (after his ML career ended, Easter hit 210 more HR in the minors, aged 38-47).
Walker joins Rosen and Easter in being shut out of the RoY vote. 1950 AL RoY votes went to Walt Dropo (34 HR, 144 RBI, .961 OPS), Whitey Ford (9-1/2.81 but only 112 IP) and Chico Carrasquel (2.7 WAR). I’m guessing that Rosen and Easter may not have been considered rookies at the time, as both had ML service before 1950 (as did Dropo, but only 11 games). The three RoY vote getters and Rosen all received MVP votes.
AL MGR
Baldelli
Boone
Cash
NL MGR
Martinez
Counsell
Snitker
AL ROY
Alvarez
Guerrero
Jimenez
NL ROY
Alonso
Soroka
Tatis
Doug – do you know why Tauchman and Gallegos are not considered rookies by MLB? I’m confused about that. (For the inside-baseball to everyone else on the site, while I wrote this post, the absolutely brilliant Doug edited and fact-checked the whole thing, and thus caught my mistakes; I included Gallegos and Tauchman in the original draft of the post.)
Anyway, here’s my vote:
AL Rookie:
1. Yordan Alvarez – SCARY good with limited playing time. Is this a sign of things to come, or is this just another flash-in-the-pan rookie run like Yasiel Puig, a good player who didn’t live up to it. But the award is for THIS year, not the future. So he gets my vote.
2. Cavan Biggio – I only have room for one of the Baby Jays, and this is the one. It could’ve been any of them, but WOW. This is going to be fun for fans of 90s baseball – reliving all our faves for a second time. We live in an age of reboots in the theater… why not on the diamond, too?
3. John Means – Dude… there’s got to be a way to reward this guy. 121 ERA+ and a winning record for essentially a minor league team.
NL Rookie:
1. Mike Soroka – Soroka was a top-line starter this year. That’s #1 in my book.
2. Pete Alonso – Alonso was fabulous. The biggest difference between him this year and Judge a few years ago is that Soroka was better than anyone in Judge’s class.
3. Fernando Tatis – As an NL fan, I’m legitimately frightened for how good this guy is going to be and how he’s going to tear it up for a few years.
AL Manager:
1. AJ Hinch – How do you prove you’re the best? I’d say winning 100 three seasons in a row is about the best you can do. Here are the managers with three-straight 100-win seasons: Connie Mack, Billy Southworth, Earl Weaver, Bobby Cox, Joe Torre. All in the Hall of Fame. The other is Hinch. Don’t you expect this would be
2. Rocco Baldelli – I don’t even know how to grade this season. I mean, either this guy is SUPER lucky, or he might be the best manager in baseball. I’m hedging here – but it’s reasonable to say that this guy deserves to win.
3. Bob Melvin – The A’s and their second halves… wow. Melvin deserves a tremendous amount of credit, I think. It’s like a new team every year, and yet they’re competing EVERY YEAR.
NL Manager:
1. Brian Snitker – I saw the Braves being great. I just saw it in 2021. All credit unto Snitker for getting them there a couple years earlier.
2. Craig Counsell – Yeah, it’s probably a homer pick. But seriously, the Brewers are NEVER this competitive so many years in a row. He’s a Milwaukee native, too. True story: I talked to him once, while he was still a player. My dad flipped a house in Whitefish Bay, the suburb he’s from (and his family still lives in). The Crew had a night game the night before, and in the early afternoon on an off day, he was pushing around one of his kids in a stroller on a walk. I said “Hi.” He smiled and waved. It’s not a great story, but he’s a nice guy who pushes his kid in a stroller. He’s just like us – only much better at baseball. And there’s this article from ten years ago, which still makes me laugh. I’d encourage you to read it, if you haven’t before – it’s only a paragraph long.
3. Dave Martinez – I might be over-correcting here. I didn’t want to let the World Series loom too large in my considerations, but I also think that losing Bryce Harper and turning into a Wild Card team, irrespective of the results, is worth a spot on my ballot. Again, maybe I’m overcorrecting, given that those final 105 were played at the same rate as the Astros. He’s a great manager.
Here’s the definition from http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/about_mlb/rules_regulations.jsp
Determining rookie status:
A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list).
It would seem that the “45 days on active roster” rule must have been exceeded for both Tauchman and Gallegos.
With his contract, the Padres are probably stuck with Machado, so it must have bruised the pride of the man who had “insisted” that he was now a shortstop to (a) have a raw rookie take that position from him to start the season; and (b) not be moved back to shortstop when said rookie went down for the season with another injury (Machado went .230/.331/.410 from Tatis’ injury to season’s end). By all accounts (at least, the ones I’ve read), Machado is quite temperamental, so doesn’t seem like the Padres’ best strategy for maximizing the huge investment they’ve made in him. Or, maybe I’m full of it, and Manny is fully on board with these moves.
Doug
I’m sure the Phillies would trade Franco and Hoskins for Machado and SOME cash. Say $7-8M annually…..I dunno
Doug, if that’s true, it’s going to be a long and unhappy relationship, because the cost of off-loading him will be huge. What we don’t know is what promises, if any, were made to Machado during the negotiations.
Whoops! I never gave an end-date for this particular vote. I know there’s less enthusiasm about this particular one and we probably want to get on yo the next one. Let’s wrap it up Sunday night, 11:59:59. Thanks!
AL Rookie
1. Alvarez. Just WOW.
2. Means. Stats are solid everywhere you look.
3. Biggio. Saw the Jays a lot. Carries himself like a pro. His BA and K-rate are misleading; was rung up looking repeatedly because of his stubbornness in not offering at pitches just outside the zone. Will start to get those calls as he establishes himself more with umpires. Went on a tear at the end of the season when he started expanding his zone ever so slightly while still remaining disciplined at the plate.
NL Rookie
1. Alonso. Consistent all season (and he played every game but one); had more than two oh-fers in a row only twice. Only real “slumps” were three week spans in May (.164 BA), and to end of the season (.183 BA). But, he hit 6 HR in both of those stretches, right on his HR rate for the season.
2. Soroka. Similar, but even better, numbers than Means. Very efficient, averaging only 3.6 pitches per batter. Had 8 starts of 7+ IP and fewer than 100 pitches; only Ryu and Bumgarner had more, with 9 starts.
3. Tatis. Only concerns are the K’s (32.9% of AB’s) and his defense (.944 fielding isn’t going to cut it at short).
AL Manager
1. Boone. 103 wins with a patchwork roster. Even with some great individual pieces and a lockdown bullpen, that’s impressive.
2. Cash. Does a great job at getting good contributions from everyone on the team, playing to players’ strengths and putting them in situations where they can succeed.
3. Baldelli. Twins won because of home runs, hitting over 100 more than they allowed, and because their starting pitchers stayed healthy, with their top 5 starting 146 games. Still, Baldelli had 4 new regulars to work into the lineup and all performed well. Seemed to pull the right strings.
NL Manager
1. Martinez. Got a veteran team to buy into, in effect, going back to spring training in mid-season. Maximized his best asset in starting pitching to mitigate a glaring weakness in the bullpen, but kept those starters fresh enough to continue performing well in the post. Masterful.
2. Snitker. Doesn’t stifle his young players, channeling their exuberance into winning play.
3. Shildt. Cardinals didn’t look like a division champion on paper. Got exceptional results from a pitching staff of youngsters, and veterans who were supposed to be over the hill.
Nice points, Doug. Particularly interesting to hear from someone who watched Biggio a lot. I looked it up – among qualifiers, Alex Bregman swung least of anyone at pitches outside the zone – 18.8%. Biggio swung at only 17.0%. So the numbers definitely back up Doug’s claim that, not only does Biggio have unusual discipline for a young player – he has great plate discipline for any player!
Also, a plug to anyone following the thread: these races are FASCINATING, as we have a lot more diverging opinions than on the more straightforward NL MVP and AL Cy Young (Well, maybe not the NL Rookie of the Year – that’s not the most exciting race). So I’d love to hear your opinions if you’ve just been lurking!
Biggio is just the 16th rookie since 1901 to post a 16% walk rate in 250 PA, and just the 10th to do so over 400+ PA. In the expansion era, those numbers are just 7 with 250 PA, and 6 with 400 PA.
Was hoping to analyze these races a bit more and make a few comments, but I’m just going to submit a quick ballot instead. I’m walking my daughter down the aisle tomorrow, and it will likely be Monday before I remember to check back here. I appreciated reading the comments of others the past few days, which helped me in thinking about my votes.
AL ROY
1. Alvarez
2. Means
3. Arraez
NL ROY
1. Soroka
2. Alonso
3. Tatis
AL MOY
1. Baldelli
2. Boone
3. Cash
NL MOY
1. Martinez
2. Snitker
3. Counsell
One quick note, too: the Twins topped 100 wins for the second time, falling one win short of the team record of 102 set in 1965.
Scary, Thanks for the note about the Twins. I’ve corrected the post.
Congrats to your daughter. Enjoy the wedding!
Congrats, Dad! Exciting day!
Thanks for the ballot.
Awesome, Scary. Enjoy every minute of it.
AL Rookie
1. Alvarez
2. Arraez
3. Means
NL Rookie
1. Alonso
2. Tatis
3. Soroka
AL Manager
1. Boone
2. Baldelli
3. Hinch
NL Manager
1. Martinez
2. Roberts
3. Snitker
AL Rookie
1. Alvarez
2. Means
3. Guerrero Jr.
NL Rookie
1. Alonso
2. Soroka
3. Tatis
AL Manager
1. Boone (100 win season after crazy amount of injuries)
2. Melvin
3. Baldelli
NL Manager
1. Counsell (would have been easy for the team to crumble after losing a player of Yelich’s caliber; instead they streaked to the playoffs. I’m giving their manager credit for that
2. Snitker (didn’t see the Braves being this good yet – perhaps that is just my underappreciation of their talent, but I think Snitker has something to do with it)
3. Roberts
Results!
As always, I’ll put vote points first, 1st-place votes in parentheses:
AL Rookie of the Year:
1. Yordan Alvarez, 35 (7)
2. John Means, 11
3. Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., 5
4. Cavan Biggio, 4
5. Luis Arraez, 4
6. Bo Bichette, 3
7. Eloy Jimenez, 1
Alvarez was the only player named on all seven ballots – and he was the unanimous winner. We don’t get unanimous winners in this group too often, even considering how small our electorate is. Alvarez was very impressive, and the AL had a lot of good-not-great candidates. No surprise here. Brandon Lowe finished third in the BBWAA voting, and received no votes in our polling. For the record, Biggio tops Arraez by virtue of the “tie-goes-to-the-early-voters” rule. Josh Davis had all three in order.
NL Rookie of the Year:
1. Pete Alonso, 31 (5)
2. Mike Soroka, 21 (2)
3. Fernando Tatis, Jr., 11
Only three players received any votes at all, so in a way, they were all unanimous! It’s not that there wasn’t a good crop in the NL… in fact, these three were just SO strong that there really weren’t any other players worth considering. Alonso was first or second on every ballot, Tatis second or third. Soroka was tricky – twice first, thrice second, twice third. Unsurprisingly, there were quite a few people who nailed it right in order: Paul E, Doug, and Josh Davis. This was also the exact same order as the BBWAA.
AL Manager of the Year:
1. Aaron Boone, 26 (4)
2. Rocco Baldelli, 21 (2)
3. AJ Hinch, 7 (1)
4. Kevin Cash, 5
5. Bob Melvin, 4
Only one manager was named on all seven ballots – Baldelli… and he didn’t even win! Our electorate was, overall, more impressed with Boone’s management of the Yankees to a second-straight 100-win season in spite of injury and such than we were with Baldelli’s remarkable Twinkies turnaround. Boone becomes the first Yankee manager to win 100+ in his first two seasons with the team, and just the fourth Yankee manager ever to have back-to-back 100-win seasons (Huggins, McCarthy [twice], Torre). Not bad. Richard Chester and koma both had these three in this order.
NL Manager of the Year:
1. Dave Martinez, 26 (5)
2. Brian Snitker, 17 (1)
3. Craig Counsell, 12 (1)
4. Dave Roberts, 7
5. Mike Shildt, 1
Obviously, our voting happened post-World Series, unlike the BBWAA. I’m not saying that did factor in voters’ minds, but you do notice a sharp departure from Martinez’s 5th-place finish in the BBWAA voting, as compared to the dominant win he had in our polling. Like in the AL Manager vote, the second-place finisher was actually the only manager named on all 7 ballots. I assume we didn’t vote as heavily for Shildt due to anti-Cardinals bias. Personally, I’m in favor of that as a general policy. 🙂 That said, our top-five and the BBWAA’s were almost a perfect inversion of one another in order (other than Dave Roberts finishing fourth in both groups). Speaking of Roberts, he has the best all-time winning percentage among Dodgers’ managers with 4+ seasons of experience. He’s also fourth in team history relative to .500 (+137). Another 100-win season, and he’d actually surpass Lasorda (+160) and Durocher (+173) – a distinct possibility in 2020. It’ll be awhile before he gets to Walter Alston (+427).
BTW, thanks so much to everyone for a really good voter turnout this year! Hopefully, we’ll continue it – the two actually INTERESTING votes are still to come. Hopefully, Doug will be posting the NL Cy Young soon, and then we’ll close out with the AL MVP. Thanks, everyone, keep voting, and keep discussing!