So Answer Me This…What Exactly Constitutes A “Good” Manager?

By Taryn "The Coop" Cooper
Posted Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Situation: Bottom of the ninth, one out. Down by one run in the second game of a doubleheader. Batting for number 48, Aaron Heilman, in the pitcher’s position…

Tom Glavine?

Needless to say, this situation has drummed up lots of conversation in the Mets blogging communities. Granted Mets stalwart Paul Lo Duca comes up lame with a strained hamstring, and who pinch runs? Not Ramon Castro, but the previous starting pitcher in the first game, El Duque Hernandez. Which, arguably, is the correct move there (can you seriously imagine Ramon Castro lumbering around the bases there)?

But in the pitcher’s spot that inning, who comes up? Not Ramon, which would have been an ideal double-switch there – which again, Willie Randolph as manager for over two seasons in the National League STILL has not mastered – but…

Marlon Anderson?

The Mets may have lost this particular game, but also what was lost were the hearts of many fans. Could it have possibly been that Willie simply decimated his bench with Lo Duca going down, Castro playing and Beltran refusing to be DL’d at that time (although he later did go on the DL) to make room for some other warm body who could be available to hit? Anderson Hernandez, David Newhan, Ben Johnson (OK, he’s injured too), but who cares? Someone who has a chance to get on base!

By painting that picture, I will go back a bit. I will be the first to say that I am not a Willie fan, nor am I a Willie apologist. I realize that he is still green in some areas but after the 2005 season, where we all cut him slack collectively…only so that he could be outmanaged in the 2006 NLCS by Tony LaRussa of all people (who definitely makes his fair share of questionable moves – batting Aaron Rowand in the 2007 All-Star Game ringing any bells?).

And on Saturday, July 28th, the night game against the Nationals was pitiful since it was his former third-base coach who outmanaged him, Manny Acta. Acta is a very shrewd baseball guy; as fans we cannot take that away from him.

But a first place team (which we seem to slowly forget every now and then) being outplayed by one of the lowest scoring teams in major league baseball…is pitiful. Simply pitiful.

But of course, all the Willie apologists come out to roost after this loss. “Tough loss.” “I give Willie a pass.” “Willie had no bench.” I say hogwash. Gil Hodges, Davey Johnson, Bobby Valentine could have thought outside of the box there. Heck, Johnson even famously had two of his relief pitchers switch back and forth between pitching and the outfield in a game where nearly half his team got thrown out after a bench clearing brawl. AND they won the game. Jerry Manuel, Sandy Alomar, ANYONE could have found someone else. Or if they absolutely could not get someone – who is there to interject – hey Willie, maybe you should use Castro in this spot? You know, just in case?

A few weeks back, I raised a question on Flushing U about what exactly constitutes a good manager?

Of course, there has been much ado about how Willie Randolph handles a room full of egos which gives him the Joe Torre Award for…Managing Multiple Egos. I agree, it cannot be an easy task to manage a clubhouse where you have Carlos Beltran, Pedro Martinez, Moises Alou AND Lastings Milledge in the same breath. But how much emphasis is being put on this when we can all agree – Willie is a bad in-game manager? And by “bad,” I mean: not mastering the double-switch three years after being in the NL; not taking a pitcher out when even the crowd sees he is not having his best game;…and you know…

BATTING YOUR 41-YEAR-OLD STARTING PITCHER IN THE BOTTOM OF THE NINTH OF A ONE-RUN GAME.

So I would like to come up with a list that says – what do we look for in a manager? And what separates the Art Howes from the Jimmy Leylands?

Well, I can tell you what *I* call a good manager. And you can agree or disagree with me. Keep in mind this is very subjective.

• Your players play hard for you.

As I stated earlier, much ado has been made about the likes of Willie Randolph, Joe Torre and even last year’s freshman effort from Joe Girardi (another Torre disciple) and their players having the respect and wherewithal to perform hard. As Mets fans, we point to Bobby Valentine’s success with an outfield of Timo Perez, Benny Agbayani and Jay Payton and STILL making it to the playoffs. By 2002, however, he lost his ability to handle the clubhouse and was subsequently fired.

We can always look at Willie and how he was able to get the young guys’ admiration and the veteran’s respect and he lets the players play. However, I only weight this maybe 10% of what makes a good manager. Players generally don’t like Jimmy Leyland, but he has their respect. Jimmy Leyland is also what I call a “smart manager.” Same with another guy named Leo “The Lip” Durocher.

• In-game strategies.

This is something that I weigh to be smaybe about 30% of what makes a good manager. Throwing an all-star at every position and hoping they make it on base is not what I call an in-game strategist. Being able to pull off a double-switch, knowing what’s left on your bench, knowing when your starter has been left in too long, being able to masterfully handle bullpen match-ups...this is part of it.

There are other “in-game strategies” that constitute a good look-see. Bunting a runner over in a tight game maybe in the fifth or sixth inning is acceptable. Bunting a runner over in the first freaking inning to just get another out – not so much.

• Be the “leader,” not just a guy who makes a line up and pats his players on the tushies when they do well and say, hey, tough loss, after a loss.

I give this about a 20% weighting on my list. Bobby Cox holds the major league record for getting tossed out of game. Perhaps it is also fitting that he is one of the greatest managers we have been fortunate to see (well, not so fortunate if you are a Mets fan) in our lifetime. Why should managers get thrown out? Is there a point? Of course there is! The manager is supposed to be the voice of the team. If that means arguing a bad call from time to time, so be it.

Willie Randolph is of the let’s-not-rock-the-boat mentality. But a few nights ago, Jose Reyes was called out at home, which ended the inning and curtailed a very brief rally. Willie, I think we all agree as fans, needs to show a little backbone and stand up to these umpires. The closest we’ve seen to Willie showing any anger or emotion would be when they played the Dodgers back in June.

Much has been made about Willie’s relationship with his players. Laying down like a sheep and just taking a bad call is no way to show your players how to act. My point is, getting thrown out from time to time (although coming back with a Groucho Marx mustache like Valentine did once is not recommended!). Maybe we do need players like Paul LoDuca out there to get thrown out and rile up his team.

If things keep up, pretty soon we’ll all hear about how we “battled” or to just “turn the page.” Just how big is this book, by the way?

• Know how to handle your bench, bullpen and manage the starting line-up (i.e. know who to start, who’s hot, who’s not, who could use a day off).

I give this about a 30% weighting; this is as important as an in-game strategy. I believe the two go hand-in-hand.

Once again, much has been made about how much Willie knows “his guys.” And one can argue that the point of having a bench coach, a hitting coach, a pitching coach, a bullpen coach…you get the drift…the point of having these “specialists” is to make the manager’s job a little easier. To the extent, I agree with that, after all, Willie was no pitcher, and definitely not a strategist in that way. Nor do I expect ANY manager to be able to handle the intricacies of pitching. But then we’ve seen Randolph bring in Schoeneweis one too many times, make Mota his go-to guy in the ‘pen, or use David Newhan as a pinch-hitter only to see him ground out to second base. It makes a fan wonder what pictures these particular players have on the Mets front office.

Benching Lastings Milledge or Ruben Gotay when they are the hottest hitters on the team is not how to handle a line-up. Though admittedly green, Milledge is a definite upgrade over automatic out Shawn Green. Continuing to bat Delgado high in the order when he is clearly not meant for that anymore, not so much either. Granted, Luis Castillo was a good trade, especially if this is a way to groove Gotay into becoming the starter next year. Or to platoon.

And just so I don’t seem to be solely Willie bashing here, I’ll bring up another manager. Grady Little, for example, has been recently called out on a blog called “Dodger Blues” where he has started his primary catcher, Russell Martin, in 102 games this season. WHEW. That’s a lot for a catcher. He’s young, but as they say on the Blues – this is not good for his career. Your player may say he’s up for the challenge, as manager, you need to say – son, you need the day off.

Sound familiar? Sort of – it’s kind of like the opposite of when Paul Lo Duca wasted away on the bench after his hamstring pull on that fateful July night. He threatened to punch Willie if he didn’t start him for Glavine’s 300. I wonder if Willie “got it” then.

• Wins, losses and postseason performance.

This was brought up back a few months ago in our conversation on what constitutes a good manager. I only give this about a 10% weighting though. Why? Well, for selfish reasons really – I don’t think it’s all that important!

The way baseball is structured today, wins/losses in the regular season are important, yes…but postseason in general? Many good managers don’t make the postseason. Or managers who make the postseason are often overrated. I’m looking at you, St. Joseph of Torre.

But if I want to play the Devil’s Advocate here, I can honestly say that Willie was outmanaged by Tony LaRussa, one of the most tenured and “celebrated” (I use the term loosely) managers of his time.

But what about Bobby Cox? In the Braves “unprecedented” (I use that term loosely too) run of 14 straight division titles, how many World Series did the Braves actually win? One, under my watch. Does this discount everything that Cox has done with his players, be it Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Greg Maddux…OR John Smoltz,

Heck no! Cox manages to get a good grip on all of The Coop’s Big Five of being a good manager. So does Jimmy Leyland. Grady Little not so much. Dusty Baker famously brought the Cubs to the postseason in 2003…only to lose his job last season after losing the team’s respect. Lou Piniella might be able to bring some respectability back to the Chicago franchise.

My point is… I think it is evident that our fearless leader Willie Randolph has a giant learning curve to catch up on after two years as Mets manager. And we might have to take a few Mets heartbreaking losses to realize this.