Manager of the Year
Few have written more “Ned Yost baffles me” columns than I have. Still, I have to admit that when I look at the voting for Manager of the Year this year, I’m every bit as baffled as I am by any Yost decision. The first-place votes went to:
Jeff Banister: 17 A.J. Hinch: 8 Paul Molitor: 2 Joe Girardi: 2 John Gibbons: 1
All of these managers had teams with worse records than Yost’s Kansas City Royals. Paul Molitor’s Twins, in particular, finished 12 games behind the Royals and never once threatened in the division. Did these guys really do a better managing job than Yost? If positions were swapped, would all of these managers have led the Royals to the American League’s best record and a World Series championship?