Richard Justice: Buck Showalter Is The Best Manager In Baseball

[brianod]

How can anyone possibly think Buck is any good when he continues to sit a monster player like Kim?

[pastorfan]

In my rat's ass of an opinion, Torre walked in on the coattails of what Gene Michael and Buck Showlater had built prior to him getting there. And the Yankees' exorbitant payroll, which topped the Major Leagues throughout the first decade of the new century played a large part in allowing them to remain perennial contenders after they stopped winning World Series in 2000.

After Gabe Paul (the Yankees' G.M from 1973-1977) rebuilt the Yankees back into a power (2 World championships, 4 pennants, and 5 division titles from 1976-1981), George Steinbrenner's insane temper and compulsiveness with BOTH his managers AND his players drove the Yankees back into a pretty good but no longer great franchise from 1982-1988 (7 out of 8 winning seasons, but no playoff appearances), and finally a bad franchise (4 straight losing seasons from 1989-1992.) It wasn't until Fay Vincent gave Steinbrenner the boot for 2 years in July of 1990 that the Yankees were able to rebuild themselves back into a power again under the guidance of General Manager Gene Michael (1991-1995) and Manager Buck Showalter (1992-1995.) And then along came Torre in 1996, who was a good enough manager not to screw up the great thing that he had in front of him.

True, but in my opinion, Torre created a culture where he shielded the players from the owner and such. (Of course, some punk kid stole a home run and launched their success...that didn't hurt either. But at least I'm over it

[WEAVERMAN]

And of course average managers don't have a remarkable impact. Neither do average teachers, or average lawyers, average musicians, nor average anybody. Because the world is remarkably average. The average manager might not ADD to wins, but bad managers subtract them. Average managers keep their teams together so the players can shine, great managers (like Buck) find way to actively make the team better.

Well said.

[WEAVERMAN]

Buck certainly seems to get the most out of his teams. His strength seems to be handling a bullpen, having his team play strong fundamental baseball, and keeping the team on an even keel. I do think the O's have a good group of guys which makes his job a little easier. Buck, in his post game interviews, seems to always talk about the good things that happened in a game, even a loss, rather than dwell on the negative. I'm sure his players appreciate that.

Well said, you're right.

[OFFNY]

Culture is a bit different than mere wins and losses. Whether it is football or baseball, or just about any other sport, the manager/head coach sets the culture. But a GM, like say, Jerry Jones, can mess it up. I think we are just understanding "culture" a bit differently. I agree with your overall win-loss comments.

In my rat's ass of an opinion, Torre walked in on the coattails of what Gene Michael and Buck Showlater had built prior to him getting there. And the Yankees' exorbitant payroll, which topped the Major Leagues throughout the first decade of the new century played a large part in allowing them to remain perennial contenders after they stopped winning World Series in 2000.

After Gabe Paul (the Yankees' G.M from 1973-1977) rebuilt the Yankees back into a power (2 World championships, 4 pennants, and 5 division titles from 1976-1981), George Steinbrenner's insane temper and compulsiveness with BOTH his managers AND his players drove the Yankees back into a pretty good but no longer great franchise from 1982-1988 (7 out of 8 winning seasons, but no playoff appearances), and finally a bad franchise (4 straight losing seasons from 1989-1992.) It wasn't until Fay Vincent gave Steinbrenner the boot for 2 years in July of 1990 that the Yankees were able to rebuild themselves back into a power again under the guidance of General Manager Gene Michael (1991-1995) and Manager Buck Showalter (1992-1995.) And then along came Torre in 1996, who was a good enough manager not to screw up the great thing that he had in front of him.

True, but in my opinion, Torre created a culture where he shielded the players from the owner and such. (Of course, some punk kid stole a home run and launched their success...that didn't hurt either. But at least I'm over it

Lou Piniella did the same in 1986, 1987, and 1988 (after he took over for Billy Martin, who was fired by Steinbrenner for the 5th time during that season.)

2 major differences were:

A) Pinella's teams were pretty good, but not great like the team that Torre took over in 1996. Hence, Steinbrenner's decision to fire him twice (following the 1987 season and the 1988 season, both of which were solid, but not spectacular) was a lot easier for the the insanely impulsive Steinbrenner to make than would be to fire Torre after the 1996 season in which the Yankees won the World Series, or anytime in the next several years after that, in which the Yankees won 4 additional pennants and 3 additional World Series over the next 5 years.

and

B) By the time that Yankees stopped winning pennants and World Series during Torre's tenure, Steinbrenner was considerably less meddlesome in the teams' affairs ....... mostly because he was older and probably less capable of consistently pulling the antics that he did when he was younger in the 70's 80's and 90's, and perhaps slightly because he may have been a little wiser.