Buck Voted "Manager You Would Not Want to Play for"

[TonySoprano]

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We had our beat writers ask as many players as they could — more than 240 in total — about the best players in the game, managers they would and would not want to play for, their favorite and least favorite cities to visit, and what changes they want to see MLB make.

Before we get to the answers, note that these results are not entirely scientific. We divided the questions below into three sets, in order to cover as much ground as possible; some players answered every question below, others answered only one set. Even granted anonymity, many players declined to answer a few of the more controversial questions, so the players who did answer had a bigger say in the results. And we were able to get more players from some teams to answer than others, whether due to quirks of the schedule or just their willingness to participate. We were able to survey more  NL players than AL players, which likely skewed some results.

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Which manager, aside from your own, would you not want to play for?

Top result: Buck Showalter, Orioles (23.3% of the vote)

Runners-up: Joe Maddon (20%), Mike Matheny (10%), Mike Scioscia (10%)

Also receiving multiple votes: Jeff Banister, Gabe Kapler, Aaron Boone

Notes: For understandable reasons, many players wanted nothing to do with this question — particularly impending free agents. Still, among the dozens who did answer, Maddon came very close to topping both lists, which would have been quite a feat. (The polling was conducted before the Cardinals dismissed Matheny on Saturday night.)

 

 

[Moose Milligan]

Looks like the players sent their ballots to @Rene88

[esmd]

Interesting.  I'm somewhat surprised at Maddon being up there.  I always thought he was a player-friendly Manager.

I wonder how much the recent struggles of the Orioles influenced this poll?  Or if they did at all?  I mean, since he's been here, I've always thought Buck was respected by the players, until the rumblings of the last year or so, since things started going South.

[Ohfan67]

2 minutes ago, esmd said:

Interesting.  I'm somewhat surprised at Maddon being up there.  I always thought he was a player-friendly Manager.

I wonder how much the recent struggles of the Orioles influenced this poll?  Or if they did at all?  I mean, since he's been here, I've always thought Buck was respected by the players, until the rumblings of the last year or so, since things started going South.

Before the Orioles, Buck had a strong reputation for being a serious pain-in-the-butt for players. He was very controlling and frustrated a lot of players. 

[jamalshw]

9 minutes ago, esmd said:

Interesting.  I'm somewhat surprised at Maddon being up there.  I always thought he was a player-friendly Manager.

I wonder how much the recent struggles of the Orioles influenced this poll?  Or if they did at all?  I mean, since he's been here, I've always thought Buck was respected by the players, until the rumblings of the last year or so, since things started going South.

I'm not overly surprised by Maddon being high on the list. He's a player friendly manager in atmosphere, but he doesn't tend to follow norms in terms of playing time, set lineups, etc. A lot of players are creatures of habit so playing for a manager like Maddon who moves players around may not be the most ideal.

[TonySoprano]

9 minutes ago, esmd said:

Interesting.  I'm somewhat surprised at Maddon being up there.  I always thought he was a player-friendly Manager.

I wonder how much the recent struggles of the Orioles influenced this poll?  Or if they did at all?  I mean, since he's been here, I've always thought Buck was respected by the players, until the rumblings of the last year or so, since things started going South.

Maddon, either love him or hate him I guess

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Which manager, aside from your own, would you most want to play for?

Top result: Joe Maddon, Cubs (27.1% of the vote)

Runners-up: Terry Francona (18.6%), Torey Lovullo (10%), Bruce Bochy (7.1%)

Also receiving multiple votes: Aaron Boone, Dusty Baker, Dave Roberts, Alex Cora, Jim Leyland, Jeff Banister

Notes: As we are about to see, Joe Maddon elicits strong feelings from players. And compared to the rest of the popular choices, who are all veterans, it’s a strong showing from Torey Lovullo in only his second year as a manager.

 

[Aglets]

So am I reading that correctly that for the question about which manager you'd MOST want to play for.............Buck Showalter got maybe one vote.....at the most?

Man, there's something else going on that we don't know about I think.  

[Luke-OH]

1 minute ago, Aglets said:

So am I reading that correctly that for the question about which manager you'd MOST want to play for.............Buck Showalter got maybe one vote.....at the most?

Man, there's something else going on that we don't know about I think.  

I'm not surprised.

I think the split with Madden is as mentioned due to his nontraditional methods, I'd expect plenty of players (just like the general population) are resistant to new things.

[spiritof66]

I would think that if you're one of Buck's guys who has had some success in the past, he'd be a manager you'd want to play for since you'd have the baseball equivalent of tenure. If you're a young guy trying to break in, I can see why Buck would get your "not" vote. 

[wildbillhiccup]

24 minutes ago, esmd said:

Interesting.  I'm somewhat surprised at Maddon being up there.  I always thought he was a player-friendly Manager.

I wonder how much the recent struggles of the Orioles influenced this poll?  Or if they did at all?  I mean, since he's been here, I've always thought Buck was respected by the players, until the rumblings of the last year or so, since things started going South.

The players must not be fans of hot yoga

[atomic]

I think Buck is losing it mentally.  He often says he didn't see plays when asked.  Makes bizarre decisions on the field. Has everyone playing out of  position. I have no idea how he is keeping his job.

[SeaBird]

Showalter's crappy treatment of Hyun Soo Kim probably got him some, "No thanks" votes from players polled in the survey.

[Luke-OH]

10 minutes ago, atomic said:

I think Buck is losing it mentally.  He often says he didn't see plays when asked.  Makes bizarre decisions on the field. Has everyone playing out of  position. I have no idea how he is keeping his job.

His mental acuity is not the issue.

[AZRon]

4 minutes ago, Luke-OH said:

His mental acuity is not the issue.

In your opinion, what is (are) the issue(s)?

[Aglets]

4 minutes ago, Luke-OH said:

His mental acuity is not the issue.

I see you're trying to be careful how much you reveal here.   Fair enough.

Over the years a lot of fans have criticized Buck for being a 'player's manager.'  Especially for veteran players.  Is that getting closer to the reason why?  An unwillingness to hold vets accountable?