Fleeting Gratitude for the Manager

Beware the Manager of the Year

Welcome to Warning Track Power, an independent newsletter of baseball stories and analysis grounded in front office and scouting experiences and the personalities encountered along the way.

I suspect that your inboxes and social media feeds over the holiday weekend have been flooded with notes of gratitude — the sheer volume of which fog my ability to decipher authenticity from capitalistic opportunism. Further blurring the horizon was the news of Daryl Hall suing John Oates. It gave my pause. What could we believe in? I didn’t want to be another email fighting for space between Black Friday promotions and Cyber Monday specials. I stepped away from the keyboard.

After all, time out is what we’re here for.

Baseball’s Winter Meetings begin in about a week. As I’ve written before, the annual event was always an opportunity for me to reflect. I’ve attended as a sweaty-palmed outsider, clutching my resumes while navigating the lounge of lobby lizards. I’ve attended on official business, living the dream as a member of the Padres and Diamondbacks baseball operations groups. I’ve attended somewhere in the middle, a free agent in search of a landing spot. Every time, amidst the cacophony of trade rumors and the intoxicating cocktail of humanity, I took a moment to be thankful.

This year, from the safety of my laptop, I’m thankful for you, faithfully reading along and adding meaning and depth to our connection with the game. Thank you.

We’ll address Nashville, site of this year’s Winter Meetings, in the week to follow. If you know of anyone looking to break into the game, now is the right time to subscribe to this newsletter.

Meanwhile, every managerial vacancy has been filled. Eight teams enter next season with a new skipper; three are calling the shots for the first time. The range of experience reflected in these hirings is indicative of the diverse qualifications valued by front offices.

Ron Washington, hired to lead the Angels, had already taken more than 1,000 Major League at-bats before Stephen Vogt, new Guardians manager, was born.

There are myriad ways to examine the new hires. Four of them never appeared in a Major League game. Padres manager Mike Shildt never played professionally.

Bob Melvin, now in San Francisco leading the team for which he played from 1986-1988, is a three-time Manager of the Year. Shildt won the award once, in 2019, with the Cardinals. Both men know how fleeting respect around the hardware can be. Melvin won it for the first time with the Diamondbacks in 2007. By early May 2009, he had been let go. Shildt was fired after the 2021 season.

During this season of gratitude, the National League Manager of the Year Award needs a talking to. Considering the trend, I’m almost surprised that this year’s winner, Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, didn’t respectfully decline.

The four prior winners are Buck Showalter, Gabe Kapler, Don Mattingly, and Shildt. Thanks for nothing, huh? Schumaker might want to exchange his bench coach for a soothsayer.

Expectations can be dangerous.

Thank you again for allowing WTP to be part of your week.