Manager of the Year

In this data-driven era, managers have often had their authority and autonomy trimmed back.  Often, lineups are a collaboration between the GM and the team's analytics department.  While the job always comes with a large supply of thin ice, there's growing sense that skippers don't make as much of a difference as they did in the eras of Stengel, Durocher, Hodges, Martin, Herzog and Torre.

This year, one manager proved that cliche dead wrong.  After taking a year off to regain his health, Terry Francona took over the Reds and took his budget priced collection of talented kids back to the playoffs.  In outlasting the Mets for the final NL Wild Card, the man who'd turned around franchises in Boston and Cleveland worked his magic in Cincinnati, bringing accountability and positivity to a franchise that had gone more than a decade without making the playoffs in a full season.  Even with his best player Elly de la Cruz having an off-year, the Reds had just enough hitting and pitching to claim their place at the dance.  Credit for that goes to Francona -- whose squad won eight of its final 11 games -- with steady leadership that produced results.

(My image of Terry Francona is from a 2015 Indians/Yankees game in New York.)

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