As a member of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance it is my duty to vote on the regular season National League awards. We will start out with the 2009 National League Manager of the Year.
1. Jim Tracy
I think this is obvious. I am going with the ex-Dodgers manager, who took over a floundering Rockies team and got them to the playoffs. Tracy took over at the end of May after Colorado fired Clint Hurdle and he went 74-42. The team won a franchise record 92 games and pushed the Dodgers to the brink in the National League West race.
2. Joe Torre
Sure, this may seem like a homer vote, but anyone that knows me knows that I am 100 percent not a homer and I am harder on my guys than most people. With that said, Joe Torre was amazing. He pushed all the right buttons and led the Dodgers to the best record in the NL. People thought they'd be good, but the best in the NL? I don't think so. He was given a makeshift pitching staff and overcame the suspension of Manny Ramirez. Hats off to Joe.
3. Fredi Gonzalez
Any time the Marlins compete, the manager gets consideration. This team with a rock-bottom payroll won 87 games and was in the playoff hunt all season long. Gonzalez deals with a lot of kids and castoffs. Gotta give him some love.
Honorable Mentions: For MOY, we are just voting top three. If I had a fourth, it would have been Bruce Bochy in San Francisco. He has great pitching and 88 wins isn't completely overachieving for this team. Tony LaRussa and Charlie Manuel would have rounded out the others being considered, but honestly, those teams did exactly what they should do.
I don't know about Bochy.
If anything they would probably have more wins if it wasn't for him.
You know, I agree with you about Bochy for the most part and in the past I think he's been a bad and overrated manager. Living in the Bay Area, I get to hear and see him a little more and I feel like he did a better job. He made better moves, actually exuded confidence and said the right things. I still dislike him very much, but I have to admit he did a much better job this year. Anytime you improve your win total that much, you're probably doing something right. Most times.
i think torre isnt getting enough praise. he managed the best team in the nl for the entire season.