In his latest column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe ranks baseball's managers, from first (Bobby Cox) to 30th (rookie skipper Brad Mills). He also shares a few hot stove notes:
- Contracts like the eight-year pacts signed by Mark Teixeira and Joe Mauer may indicate what it'll take for the Brewers to lock up Prince Fielder long-term. Milwaukee "would like to seal the deal right now," avoiding the drama that will only increase as Fielder approaches free agency.
- Cafardo wonders if Pedro Martinez could end up pitching for the Dodgers at some point this season.
- Alex Gonzalez said "forget it" this winter when the Red Sox asked him to wait until they had dealt with Jason Bay. Gonzalez adds: "I was going to get a starting job, and in this market, I'm glad I didn't wait."
- Eric Gagne believes he can still succeed at the big league level, but he may have trouble catching on anywhere this late in the spring.
- Sergio Santos would have plenty of teams interested in him if he doesn't break camp with the White Sox. Santos, a former first-round pick as a shortstop, is out of options and competing for a spot in Chicago's bullpen.
Why would anyone be interested in Sergio Santos? So far, he is looking a bit like a failed experiment that was a flop as a number one draft pick.
Scioscia is definitely a better manager than Francona, homer.
He should have been number 1 in my opinion.
I would say Tito’s postseason stats give him the edge over Sciosia. Last year excluded of course.
Are you kidding me? You can’t exclude one post-season when the two haven’t gone to 50 straight post-seasons. Scoisia is the better manager and he did out do Francona.
I was kidding about excluding last year. That said, even if you include last year..I think what the Sox did to them in 2004, 2007 and 2008 should give Tito the edge.
But its the situation. You saw how much of a black hole the Angels were in last April and May right?
“And with Alex Anthopoulos in place as general manager, the Jays will be able to spend up to $120 million next season on players”
What????
So Scioscia is #4 because of a lack of postseason success, but Cox is ranked number one?
You have to admit that Cox had a fair amount of post-season success in the 1990’s. They may not have made as many world series’ as one would expect after winning their division for a decade, but they weren’t one-and-done’s either.
I think Francona is a better people manager and Sciosa is a far better technical and tactical manager. I would have switched them in order when ranking. I think small-ball has worked pretty well in terms of consistently winning their division.
One has to wonder what the hell is going through Eric Gagne’s mind. He couldn’t succeed and he has consistently failed at each of his last several MLB attempts. He has lost it and he needs to admit it and retire. I’m sick of seeing him pathetically strive to get somewhere that any sane individual would realize is inappropriate.
Gagne still believes he can be successful at the big-league level. Someone really needs to remind him he hasn’t been successful at the big-league level in over two years.
If Gagne could mulligan his request for a release, he’d do it in a heartbeat. Even with goggles gone, hindsight is 20/20.