Chad Tracy, manager for the Boston Red Sox, snagged third place in the American League Manager of the Year race last night, finishing behind the White Sox’s Will Venable and the Rays’ Kevin Cash. Honestly, who cares? Because if we are being real, the Manager of the Year award is probably the dumbest thing in baseball, and Tracy’s finish solidifies that point.
The “Dumbest Award in Baseball,” Explained
Baseball is a player’s game, period. It is not college hoops where the sideline screamers get more attention than the athletes. Baseball managers are not stars, they are simply present, like clouds in the sky at best. Can you even name a single winner from the past 10 years without cheating? Probably not, and that is a good thing!
Their job is super tough to evaluate from the outside. They are not out there designing elaborate defensive schemes that baffle more talented teams. It is mostly about keeping the clubhouse happy and knowing when to pull a pitcher. That is essentially the scope. Almost no one on the outside is even capable of evaluating the job a manager does.
The Flawed Voting Logic That Led to This
Since it is so hard to truly gauge a manager’s impact, the voting always follows the same tired script. Voters consistently award it to the manager of the team that somehow had a better season than anyone predicted. We all know flukey teams can get a little magic fairy dust sprinkled on them, make a surprise run, and then usually go right back to being mediocre the next year.
Remember Skip Schumaker? He won the NL Manager of the Year in 2023 because the Marlins jumped from 69 wins in 2022 to 84 wins in 2023. Guess what? The very next season, that same team, with the same manager, limped to a 62-100 record. He must have forgotten how to manage in a year, right? Nah, that is how the game works.
It is the same story for Venable and Cash this year. The Red Sox were actually *predicted* to make the playoffs before the season started, unlike the White Sox and Rays. So, obviously, those other guys did a “great job” because their teams outperformed expectations. Does anyone seriously think Venable or Cash had a harder job than Tracy when he first showed up to Fenway Camden Yards? Probably not.
So yeah, Chad Tracy finishing third? It tells you absolutely nothing about his actual managing skill. It only indicates that his team was expected to do well, unlike the two teams whose managers won or placed higher. This award is a total popularity contest based on pre-season guesses, not genuine managerial prowess. It is a player’s game, always has been, always will be.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Over the Monster.
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