First half a mixed bag for baseball's 10 new managers
Posted: Wednesday July 09, 2003 12:02 PM
The 2003 baseball season debuted with a third of the teams trotting out new managers. Half of the skippers had never managed a big league game before. One had never managed a game on any pro level. Nobody knew, truly, how any of them would do in their new digs.
Now, three months later, it's becoming a lot clearer. And we should have known.
We should have known about old pros Felipe Alou and Dusty Baker, who could manage to make a cow sit still in a tornado. As could Lou Piniella, given a decent cow.
We should have known about Alan Trammell, the one neophyte manager, despite all of those spring training stars in his eyes.
We should have known some of these guys had no chance at all.
Here's a look at how the 10 managers who began the season with a new team are doing. (We've left out Florida's Jack McKeon, who took over for Jeff Torborg in early May.)
Felipe Alou
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Everyone wondered about his age, but the real question for the 67-year-old Alou wasn't if he could stay awake, but how he would handle a deep, talented team that had the full backing of the front office -- something he never had in Montreal. The answer, so far, is superbly. Alou, the ultimate professional, took a team that had just been to the World Series but was filled with newcomers at key positions (notably Jose Cruz Jr., Ray Durham and Marquis Grissom) and immediately produced, starting the Giants 7-0, then 13-1. The Giants have the second-best pitching staff in the NL (led by maturing All-Star Jason Schmidt, who has blossomed under Alou) and the league's best defense. With Barry Bonds anchoring the offense, you have to like the Giants' chances.
Second-half challenge: Settling down lefty Damian Moss and getting something out of free-agent bust Edgardo Alfonzo.
Dusty Baker
CHICAGO CUBS
Baker's name popped up in a lot of front offices after his bitter departure from the Giants, but it was the Cubs who offered him the chance. The Cubs were in first place in the NL Central from April 17 until June 28 and will continue to challenge, thanks to a starting pitching staff that is second in the league in ERA and includes Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Carlos Zambrano and Matt Clement. Baker, a renowned "players' manager," needs to teach the team a little patience -- the Cubs still strike out way too much and have trouble scoring runs. And there are questions about whether Baker is working his pitchers, especially Wood, too hard. Whatever, Baker's plan is working pretty well so far. Providing the starting pitching doesn't fall apart, the bullpen settles down and they get some offensive help, the Cubs should have enough to make a run in the Central.
Second-half challenge: Finding someone to take Corey Patterson's place in center and in the lineup.
Art Howe
NEW YORK METS
Howe has taken some heat in New York for not giving enough of it out during the Mets' disastrous first half. But that's Howe. He learned how to be patient when he was managing Oakland, where the A's often started slow but ended strong (until the playoffs, that is). Unfortunately, this is a whole different situation for Howe. And now the Mets, mess that they are, aren't going anywhere, so it's probably too late for yelling anyway. It's hard to say how much of the Mets' problems are due to Howe. Injuries have killed them (remember Mike Piazza and Mo Vaughn?). But, truly, this team is bad from top to bottom. Tom Glavine has been disappointing, Al Leiter has been achy and the offense … only the toothless Dodgers have a worse combined on-base and slugging percentage in the NL. Can this guy manage in New York? Can someone please give the poor guy a team so we can find out? Second-half challenge: Coming to the park every day.
Ken Macha
OAKLAND ATHLETICS
The respected longtime bench coach took over for Howe and has held the status quo, mainly, though the A's were looking for a little more than that. The players for the most part respect and play for Macha, which is a good part of the battle. Oakland is as good as it is because of the second-best starting rotation in the AL (Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and the rest have a 3.57 ERA). Unfortunately, the one team better than Oakland is Seattle, which has a cozy lead in the AL West. Oakland's hitting has been disappointing (.254, 11th in the AL). For a team built around the concept of working the count and getting on base, the A's on-base percentage (.326, 10th) is atrocious. Second-half challenge: Macha simply has to get better halves out of Miguel Tejada, Eric Chavez, Terrence Long and the rest and hope the M's cool off.
Bob Melvin
SEATTLE MARINERS
As Bob Brenly's right-hand man in Arizona, Melvin saw first-hand how to run a veteran team. So the laid-back Melvin has let his All-Star-thick team (five are headed to Chicago) pretty much run itself. He's handled a stuttering bullpen with aplomb (finally settling on Shigetoshi Hasegawa as closer after Kazuhiro Sasaki was hurt) and has received a nice surprise in great first halves from two pitchers, 40-year-old Jamie Moyer and 24-year-old Gil Meche. It helps that this team plays like a veteran team, too, with a strong offense (Edgar Martinez and Bret Boone come to mind), the best defense in the majors and the best starting pitching in the AL. Second-half challenge: How Melvin, who has a much deeper bench than predecessor Lou Piniella, handles his older team in what can be an energy-sapping second half will tell us much about him as a skipper.
Lou Piniella
TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS
Everyone knew the high-strung Piniella would have a difficult time of it in low-rent St. Pete. Everyone was right. The Devil Rays are as devoid of talent as Piniella feared, despite the continuing improvement of players like Aubrey Huff and Rocco Baldelli. The team is in a full-fledged youth movement -- average age, 27.1 years old, youngest in the majors -- and playing like it. Their pitching is especially horrendous, with an ERA over 5.00 and more walks than anyone in baseball except the Padres. Piniella has lost his temper a few times, most notably in a blowup with Ben Grieve. Sweet Lou better save some yelling for the second half. Second-half challenge: Surviving a brutal September, with home-and home series against the Yanks, Red Sox and Blue Jays and home series against Oakland and Seattle. Yikes.
Buck Showalter
TEXAS RANGERS
Showalter is still a stickler for every … single … detail, but everyone involved with the Rangers knows that's what this franchise needs. There is a lot of promise, with guys like slugger Mark Teixeira, All-Star Hank Blalock and second baseman Michael Young. Showalter's style, and the Rangers' organizational patience, seems to have worked with the young guys, while veterans like Alex Rodriguez have signed on to it, too. The problem continues to be pitching. In short, the Rangers don't have any. They could get some by unloading some of their veteran bats, but it doesn't help Showalter, or the Rangers, for this year. Second-half challenge: Keeping the Rangers focused as they look to 2004, or maybe even '05.
Alan Trammell
DETROIT TIGERS
Pity poor Trammell. He has the playing pedigree, he has the enthusiasm and he knows how things should be done. And the players on his team bought into it all, at least before the season began. Then came the awful start (0-9, 1-17, 3-25), and everything's been skidding out of control since. Trammell tries to teach. He yells, once in a while, when he feels the need. He benched Omar Infante a while back. And, still, the Tigers are on pace to beat the 1962 record of 120 losses by the New York Mets. The Tigers have no hitters to speak of and are among the youngest teams in the majors (an average of 27.3 years old, second only to Piniella's Rays). The Tigers will be better. Some day. But how much can Trammell take? Second-half challenge: To pull ahead of the '62 Mets.
Eric Wedge
CLEVELAND INDIANS
The rookie Wedge is an excitable, aggressive sort who demands a lot from his team. He benched Milton Bradley back in May for not running hard to first. He doesn't like to use the word rebuilding -- it's an excuse, at least to his way of thinking. But his team is young (average age, 28.3), and it's playing like it. The Indians have some talent -- Bradley is having a heck of first half -- but the real talent lies just under the major league level. And when they get to the bigs, in '04 and '05, everyone figures the Indians will be a force in the AL Central. The 35-year-old Wedge, it seems, will be ready for them when they get there. Second-half challenge: To improve on the first half and wait for the cavalry.
Ned Yost
MILWAUKEE BREWERS
The long-time coach with the Braves moved on to manage the Brewers when he sold team officials with his enthusiasm and his professionalism. If only Yost would have brought some of the Braves' talent with him. The Brewers are not devoid of the stuff -- Scott Podsednik (.325) has been a nice surprise to go with Richie Sexson and Geoff Jenkins -- but Yost needs some pitching to work with (the Brewers' pitching staff has given up a baseball-high 129 home runs). Yost is known as an old-school, elbow grease kind of guy, but that won't be enough to keep the Brewers from suffering through their 11th straight losing season. Second-half challenge: Keeping away from 100 losses. It won't be easy.
