What Makes a Good Manager?

Due to the press of work, my intended post will have to wait until next week or the week thereafter.   I have been working on a post that explored the topic of “What makes a good Baseball Manager.”   In my research I came across an article by C. Trent Rosecrans, written for Baseball ProGUESTus, in 2012, entitled “What the Insiders Say Makes a Good Manager.”   Rosecrans is currently a senior MLB writer for The Athletic. He previously covered the Reds for the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Cincinnati Post and also covered Major League Baseball for CBSSports.com.  This article was so good, that I quote from it almost exclusively.

Walt Jocketty, the current Executive Adviser to the CEO of the Cincinnati Reds(and rated by Fansided as the 9^th best General Manager of All-time) had this to say about what makes a good manager:

“I think a good manager, most everyone knows how to run a game and so forth, but a good manager is one who is prepared and spends a lot of time in preparation with his coaches and getting prepared for each game and series. He has great communication with his players and is able to communicate not only positively but also sit on them if he has to if there’s a problem. The guy also has to be able to deal with the media, the front office, the ownership, there’s a lot of variables that are involved with being a good manager. It’s not just wins and losses, because a lot of it depends on the players you have. If you have good players, it’s usually a lot easier to manage. I think most guys’ strategy is similar, how they handle a pitching staff, how they handle a bullpen are important factors. Construction of a lineup and how they use their roster over the course of a season is also important. Most people don’t see what goes on behind the scenes. I’ve had conversations with Dusty(Baker) about this, and I’ve had conversations with Tony(LaRussa) about this, but there are so many situations over the course of a season and the course of a game that they have to do something that’s unorthodox or different and people right away question it. You think they don’t understand? There was something that was obviously involved that made them do it in an unconventional fashion. Most people don’t know that, understand that, or care to.

It’s extremely important for a manager and general manager to have a good relationship. You don’t have to be best friends, but you have to have communication and respect for each other and a good working relationship because it’s so vitally important to the success of the team and the organization. You talk about all those things we talked about—how they handle certain situations—but what it comes down to is how you interact with that person.”

Despite managing nearly 3,000 games and winning three Manager of the Year awards, Dusty Baker is one of the most controversial and oft‑criticized managers in the game. While fans often criticize Baker, more often than not, his former players praise him for his abilities as a leader.  Baker had this to say: 

“Your job is to get the best out of your talent and personnel that you have. You’re only as good as your personnel, but if you can get the best out of your personnel and keep them together and keep them playing on a daily basis. You’ve got to keep the right buttons and all this, but the right buttons only appear right if the players come through. It’s how you mesh your team together, how you hopefully have everybody pulling in the same direction with no envy, no jealousy, no selfishness. If you’re going to be a selfish player, you better be a hell of a player. You can accept that if they have such tremendous production. And how you handle the race, this is a long race we’re in, and sometimes you have to bite the bullet for them. Sometimes you have to tell the truth about them. It’s a rewarding job, but it’s a tough job.

The bulk part of the job (the media, the fans) aren’t supposed to see. You don’t see the disciplinarian part, you don’t hear about it. The bulk of the job is when you have constant meetings with different guys. The bulk of the job now is to continue to teach guys because they get here so early. You’re teaching on a daily basis. Most of the time you have to assume they don’t know, but you can’t treat them like kids, you have to treat them like men. A lot of times you find out what they don’t know after a mistake. A lot of my job depends on the job my coaches do. Everyone has a department, and my job is to let them allow them to do their job and not micromanage them, but to be in charge of everything.”

Pete Mackanin, who was the interim manager of the Phillies, before they hired Gabe Kaplar had this to say about managing:

There’s so many different aspects to it. Manager, to me, he’s the leader of the team and he sets the tone. He makes sure the players are prepared to play and makes the on‑field decisions. The beauty of baseball is that it’s so easily second‑guessed. There are so many ways to go in a game situation—whether you bunt, you hit and run or you let him swing or move the runners 3‑1, 3‑2, handling the bullpen, who to bring in to hit, when, all those. There are so many ways you can go, but someone has to make the decision. That’s the job, making those decisions.

I think [in‑game strategy] is more than (10‑15 percent), I think a lot of people discount that. Certainly, if you have a lot of good players, they make it easier and the players make that decision for you. It’s certainly more than 10 percent. You can get away with going any way you want if you have the right talent. The other 50 percent is handling the personalities and trying to put players in the best position to succeed. The more players that succeed, the better the team’s going to be. Also handling personalities, especially with the amount of money that’s being made, it becomes very difficult.

Former Pirate star, Andrew McCutcheon had this to add:

The big thing is someone you can trust, someone you know is going to have your back in any situation, someone who isn’t worried about winning, but you as a person before they worry about winning. Those are big keys for being a manager, just having the trust of your players. The winning part, you want to do that, but that’s the least of your worries. You go out and take care of your guys and earn their trust.

 Judging for Manager of the Year, it’s just going to be the winning percentage, who had a good season and finished at the top. That’s going to be the deciding factor. It’s a lot different from a player’s perspective. We don’t look at winning percentage. If you have a winning record or a losing record, if you win 100 games or lose 100 games, it doesn’t mean that one manager was so much better than another manager, the team was much better. It’s not [the manager] that wins the game, they’re here to manage the game. It’s up to us to win it.

Our beloved former Dodger (sarcasm), Juan Pierre has played for a total of eight different managers: Buddy Bell, Clint Hurdle, Jeff Torborg, Jack McKeon, Dusty Baker, Joe Torre, Ozzie Guillen, and Charlie Manuel.  He had this to say:

A good manager? To me, just communication. Communication. That’s it for me. The best managers I’ve had, they had an open‑door policy. You could go in there and talk to them at any time, and you can voice your opinion. Whatever they tell you, whether it’s what you want to hear or not, it’s honest. I don’t need it sugarcoated, just honest. That’s the main thing —communication and honesty.

Managers that were the best, Dusty was one of the best. Ozzie Guillen was another that was really good with (communication). All of them had good and bad things as far as it goes. Charlie is a great manager as far as you can always talk to him. He always has your back. Everyone has good qualities. The two I most enjoyed playing for were Dusty and Ozzie. They get the most criticism because they take it all. They’ll never throw you under the bus in the papers. They’ll have your back and then talk to you individually. (Guillen) has a rhyme and reason for everything he does—a lot of the time it doesn’t make sense (to the player), but he has a reason for what he does. A lot of stuff he does is to take it off the player. I know in Chicago, the media ran to him every day, and they’d be in front of him an hour, and the players could just go about their business and don’t have to talk to them

Miguel Cairo (former Dodger) who currently works for the New York Yankees in Player Development and is an occasional infield coordinator throughout the Yankee minor league system, played for nine different clubs in a 17‑year career, and post career has worked as a special assistant to General Manager Walt Jocketty.  Cairo aspires to be a manager one day and had this to say about what makes a good manager:

You have to know how to manage personalities. That’s so important. You have to deal with so many people, that’s 25 personalities, 25 egos. You want to know those 25 players and how to get them to play for you and get them to give you everything they have every day. It’s about confidence and trust—and if they trust you, that’s half the battle right there. The 25 guys, something I learned and I hope when I retire from baseball and I coach or manage or whatever I do, I hope I remember how hard it is to play the game. You can’t forget about that. You have to let them know, as a manager, that you know how hard it is to play. Managing personalities is the biggest thing.

I’d take a lot of stuff from different managers. I got a chance to play for three managers that could go to the Hall of Fame. I can’t tell you exactly what I’d take from them, because I don’t want to give out too much, but I have a pretty good idea why all three have been successful in their careers. I like to watch, I like to listen. One thing they have in common is the ability to have 25 players believe in you. ¼ You have to trust what you have. You want the 25 players to play for you. That’s very important. The star of the team is as important as the 25th guy. There’s 25 players, and you have to use them through 162 games, and you don’t know when that 25th guy is going to help you in a game to get you to the playoffs or gain a game in the wild card. You have to make sure you keep all 25 guys involved all season.

Former Reds catcher Ryan Hanigan who also has aspirations of managing someday, had this to say about managers:

It’s impossible for anyone to know what’s going on inside a team if they’re not around that team. Obviously, players speak of a manager one way or another, and you can get a feel of how they feel about managers across the board. I’ve played for Dusty for a lot of years, and he’s been awesome. Before that, I wasn’t here long enough to be entrenched in the team, but Dusty embodies those qualities (respect, trust). He’s definitely a players’ manager, we know he has our back. That’s a great trait. If he has something to say, it’s going to be private and respectful.

There’s a lot more to it. He’s getting his players to believe in an idea and a way of doing things that everyone’s on board with. He’s creating an attitude, and he’s trying to congeal personalities, really. Every team has different styles and personalities and bring them all together. That’s another thing Dusty’s great at, he’s a chameleon. He’s been a lot of different places and done a lot of different things, so he can relate to everyone. That’s a huge thing, to be able to relate to every player on a different level.

Joel Hanrahan (former Dodger) and currently the pitching coach for the Pirates’ Class AA Altoona Curve of the Eastern League, had this to add about managers:

I’d say it’s a manager that incorporates all his guys on a couple‑of‑day basis, guys that get their bench players in every couple of games to get them some at‑bats, a guy who knows how to work a bullpen. That’s got to be one of the hardest things, how to run a bullpen not only for that game, but for the next game and down the line.

(Fans and media) don’t see anything, to be honest with you. I think everybody has something they can tell you, the fans see, they read the papers and stuff. But to be honest, 98 percent (of a manager’s job) is stuff they don’t see.

A player can make a manager look good or bad. They make the decisions, but we go out there and play the game. That’s the hard part, because sometimes they take the blame for the way we play. When it comes down to it, it comes down to executing in the game. Everyone’s in the big leagues for a reason, and they should be able to execute.

It seems to me that, like in business, a good manager will know his players. He’ll know their skills and personalities. He has to know that not all players are created equal, some need a stern voice, and some need a softer voice; then he must put his players in positions to succeed. This is a fluid situation, this can change as the season wears on.  Good managers should not be afraid to make changes as necessary for the good of the team.  Good managers should also be focused on the big picture.   We as fans, judge everything game by game.   Happy when we win, unhappy when we lose.  But as we know, a baseball season is long and includes a lot of “failure” and losing.  Even the top teams this year, lost on average 60 or more times.  Knowing that it is important to stay focused on the long haul.   A good manager must also be honest at all times. Players may not like what they are being told, but honesty breeds respect.  If the players don’t respect their manager, the season will soon be lost. And, a good manager, keeps the pressure off his players. Baseball managers who accept or deflect the pressure off the team are priceless.

I’ll let you debate whether or not Doc Roberts has any of these characteristics.   Have I questioned some of his moves, particularly in the playoffs?  Absolutely!   But as I’ve said before, it’s easy for me to make decisions from the comfort of my recliner, with remote in hand.   I do not possess 99% of the information that DR and the coaching staff have available to them at any given moment.  Then again, if Will Smith’s drive to wall in the bottom of the ninth finds the seats, as it would have 90% of the time during the season, we probably wouldn’t be having this discussion. 

Some last random thoughts:

•    I agree with both Mark and AC – I think we should, primarily, stay the course.  I also believe that the Dodgers should go bold on at least one or two moves this offseason.  Last season they surprised us with the Yasiel Puig trade.   While that brought two very nice prospects, it did not bring any immediate help in return to the team(I say that hesitatingly, in that it opened a spot for Alex Verdugo to play, and that was a positive move).  This offseason, I would like to see them surprise us with a trade or signing that does the opposite and brings an impact player or two(preferably a front of the line starting pitcher and a solid reliever).   The front office has not been afraid to acquire such players at the trade deadline, but let’s do it before the season starts.

•    It is my opinion that neither Rich Hill or Hyun-jin Ryu return to the Dodgers next year.  As much as I like them both, their history of injury would not, in my mind, warrant they type of money that is rumored that they are seeking.  Then again, I wouldn’t mind Hill in a player-coach capacity. 

•    I would love to see the Dodgers with more of a set line-up next year.  I understand the concept of depth and versatility, but I grew up with the Dodgers most always having a set line-up.  The thoughts of a Garvey, Lopes, Russell and Cey infield playing together for as long as they did, seems foreign in today’s game.   I would also love seeing them have a legitimate lead-off hitter in the style of a Rafael Furcal or Davey Lopes, having a blend of speed and power, with good bat to ball skills. 

•     One of my choices for prospects to keep an eye on next year is Justin Bruihl.   A free agent pitcher signed by the Dodgers out of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, he throws strikes and misses bats.  He should start off with the Quakes next year. 

•     It is my opinion that Bellinger should be the full-time right fielder next year.  He could win a gold-glove at first, and probably in center as well.   However, It seemed that his hitting decline started after he hurt his shoulder while making a diving stop at first base.   It may have nothing to do with his hitting, but it’s my thought.  

•     The Dodgers let one “big” right-handed bat go, as they declined their option on Jedd Gyorko on Sunday.