“I couldn’t have done it without my players,”
–Casey Stengel
Casey Stengel always had a lot to say–in English and in Stengelese. But the man who won 10 pennants and seven World Series in a 12-year run with the New York Yankees was never more succinct or correct than when he uttered those words.
So why do Major League Baseball teams spend so much time hiring and firing managers? You need a program and a road map to keep up with all the changes.
Dusty is in Chicago, Lou is in Tampa Bay and the latest Buck to stop in Texas is Showalter.
If there is one thing that defines the 2003 baseball season, it’s the revolving door at the top of the dugout, where one-third–10 of the 30–bosses are new.
Managers have always been under pressure, but now more than ever. It is a different era. With skyrocketing payrolls, the importance of winning has taken on new meaning.
Today’s baseball stage has changed dramatically because of the growing gap between small- and big-market clubs. And it is that disparity that has added to the burden to win at the top and the bottom. There not only is the demand to win with a $100 million payroll, but small-market clubs have more pressure to win just to survive.
“The cost of a franchises is a lot more now,” Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield. “So when you look at the small-market teams, there is pressure to win because winning drives attendance, and you need to get the attendance to have the resources to work with.”
It is a tragic Catch-22. The small-market teams don’t have the revenue to spend on players to compete, so new blood is brought in to change the atmosphere in hopes the team will win more, attract fans and create more revenue.
Four of the 10 new managers have shown up in just such places: Ned Yost in cash-strapped Milwaukee, Eric Wedge in Cleveland, Alan Trammell in Detroit and the biggest challenge, Lou Piniella in Tampa Bay.
Piniella has returned to his hometown to manage a team with 13 of the 25 players making the minimum salary. No one expects Piniella to turn the Devil Rays, who have the lowest payroll in the sport, into a playoff team.
But the franchise does expect more interest and better attendance. That’s why Piniella’s face is splashed on billboards all over Tampa and St. Petersburg.
Trammell brings back memories of better days and big-name clout to the worst team in baseball, which has had three managers in two years and is struggling to draw fans to its three-year-old stadium.
Still, winning is the ingredient that will put fans in the stands.
There is no better example than the Marlins, who have lost more attendance over the years than any team. Former managers Jim Leyland and John Boles talked long into the night about how important it was for the team to win back fans after the dismantling of the 1997 World Series champions.
“It’s this simple,” Boles said in 1999. “If we win, the fans will come back.”
But they didn’t, and Boles, whose team had the biggest improvement in the majors over two years in 1999 and 2000, lost his job in 2001. The Marlins have had four managers and two ownerships since the dismantling.
More Top Picks Bose Soundlink Max
“There’s pressure on everybody to win,” said Marlins GM Larry Beinfest, in his second year with the team. “I’m not in a position to talk about the history of the game and whether there’s more pressure now than before, but I know this: There is significant pressure to win in the big leagues. And it doesn’t matter where you are or what your payroll is. You do feel that pressure every day.”
Today’s managers have a new look too. There’s not as much dirt-kicking, base-throwing and bat-rattling. Even Piniella seems to have mellowed, and the only real Yosemite Sam character left is Philadelphia’s Larry Bowa.
Bowa has never been popular with his players, but he doesn’t care–as long as they win. When they don’t perform, he is the first one to rip into them. And his antics seem to add pressure of his job in a city where there is no forgiveness for losing.
In the American League West, three of the four teams have new managers. The only one who kept his job won the World Series.
Anaheim’s Mike Scioscia is the only one back in the toughest division. But only Showalter is coming into a situation where the former manager was fired.
“A lot of my friends have asked me, `Couldn’t you have found a better division for yourself?'” said Showalter, who inherited a Texas team that has been loaded with power for years but has finished in last place the last three years because of the worst pitching staffs.
Showalter hopes to make an impact with his old-school approach, but new pitching coach Orel Hershiser has a chance to make a bigger impact. That’s part of managing–choosing the right coaches.
Seattle has a new manager, Bob Melvin, because Piniella left, and Oakland, the most successful small-market team, lost its manager because of philosophical differences.
Art Howe and GM Billy Beane didn’t always agree about on-field issues. Howe wanted more of a National League-style club, one that could run and manufacture runs, so he asked out of his contract and took over the New York Mets.
Howe was under one kind of pressure to win at Oakland, where drawing fans and creating interest are daily issues. But he is under a different microscope in New York, where there is little patience.
Even Joe Torre, who won four World Series in five years with the New York Yankees, took some criticism from owner George Steinbrenner, who wasn’t happy because New York hasn’t won the Series in two years.
But it’s not just New York. Patience is wearing thin everywhere in this new era in which economics drive decisions.
“I don’t think there is that grace period there once was,” said Dave Dombrowski, president and GM of the Tigers. “There used to be that five-year grace period, and it’s not really there anymore.
“I don’t think there is as much patience from ownership, but there’s more than that. It’s not just ownership. There is more scrutiny day to day by the media. It’s the game itself that has changed–the owners, the fans, the scrutiny of the media.”
Littlefield says baseball reflects America.
“I think it’s a bigger issue,” he said. “Society is looking for the short-term fix. It’s what have you done for me lately? You see it in other sports and you see it in corporate America, where CEOs of corporations are changing quickly. Baseball is like that. You need fans in the stands, and if you’re not winning, the idea is maybe a different guy with a different approach and a different type of leadership can change that.”
That’s why the revolving door is spinning like never before.
“The game has changed a lot, and economics has a lot to do with that,” Cubs GM Jim Hendry said. “There have been small-market teams that have won. You look at Oakland, Minnesota, and they’ve had success. Obviously, the turnover in managers in the last season shows people want to win, and it doesn’t matter what the payroll is. No matter what your payroll is, you have to win enough games.”
Marlins manager Jeff Torborg is under pressure to win, but wouldn’t Torborg be smarter if he had Jason Giambi batting in the middle of the lineup?
No one has won more in recent years as Torre, but would he win the American League East if he were at Tampa Bay?
So how many games can a manager win?
“If you are talking strategically, it’s a lot less than people realize,” Littlefield said. “But a manager can make a difference. The thing that is underappreciated about managers is their ability to evaluate talent. You look at the guys who succeed and they seem to make good decisions about the fifth starter, or they get a guy who has been a utility player. Guys who [succeed] know how to use their 25-man roster, how to keep players ready.”
And these days, they’d better get the most out of them fast.