What’s a baseball manager doing in today’s MLB?
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has the best overall managerial record in the history of Major League Baseball. In part because the team from Chavez Ravine spends so much money on players. But Roberts gets less credit than he should. He sports a .627 winning percentage as a manager (851–507), all with the Dodgers except for one loss as manager of the Padres the year before he took over in L.A. in 2016.
It may appear that Roberts has a pretty cushy job and it goes beyond palm trees and beaches. Filling in the lineup card with Betts, Freeman, Ohtani, Smith, Teoscar, Yamamoto, Sasaki, Glasnow and bunch of terrific relief pitchers sounds like fun! Roberts made a couple of critical moves in the 2024 World Series vs. the Yankees that worked out. Aaron Boone’s Yankee team did well enough to advance to the WS but imploded in a forgettable fifth inning in Game 5. As the losing manager Boone’s head was being called for, but the Yankees ignored that noise and are poised to extend Boone’s contract. Boone has handled his tenure as manager in New York quite well. The post-World Series pressers displayed Roberts as relieved and happy. Relieved because he piloted the best team, AND they delivered. Boone was morose, regretful, and frustrated as any losing leader should be.
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What does a manager actually do?
A couple of years ago, my friend and business partner mentioned to me that his teenage son and he were listening to our podcast, and he asked — ‘What does a baseball manager do?’ My son and I did do a podcast about that and we focused on how different being a manager is today versus what it was like before the 1980s. That coincides with baseball in its more pre-analytics days.
Before the 1980’s managers had nearly absolute power. Power to make a career possible and the power to bury a player’s opportunity. Sometimes it was personal although they’d never admit that. At other times managers felt players were too soft or feigning injuries. Clubs placed it all in the manager’s hand and the General Manager (which has morphed into President of Baseball Operations) was there to secure players that would hopefully make the team successful.
In the 80’s it began to be different. When Davey Johnson took over the Mets in 1984, he had moved up from managing the team’s AAA club in Norfolk. Johnson managed the team to the International League championship in 1983. Some of the players that ended up being important on those excellent mid-1980’s Mets teams played for Johnson before he took over the Mets. Both Darryl Strawberry and Wally Backman played for Johnson and were known quantities. Dwight Gooden was on the radar. More importantly was Johnson’s embracing statistical analysis which was unusual at the time. While Davey was sometimes fiery and acerbic, he did not have the same style as one of his managerial mentors, Earl Weaver of the Orioles for whom Johnson played for eight seasons. I don’t remember Davey ever kicking dirt on umpire’s shoes or flinging bases around like Lou Piniella. In fact I don’t remember any MLB manager going nuts kicking dirt around in more years than I am able to remember. Nationals manager Dave Martinez did have a pretty demonstrative reaction to being tossed from a 2023 game but it fell short of being Weaverian.
Beyond throwing fewer and less dynamic tantrums, baseball managers unlike basketball and hockey coaches — are less teachers and more spiritual guides for their players and the franchise. Football coaches have evolved to be somewhat similar although it’s difficult to compare preparing for 17 regular season games to 162.
Bone up on your Spanish
It’s true there are increasing amounts of Japanese (and Korean) players in the league, unless you’re a Dodger (3) there’s only one per team. But today’s managers are best off being able to communicate in Spanish since 25% of the players are from Spanish speaking countries. Is it just coincidence that Dave Roberts has some Japanese heritage and speaks it to some degree? It’s convenient if nothing else. Being able to communicate with a player directly in his own language is invaluable and I believe is a factor in a team’s overall success.
Baseball managers (and staffers) also need to be facile with the ever-evolving technology that is now ingrained in MLB. There are older managers who grew up in a different age and they’ve had to adapt or else they end up being left behind one way or the other.
EVERYONE is watching EVERYTHING
Then there’s the never-ending scrutiny aided by video replays, social media, and general trolling. Baseball managers have always been second guessed and always will be. Writers and fans have access to most of the same statistics available to managers and defending a decision has not become easier when everyone is collectively more knowledgeable. This contrasts to a time when scrutiny was limited to newspaper pages and call-in radio shows. Being irascible is not a trait that benefits managers or their franchises. You must also answer the questions and handle them with poise AND be thoughtful. Aside from that, you conduct stupid in-game interviews which I wrote about a while back.
Being fired is always around the corner
In my view MLB managers today are the best they’ve ever been. And they are improving even if their team stinks. Baseball managers like all organizational leaders in sports get fired and will continue to be fired even if they are not doing a ‘bad’ job. 26 players can’t be fired — at least not all at once, and changing the manager is taking a shot that a different voice might be better for the current roster of players. I don’t know how former White Sox manager Pedro Grifol lasted for as long as he did this past season before mercifully being fired in September. It didn’t matter if it was his fault or not. The team was historically bad and change, any change, was welcome. Chances are Grifol will find other employment and perhaps even garner another manager job in MLB in the future.
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While some of the traditional aspects of the manager’s role are still in evidence — besides filling out the lineup card there’s pitching changes, player substitutions, dealing with hot and cold players, and nurturing talent up and down the roster. Current managers have more coaches and staff than those in the past and managing all those units is part of the job too!
A baseball season is said to be a marathon and not a sprint. Learning how to deal with being under the microscope for 7+ months is critical. Some managers do that better than others. Maybe because there’s so much for a manager to do!
About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and Substack.com. Mark can be reached on x @almostcoop and almostcooperstown@gmail.com
