Manager of the Year choices seem so random, it’s hard to understand what the criteria is. Joe Girardi, as one example, won the Manager of the Year award in a season in which he made his team demonstrably worse than the previous season.
That said, I’m a big fan of overachievement. One of the odder aspects of sports psychology is that coaches (in all sports I believe) get penalized for overachieving. Posting a damn good team season with an average roster, or a great season with a good roster not only usually gets overlooked but penalized due to the “but no ring!” mantra of the simpletons.
By any measure, Aaron Boone has overachieved again* in 2024 and deserves the Manager of the Year Award. (2018, 2019, and 2021 were massive overachievements, in case you missed those seasons.)
For those of you with short memories, when 2024 started, Baseball America, MLB.com, The Ringer, and ESPN all had Houston, Texas, and Baltimore ranked ahead of the Yankees in their AL preseason rankings. Two of them – Baseball America and The Ringer – had Seattle ranked ahead of the Yankees and The Ringer had Tampa Bay ranked ahead of the Yankees.
By numerous professional accounts, the Yankees were either the second or third best team in the AL East, and somewhere between the fourth and sixth best team in the American League.
As I type this, the Yankees have the best record in the American League, FYI. That my friends, is overachieving.
This is without factoring in…
The team didn’t have their best pitcher in the season’s first half.
The starters that did pitch regularly, were wildly inconsistent.
The bullpen has been a long list of guys whose names are followed by “I’m sorry, who…?!?” Seriously – Boone has had to use guys with names of Clayton Andrews, Nick Burdi, Yoendrys Gomez, Anthony Misiewicz, Dan Challis, Josh Masiejewski, and Phil Bickford.
I only made one of those names up.
Of course, everyone will point to Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, but guess what? Aaron Boone has had to write out a lineup daily that contains three to four batters who are automatic outs. Think I’m exaggerating? Of the twelve Yankee hitters with the most PA in 2024, seven of them have a wRC+ below 90 – literally more than half the batters from whom Boone can choose are garbage hitters. (And this isn’t even mentioning that one of the best hitters – Gleyber Torres – clearly hasn’t been 100% healthy all season.)
And yet, the Yanks are likely to finish with a win total in the mid-90s and the AL’s best record. That is why Aaron Boone is your AL Manager of the Year.
Too long to fully cover here, but I will listen to arguments for AJ Hinch and Stephen Vogt. I will not entertain arguments for KC’s Matt Quatraro – KC’s turnaround is largely due to a revamped starting rotation that wasn’t previously on the roster, and a Bobby Witt Jr that went from good to otherworldly – those two things have been worth about 20 or so bWAR to KC this season.
Did I miss something? Let me know in the comments, or yell at me @mybaseballpage1 on Twitter and/or the “My Baseball Page“on Facebook.
What I’m currently reading: “Wilber ‘Bullet’ Rogan and the Kansas City Monarchs” by Phil Dixon. I’ve long maintained that when Shohei Ohtani is compared to Babe Ruth, he really should be compared to Bullet Rogan. Phil’s got a ton of knowledge bombs in this one – good stuff.
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