Awards offer no job security for skippers
Joe Maddon won the National League Manager of the Year Award.
That's nice.
Even better for Maddon is that he has four years remaining on the five-year, $25 million deal he signed a year ago with the Chicago Cubs.
That's security.
Security is not a by-product of being selected as the top manager by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Oh, Maddon did win the honor twice in the American League as well, when he was with Tampa Bay, and he'd still be with the Rays if he had not opted out of his deal a year ago, which led to his hiring by the Cubs.
Maddon, however, is the exception.
In the 33 seasons since the BBWAA began selecting a Manager of the Year for the NL and AL in 1983, there have been 55 men who have won the 67 awards (Joe Torre and Johnny Oates shared the honors in '96), counting Tony La Russa three times for winning with the White Sox, A's and Cardinals, and several others twice for winning with two teams.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle, who won the NL award in 2013, is the only former Senior Circuit winner who is still employed by the team he managed the year he was selected.
Matt Williams, the NL winner in 2014, was fired earlier this offseason, the most recent of the 33 managers out of the 55 who were eventually fired by the team they managed the year won the award. And those 33 survived an average of only slightly more than two years after being honored.
Joe Girardi, who won with Miami in 2006, and Davey Johnson, who won with Baltimore in 1997, were gone before the award was announced.
Williams, Lou Piniella (2008 Cubs), Bob Melvin ('07 D-backs), Tony Pena ('03 Royals), Jimy Williams (1999 Red Sox), Jack McKeon ('99 Reds), Buck Showalter ('94 Yankees), Gene Lamont ('93 White Sox), Jeff Torborg ('90 White Sox), Frank Robinson ('89 Orioles), Don Zimmer ('89 Cubs), John McNamara ('86 Red Sox) and Jim Frey ('84 Cubs) all lasted less than two years.
Jeff Banister of the Rangers was presented the AL award last week, and the three previous winners remain with their teams -- Showalter (Orioles, 2014), Terry Francona (Indians '13) and Bob Melvin (A's, '12).
Video: Castrovince on Banister being named 2015 AL MOY
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Maddon's Cubs finished third in the NL Central, but they claimed the second NL Wild Card berth, beat the Pirates in the NL Wild Card Game, then upset St. Louis in the NL Division Series before being swept by the Mets in the NL Championship Series. Banister guided the Rangers to the AL West title, but they were eliminated by the Blue Jays in the AL Division Series.
There have been only four NL Manager of the Year selections who took their team to the World Series: Jack McKeon (Marlins, 2003), and Tommy Lasorda (Dodgers, 1988), who won World Series championships, and Bobby Cox (Braves, '91) and Whitey Herzog (Cardinals, '85), who lost in the World Series.
There has been a stronger showing in the AL. The Manager of the Year Award winner has come from the World Series champions six times, including Joe Torre with the Yankees in 1996 and '98; Ozzie Guillen with the White Sox in 2005; Mike Scioscia with the Angels in '02; Tom Kelly, with the Twins in 1991; and Sparky Anderson with the Tigers in '84. The AL manager of the Year Award winner was on the losing end of the World Series in '86 (John McNamara, Red Sox), '88 (La Russa, A's), 2006 (Leyland, Tigers) and '08 (Maddon, Rays).
Delay the vote
With the selection of Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals as the NL MVP Award winner and Josh Donaldson of the Blue Jays as the AL MVP Award winner, the league's top player has come from a World Series championship team only once in the 21 seasons since the Division Series was added to the postseason: Buster Posey with the Giants in 2012.
Video: Duquette compares MVP winners Donaldson, Harper
Only twice during that span has an MVP Award winner come from a team that lost the World Series: Josh Hamilton with the Rangers in 2010, and Miguel Cabrera with the Tigers in 2012.
That leads to the question as to whether the voting should be delayed until after the postseason. It was one thing to demand ballots submitted before the first game of the postseason when the awards were first created, because the postseason consisted of the World Series and nothing more.
With the addition of the Wild Card Game in each league in 2012, in addition to the Division Series, which was added in 1995, and the LCS, which was added in 1969, there are now 10 teams -- five from each league -- still playing baseball after the regular season ends.
Harper, who was the NL Rookie of the Year Award winner in 2012, became the 24th player to win a Rookie of the Year and MVP Award during his career. The list includes Mike Trout, who was the AL Rookie of the Year in 2012, the year Harper won the NL award, and then won the AL MVP a year ago.
Ichiro Suzuki, with the Mariners in 2001, and Fred Lynn, with the Red Sox in 1975, are the only players to win both awards in the same season.
Happy anniversary
• Sunday is the 33rd anniversary of second baseman Steve Sax becoming the fourth consecutive Dodger player to win the NL Rookie of the Year Award. Rick Sutcliffe won the award in 1979, followed by Steve Howe in '80 and Fernando Valenzuela in '81.
• Monday is the 72nd anniversary of the date Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis forced Phillies owner William D. Cox to sell the team and banned him from being employed in Major League Baseball for betting on his own team.
• Tuesday is the 62nd anniversary of Walter Alston signing the first of 23 consecutive one-year contracts to manage the Dodgers, who won seven NL pennants and four World Series during his tenure.