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MLB Managers of the Year 2012: The case for Davey Johnson

When it came time to cast my ballot for National League Manager of the Year, three candidates jumped out: the Washington Nationals’ Davey Johnson, the San Francisco Giants’ Bruce Bochy and the Cincinnati Reds’ Dusty Baker.

I went for Johnson first, Bochy second and Baker third. Before telling me I got it wrong, remember that the ballots had to be turned in before the start of the postseason.

Davey Johnson led the Nationals to the NL East title. (AP Photo)

Think about this, too: What statistics does one use in determining manager of the year? There is winning percentage and there is winning percentage and there is winning percentage.

Of course, winning percentage isn’t enough. So you match winning percentage against preseason expectations. You also consider as many variables as possible. How many injuries did his team have to overcome? How did he use his bullpen? What was the team’s record in one-run games? How many players lived up to their expectations? How many times did he put his foot in his mouth?

Unlike individual player awards, there aren’t many statistics to consider when evaluating the performance of managers. That isn’t a bad thing, either, for someone who still is trying to figure out why, if WAR is such an end-all stat, there is more than one way to determine it. That doesn’t seem very objective, does it?

So why Johnson? All three NL skippers overcame plenty and did excellent jobs. After asking numerous baseball insiders for their opinion, I could see there was no consensus choice but at least I was convinced I had the three best candidates.

And I could make the strongest case for Johnson, who managed a franchise that had not been to the postseason in 31 years to the NL East title. From the start of spring training, Johnson told everyone who would listen that Washington was a playoff club. His players were listening.

Johnson had to deal with the Stephen Strasburg shutdown situation all season. He had to break in and bring along Bryce Harper. And, like the other two candidates, he had plenty of injuries to overcome. Yet the Nationals moved into first place on May 22 and stayed there the rest of the season, finishing with a major league-best 98 wins.

And, finally, there was this: Johnson’s Nationals went 5-1 against Bochy’s Giants. Winning percentage matters.

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