Home Baseball Why Is There So Much Hate For Matheny?

Why Is There So Much Hate For Matheny?

by Mick Lite

We know the ladies love him, as evident by the comments on our Facebook post in response to him winning this years’ Most Handsome Manager by NBC Sports Hardball Talk.

All the other comments include stuff like:

“Too bad he’s not a better manager”

“All bronze, no brains.”

“He sucks.”

“Garbage manager.”

Yes there are times he could have used the bullpen better, pulled a pitcher earlier, etc, etc… all the exact same stuff that every other manager out there gets criticized and second guessed for too.

He is a young manager (46), who had no managing experience, yet is doing a pretty good job at it. Sure you can say he wins cause he has a good team. Well duh. Even Tony LaRussa would say a manager is only as good as his players. Oh wait, the same fan base constantly bashing Matheny were doing the same complaining about TLR when he was here too and calling for his job etc etc etc… as recently as August 2011. I can only imagine what the facebook comments would have looked like while Whitey was manager/gm. Or what about those terrible early 90s when it was actually bad?

Most likely, Matheny is going to develop with experience… just like a young player.

If you are going to say he inherited Tony’s team, you would be wrong. If you also complain about Mozeliak, then it really gets confusing because if Mozeliak is poorly putting together teams, then wouldn’t that in fact mean that Matheny is even better of a manager?

Managerial wins since the beginning of 2012:

Manager, Age Wins Losses
Mike Matheny, 46 461 349
Joe Maddon, 62 459 351
Buck Showalter, 60 444 366
Don Mattingly, 55 443 366
Clint Hurdle, 59 437 372
Joe Girardi, 52 435 375
Bruce Bochy, 61 429 381
Mike Scioscia, 58 424 386
Ned Yost, 61 423 387
Bob Melvin, 55 415 395
John Farrell, 54 412 398
Terry Collins, 67 404 406
Robin Ventura, 49 375 435
Terry Francona, 57 352 294
Fredi Gonzalez, 52 345 340
John Gibbons, 54 339 309
Walt Weiss, 53 283 365
Dusty Baker, 67 282 204
Bud Black, 59 261 290
Brad Ausmus, 47 250 234
Ron Roenicke, 60 246 265
Ron Washington, 64 237 228
Kirk Gibson, 59 225 258
Bryan Price, 54 208 278
Ron Gardenhire, 59 202 284
Davey Johnson 184 140
Jeff Banister 183 141
Jim Leyland 181 143
Matt Williams 179 145
AJ Hinch 170 154
Lloyd McClendon 163 161
Mike Redmond 155 207
Kevin Cash 148 176
Chip Hale 148 176
Eric Wedge 146 178
Paul Molitor 142 182
Craig Counsell 134 165
Charlie Manuel 134 148
Sale Sveum 127 197
Ryne Sandberg 119 159
Bo Porter 110 190
Pete Mackanin 108 142
Dave Roberts 91 72
Scott Servais 86 76
Rick Renteria 73 89
Bobby Valentine 69 93
Ozzie Guillen 69 93
Andy Green 68 94
Manny Acta 65 91
Jim Tracy 64 98
Brian Snitker 59 65
Dan Jennings 55 69
Pat Murphy 42 54
Brad Mills 39 82
Tony DeFrancesco 16 25
Tim Bogar 14 8
Tom Lawless 11 13
Sandy Alomar Jr 3 3
Don Cooper 1 1
Alan Trammell 1 2

I only put ages by the managers with 200 or more wins. Most of these guys are around 60 years old with the exception of Ausmus and Matheny…. Ventura isn’t with the White Sox anymore. So with his current track record… and more experience… how good will Matheny be in 15 years when he is at the age of veteran managers like Joe Maddon, Terry Francona, and Bruce Bochy? Hall of Fame worthy?

Related Articles