A lot of people say the Manager has no impact on the game, but that could not be further from the truth. In the playoffs I am a firm believer that the Manager decides the ball game when he goes to the bullpen and who he brings in. Here are my Power Rankings for the NL Central Managers.
1. Joe Maddon: This is only his third season with the club, but he has been the skipper of 3 other teams in MLB. Maddon inherited a solid Chicago team and with that means lofty expectations. Not only has Maddon met those expectations, but he has flown past them. With postseason appearances in his first two years, and a World Series last year, Maddon is a top the NL Central by a pretty large margin. Maddon is currently 201-124 with the Cubs and is a former 3x manager of the year, twice with the Rays. Maddon has a lot of experience which has helped him a lot as well. As much as it pains me to say this, but Chicago is primed for another deep run this year.
2. Mike Matheny: Tier of the NL Central starts here with Matheny of St. Louis and Clint Hurdle of the Pirates. Both are on the decline, but Matheny gets the nod because of his deep playoff runs. Matheny went to the World Series in 2013. It became clear that Matheny was the right choice after his first two seasons were very good and that's hard to due, because he was following Hall of Famer, Tony La Russa. After missing the playoffs last year, some Cards fans have grown increasingly frustrated with him and the questionable moves that seemed to work earlier in his career, but have haven't worked recently. A terrible start to 2017 season certainly doesn't help either. Matheny was a former catcher so he knows the game of baseball and I think he may still have some upside, but he is slowly losing fan support in St. Louis.
3. Clint Hurdle: He had the most success anyone has ever had with the Rockies, but like Matheny, Hurdle is also on the decline. After 20 straight seasons of losing, Hurdle finally had the Pirates back to the postseason where they would beat our Redlegs in the 2013 Wildcard game. Unfortunately, Clint would make the Postseason 2013, 14, & 15 and that Wildcard win would stand as his only Postseason win with the club. In 2013 and 2015, the Pirates won 95 games, so one playoff one is not what the Pirates were looking for. In 2015 they one 88 games and were once again eliminated in the wildcard game. Personally, I think the Pirates will go into a full rebuild mode after this season, so Clint make be making his way down this list.
4. Bryan Price: Unless you are a Reds fan you probably do not know much about Price. He was considered one of the best pitching coaches in the league back in 2010-2013 when the Reds rotation was one of the best. Once Dusty Baker was fired, Cincinnati went ahead and promoted Price. Despite a pretty embarrassing record in his first two years, the Reds were in rebuilding mode. Though 2017 is young, Price has made some solid moves out of the Bullpen and has sent the Reds off to a 7-2 start which ties the best record in the MLB. The jury is still out on Price, but for right now he is best known for his rant in which he dropped 77 F Bombs to reporters. There is potential for Price, but the picture will be a lot more clear 2-3 years.
5. Craig Counsell: I had too google who the Brewers manager was, so Craig isn't making too many moves early on in his career. For the record, I do remember him as a player, I just had no clue he managed the Brewers. Like Price, this is also Counsell's third season with the club, and also boast a pretty bad record. Also like Price, he hasn't been given a solid team yet so a lot is unknown about him. Despite this, the Brewers currently have one of the best Farm system in baseball right now, so we could be learning about his managing skills in the near future.
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