Prior to the start of the 2013 Major League Baseball season Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson had told the owners, general manager Mike Rizzo, the player and the fans that this season would be his last. Based on their record-best season in 2012, very few thought that Johnson was going to step down without the Commissioner’s Trophy lifted high above his head for the first time since his only victory as a manager with the 1986 New York Mets.
Unfortunately for the Nationals, 2013 came to a bitter end 10 games behind the Atlanta Braves for the National League Eastern Division title and four games out of a Wild Card spot. Many were unsure where the leadership of the franchise would be going, while other, like the ever-popular Twitter account @JWerthsBeard felt that a big, familiar name to the Washington, D.C. area like Cal Ripken, Jr. was the way to go. It only took a month, but Rizzo and the Nationals found their man to lead the team to the Promised Land on the third baseline at Chase Field. Matt Williams is now the sixth manager in Nationals history.
In my 30 years on this planet, 27 of which have been as a baseball fan, there is a pattern that I have been starting to pick up on over the last 10 years which has become especially confusing; that trend being the hiring of managers with no managerial experience. For those who don’t remember, Williams was a hell of a player for the San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Indians and the 2001 World Series champion Arizona Diamondbacks.
His playing career came to a close at the end of the 2003 season, but he was brought back down to the field for the start of the 2010 season as a member of former manager AJ Hinch’s coaching staff. Hinch, like current manager Kirk Gibson, had no prior managerial experience, but Gibby, like Hinch, though Williams made for a good coach so he kept him on his staff, moving him from first base coach to third base coach through the end of the 2013 season. But prior to Williams taking over on the bags, he had no experience whatsoever has a coach. He was literally originally brought in like a friend giving another a job and kept around by another friend. Whatever the motives were, they certainly helped.
As I mentioned, teams hiring former players who are not too far removed from the game has become an interesting trend through the league. It’s really not too much of a far cry from the turn of the 20th century when player/managers were prevalent; however, the times have certainly changed since the last player/manager took the field for the Cincinnati Reds in 1986. His name was Pete Rose. Since 2010 there have been nine managers, including Williams, who hold full-time positions with no prior managerial experience under their before being hired to their position. By full-time I mean they were brought on without having the interim tag labeled on their resume.
So far half (Don Mattingly of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Mike Matheny of the St. Louis Cardinals, Robin Ventura of the Chicago White Sox and Gibson) have tasted at least one successful season during their tenure while the others (Bo Porter of the Houston Astros, Walt Weiss of the Colorado Rockies, Mike Redmond of the Miami Marlins and the newly acquired Bryan Price of the Reds) continue to find their footing. What does this all mean?
It’s really hard to say. Managers like Redmond and Porter were basically given nothing to work with as both teams have elected to start over from scratch. Williams, like the six at least have a strong group of talent currently at the Major League level as well as solid farm teams for years to come. But how will Williams fit into the Nationals system? Once again, it’s hard to tell. Williams has more than likely started calling the players on his team to familiarize himself, but unless he plans on traveling to their houses too, he won’t be seeing his guys until the middle of February as Spring Training gets underway. There’s also the slight risk that Williams may receive a lot of flack for having been an admitted PED user back in 2002 as it ay affect the overall judgment of the players in the clubhouse, much like the grief that Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington received in 2010 after it was discovered he tested positive for cocaine in 2009, his third year with the team.
A lot of this is all just nuts and bolts, but when I look at this move, I just don’t see it working out for either party. Most of my personal issues with managers stems from their teaching abilities which is reflexive with their playing careers. Only two players to be elected to the Hall of Fame have had truly successful careers as managers and won at least World Series title at the helm, Red Schoendienst of the St. Louis Cardinals (1967) and Bob Lemon of the New York Yankees (1978). A small handful of former league MVPs had great success as managers (Joe Torre, Lou Piniella and Mike Scioscia), but for the most part the greatest managers in the game were the guys who could barely hack it at the Major League level if they were even given a shot.
Guys like Casey Stengel, Sparky Anderson and Tony LaRussa didn’t have budding careers as players because what they lacked in ability they made up for with their intellect. I’m not saying that Williams isn’t a smart guy, but he made multiple All-Star teams and finished in the top-six for the National League MVP Award four times throughout his career. In my mind, history isn’t going to be on his side for this leg of his career.