Buck Showalter named National League Manager of the Year

Tonight, Buck Showalter was named National League Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers of America. Showalter is the first Mets manager to ever win the award, though this is not his first time winning the award. Showalter has now won the award while managing four different franchises: the Yankees, the Rangers, the Orioles, and the Mets.

Showalter inherited a team that had not made the playoffs in five seasons and was in a division with the reigning World Series champion. Despite all of that, Showalter led the Mets to a 101 win season, only the fourth time in franchise history the team had triple-digit wins. Showalter led the team through injuries to their top two pitchers and kept the team afloat, even when the Braves went on an historic run from June through October.

While the team did not advance far in the playoffs, and there are legitimate gripes about some of Showalter’s tactical, in-game decisions, it is hard to argue that he did not contribute, and handily, to the culture change that started with Steve Cohen’s purchase of the team. Showalter had the respect of his players and, apparently, the baseball media, leading to his fourth award, tied for the most all time, and stands as the only manager to ever win the award for four different teams.

Congratulations, sir.