AUTHOR: MrBaseball09 TITLE: Managerial Power Rankings DATE: 4:26:00 PM ----- BODY:

6. Brad Mills (Houston Astros) Granted, he does have a tremendous amount of baseball experienced. However, he has never managed at the Major League Level before, which makes him in experienced. He did manage eleven seasons in the Cubs minor league system, but that's a whole heck of a lot different then managing at the major league level. How much pressure are you under managing a AA team? Very little. Because frankly, winning at the minor league level is almost meaningless. The whole point of the minor leagues is strictly for player development. Not winning championships. Another reason I put him so low is that it takes a lot of experience to truly know whats going on. Experienced managers have seen it all, they have been in virtually every position you can imagine. They have studied the players, they know what they are up against, and they know how to get the job done. 5. John Russell (Pittsburgh Pirates) The 38th manager in club history. He was signed to replace Jim Tracy prior to the 2008 season, and thus far, has done nothing of significance and has posted a 129-194 record in his two seasons as Pirates manager. But hey, can you blame him? On the bright side tho, he does have the potential to be a great manager as in 1999 he was named the Best Double-A Managerial Prospect in the game. This season will be his first opportunity to truly show the baseball world what he is made of, because this is the first season that he has actually had a decent ball-club to work with. It should be interesting to see how he does. 4. Dusty Baker (Cincinnati Reds) Although he has posted a career winning record of 1314-1213 in his long 16 year career in the Majors. He has also made some pretty idiotic decisions over the years that have left him with nothing but a lot of pissed off fans. A good example of this is the fact that he is known for resting his good young players...way too often. He claims it's because he doesn't want to hurt their development. But how is playing your top players on a daily basis going to hurt your development? It doesn't. It only helps. Another reason many fans can't stand Baker is he never seems to let a starting pitcher stay in the game longer then seven innings. I have seen games where you got a starter going into the seventh inning, pitch count is under 100, zero earned runs. And he will pull him out of the game for a struggling reliever who ends up blowing the game. That is why I put him at #4, feel free to criticize this decision in a comment. I know a lot of you are going to disagree. 3. Ken Macha (Milwaukee Brewers) Being a Brewers fan, one thing I don't like about Ken Macha is once he has a batting order set on Opening Day, he tends to keep that same batting order for the rest of the season, regardless of players performance. For example, he consistently batted J.J Hardy in the middle of the order when he posted a .229 batting average in the 2009 season. Why on earth would you do that when you have Alcidies Escobar, one of the best prospects in the game, rotting down in Triple-A? There's no excuse for it. However, I put him at #3 because of his outstanding career with Oakland in which he put together four winning seasons in a row, two of which playoff seasons. 2. Lou Piniella (Chicago Cubs) As much as I hate to admit it, Lou is one of the best managers in the game today, not to mention one of the most experienced. He even won the manager of the year award back in 2008 in his second complete season with Chicago. And has put together winning seasons in all three of his seasons with the Cubs. The only thing I don't like about the guy is he is known for having a temper, and getting thrown out of ballgames is common for him. Your not going to help your team a whole lot watching the games from the clubhouse now are you? 1. Tony La Russa (St. Louis Cardinals) Is there any doubt that Tony La Russa is the best manager in this division, if not Major League Baseball? The man is an absolute legend, who is destined for the Hall of Fame. Over his 32-year career, he has had 19 winning-seasons, 13 playoff seasons, two world series championships, four Manager Of The Year Awards, and posted a career 2552 wins, and 2217 losses. Numbers that will certainly raise a few eyebrows. If there's any doubt in your mind that Tony isn't the best manager the game has ever seen, I suggest reading his book Three Nights in August. It may change your mind...

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Reds03 DATE:2/10/2010 06:03:00 PM Baker is known for leaving guys IN too long, not taking them out ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Baseballnum3er0 DATE:2/10/2010 07:34:00 PM I agree with Reds on that statement, the thing that has gotten him in to the most trouble is leaving a guy(*cough*Prior NLCS*cough*) in too long. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: joshrcay DATE:2/10/2010 08:45:00 PM I'm excited to see how John Russell does this year with the Pirates. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: erich job DATE:2/11/2010 07:49:00 PM Being a Cubs fan,I can relate to those Dusty posts. He treats his pitchers like b#*ches. The question with the Cubs now is, who will replace Lou? ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Ebes DATE:2/13/2010 01:33:00 PM I hated to see sweet Lou leave cincinnati. H's mellowed. ----- --------