Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman has published his yearly take on the top managers in Major League Baseball. After a year at number two in the rankings, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Tony La Russa is back on top here in 2009.
Key reasons cited are his roster management, teams that play hard and results. Heyman also wonders out loud about La Russa’s contract status because of his relationship with GM John Mozeliak without noting the manager’s long-standing support from ownership. Another glaring omission was any acknowledgement of the 800-pound gorilla in the room, Albert Pujols, as the MVP relates to the manager’s future in the Gateway City.
Among the often-heralded MLB managerial veterans who fell outside Heyman’s current top ten are Jim Leyland and Bobby Cox.
One rising managerial star I particularly admire is Tampa’s Joe Maddon. What’s not to like? Maddon has been an avid Cardinals fan virtually his entire life. Heyman notes his second-ranked skipper Mike Scioscia of the Angels is Maddon’s mentor. Scioscia is also a strong supporter of Don Wakamatsu of the surprising 2009 Seattle Mariners after the younger man coached in the Halos organization.
That reminded me of something that has bothered me for some time.
I am not quibbling about La Russa being among the top managers year upon year, nor am I particularly worried about his contract status.
What I have wondered about is the lack of successful Major League managers groomed by La Russa.
In his 14th season managing St. Louis and 31st year in the big leagues, the skipper turns 65 years of age this fall. Though he has not shared his future plans publicly, I am among those who believe he will continue to manage at least until he collects the 284 wins needed to pass John McGraw with the second-highest victory total in the history of the game. If so, that would keep La Russa in a big league dugout somewhere for at least three more seasons after this one.
Just about any article that mentions La Russa also gives proper credit to his Tonto, pitching coach Dave Duncan. In an article I will be running on Scout.com starting on Friday, La Russa makes this interesting observation about Duncan: “He wants to coach longer than I want to manage.”
Content with his role and disinterested in putting up with the “B.S.” that goes with being the man in front, Duncan is the quintessential sidekick – the best at what he does, but with no interest in becoming the lead performer himself.
One might say that about almost all of Tony’s coaching staff. While each is an excellent coach in his own right, they don’t seem to be on the managerial fast track. Instead of taking on hard chargers as he was early in his career, La Russa has primarily surrounded himself with contemporaries, baseball lifers seemingly content to stay right where they are.
Of them, only hitting coach Hal McRae has been a major league manager in the past and after speaking with him about it, I am quite sure he won’t be back in that role. Again, McRae says it is primarily driven by distaste for the B.S. inherent in the job.
First base coach Dave McKay has been with La Russa for 24 years and has always been a coach. Bench coach Joe Pettini once served as the Cardinals’ minor league field coordinator, but hasn’t managed in the minors since 1996. Ten-year bullpen coach Marty Mason has always been a pitching-related coach – never a manager.
That leaves Jose Oquendo as the lone potential exception and the only coach on the staff under 50 years old. Though he has just one season as a professional manager, way back in 1998 in short-season ball, Jose has gained international experience in winter ball and in the World Baseball Classic representing his homeland of Puerto Rico. Renowned as an infield teacher, “Secret Weapon” has interviewed for managerial openings in San Diego and Seattle, but has yet to be given a shot.
Don’t get me wrong – the continuity of coaches is one important factor that helps set the Cardinals apart in their excellence. Still, I can’t help but wonder to which future managers La Russa has been passing his considerable knowledge down.
Shouldn’t one important measure of coaching greatness be the number of descendents a manager/head coach fosters?
Not every manager can be like the NFL’s Bill Walsh, whose coaching tree is legendary. Championship coaches like Mike Holmgren, Jim Fassel, Sam Wyche, Dennis Green and George Seifert all received their starts under Walsh, with them later spawning another couple of dozen NFL head coaches.
The La Russa football connection is in front of mind as Tony is best buddies with another pair of NFL coaching greats, Bill Parcells and his one-time protégé, Bill Belichick. Despite having put in just nine years as the leader of the Pats, Belichick has launched the careers of at least six NFL head coaches. His protégés include three current top dogs – Eric Mangini (Cleveland), Josh McDaniels (Denver) and Jim Schwartz (Detroit).
Closer to home, Cox may be considered La Russa’s closest comparable, both in terms of time in the job and managerial victories. Since 1978, Cox developed current MLB managers Fredi Gonzalez and Cito Gaston along with former skippers Ned Yost and Jimy Williams. Cox also has his own version of in-house successor-in-waiting Oquendo in hitting coach and former Cardinals third baseman Terry Pendleton.
In Rob Rains’ new book,“Tony La Russa: Man on a Mission”, the importance of certain individuals in La Russa’s own early development jumps off the page. Specifically, keys were Loren Babe, his managerial mentor and then-White Sox general manager Roland Hemond, who gave La Russa his first big league job.
In turn, where are the examples of future Major League managers whose careers were started by working under La Russa?
In part two of this article, we will review La Russa’s coaching staffs since he was initially hired as a major league skipper in 1979 and focus on the subset who later became first-time MLB managers.
There have been only two in 31 years.
If we’re talking about legendary coaches, Bill Walsh is nothing more than an acorn under Paul Brown’s tree, as long as we’re using that story line. At the same time, I’m not comfortable comparing baseball managers to football coaches.
Tony’s job is to win games for his team, not develop potential managers. I haven’t read Rains’ book but I’ not sure it would change my opinion of his career.
His ability to keep a cadre about him that includes Duncan, McKay and Oquendo is what makes him the Fidel Castro of major league managers. I mean that in the most respectful manner.
Nice article Brian. I can’t help but feel that the answer to your questions are contained within it. Bill Walsh allowed certain personality types to find sanctuary in an environment that prior his influence, was far too corrosive for mild mannered intellectuals. Men not groomed in the mold of General Patton. The same might be said of Tony’s staff. They all contribute with an equal temperament. They know that the smallest gesture and vocal inflection in the fulfillment of there duties, is recognized and noted. Your last article on the removal of Boggs was a perfect example. Both Tony and Dave with their years of experience were talking in the dugout, sharing a well practiced and mutual recognition of an emotional syndrome that haunts young pitchers with Boggs physical and emotional makeup. Their action was a sign that they are functioning at a very high level, as a unit. I hoped that it would be true. I am encouraged.
In baseball, GMs may sometimes play the role of mentors of or advocates for manager candidates.
In terms of TLR’s influence on other managers, some of his tactical innovations have been adopted by others, whether they worked for Tony or not.
In football, there may be a custom of more movement between franchises among coaches. There may be more organizational continuity/loyalty within baseball.
TLR has surrounded himself with coaches content with their roles. Fine with me. I view TLR as responsible for developing his team’s players, rather than managers for other teams.
Speaking of others following Tony’s ideas, did I see Joe Torre bat the pitcher 8th last night with Juan Pierre in the 9 hole?
I think that Oquendo is clearly the most likely in-house replacement for Tony. If that happens, all of a sudden we have a coaching tree! The most obvious issue is that Tony’s staff has remained remarkably stable over the years. Frankly, that is a good thing for the Cardinals, and a bad thing for a coaching legacy. Given the choice, I am going to come down on the side of what is good for the Cardinals every time. The fact that Tony has kept his staff shows that he is a good guy, I mean, I have a great boss, but my eyes are always open for a better opportunity (I guess all salesmen are whores at heart, at least this one is). Tony has kept Duncan for over 2 decades. He has to have built up strong relationships with all of his staff and, as I understand it, has been supportive of Oquendo in his job hunt and I wouldn’t be surprised if Oquendo is named assistant manager or some other silly title in a year or so to acknowledge that he is the manager in waiting. I have seen that work at my alma mater, Purdue, in both basketball and now in football, and we’ll see how that works in the NFL with Caldwell replacing Dungy this year.
Lastly, to continue the reference to other sports, stability in a coaching staff should not be underrated. David Carr had 5 different offensive coordinators in 5 years in Houston, never getting a chance to settle into a routine or consistency. Peyton Manning has had 1 offensive coordinator his entire career. Now Peyton is a better quarterback than Carr, but Carr never was given the chance to succeed. On the whole, I think the continuity in the Cardinals’ staff is a net plus and it is irrelevant whether LaRussa has created a stable of guys that worked for him and went on to be managers. I suspect that LaRussa has kept all the good ones around.
Brian, I know that you’re probably watching the goings on in Arizona. If I were in the news business, looking for national recognition, I might write up something like this.
The first hankie has been dropped, the first toes cleaved, the first step sister introduced in the Tony La Russa / Dave Duncan Glass Slipper sweep stakes, the first leg, many feel, in the Albert Pujols bidding posture extravaganza!
Man what a sentence…………. I’m serious. Run with it.
Any number of MLB jobs may come open between now and October, when La Russa and Duncan can officially become free agents. Until then, I am not worrying much about it.
why would you worry about it? look at the toes, look at the hankie, look the moves. One day after the Manny 50 day? I tried. Some one else will pick it up. Believe me when I tell you Tony will have noticed.