BWAA’s Manager of the Year Award to be announced on Tuesday – MLB News
Cincinnati Reds' infielder Todd Frazier could not earn the National League Rookie of the Year Award on Monday, November 12. That was disappointing for the Reds' fans given the fact that they were entertaining a lot of hope and expectations here.
However, all eyes are now set on Tuesday’s event wherein Baseball Writers' Association of America will announce the National League Manager of the Year Award. The Reds' manager Dusty Baker will have rival candidates in Washington Nationals’ Davey Johnson and Bruce Bochy of the San Francisco Giants.
Even though Bochy comes forward as the favourite candidate for the award, considering his last three years’ performance wherein the club has won the World Series twice, Baker’s record in no way can be understated.
It is interesting to note here that Baker has led the Giants three times, in 1993, 1997 and 2000. Even though he was not leading the World Series winners this time, Baker commanded a winning team here in the regular season, finishing on top the National League Central with over 90 wins.
Not only that, Baker has been in the top five in the balloting seven times, a rare achievement for the manager whose team stumbled in the National League Division Series even though they had a bright prospect to edge past that.
With the two-year contract extension that Baker agreed to this year, however, the Reds have a chance to win that much-sought World Series title. Baker, after all, is the manager who has an impressive record in his career that spans 19-years.
He, therefore, had a strong reason to accept the contract-extension offer. "There's work left to be done," Baker said. "I didn't want to leave on a note that we still had work to do. It left a real pain in my heart to feel as I did at the end of the season this year."
To be among the top 3 nominees for the Manager of the Year Award is indeed a distinctive honour. However, the Reds will definitely keep their fingers crossed for a favourable result given how the season ended for them this year.
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