Terry Francona, Clint Hurdle: MLB Managers of the Year

[Auggie]

Francona and Clint Hurdle of the Pittsburgh Pirates won the Manager of the Year awards Tuesday after guiding their small-budget teams to charming turnarounds.

In a close vote by the Baseball Writers' Association of America panel, Francona edged old friend John Farrell of the World Series champion Red Sox 112 points to 96 for the American League honor.

SNIP

Francona garnered 16 first-place votes to 12 for Farrell, who lifted the Red Sox from last place to first in the AL East in his debut season as their manager. Boston won 97 games, tied for most in the majors, one year after going 69-93 under Bobby Valentine.

Bob Melvin, last year's winner, received the other two first-place votes and came in third after his low-payroll Oakland Athletics won their second consecutive AL West crown.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9967966/terry-francona-cleveland-indians-clint-hurdle-pittsburgh-pirates-honored-top-managers



Well deserved.

[PRETZEL]

1. Hurdle was a runaway winner

which was great to see. It took a couple of years but he most certainly deserved this. So did Francona.

And as an aside, Pittsburgh can claim part of Francona's since he was born and raised in the Pittsburgh area.

[Auggie]

2. Yep. They took their teams to the playoffs despite miniscule payrolls ...

and it wasn't handed to Farrell by default.

[PRETZEL]

3. Agree

but given the Sox record over last year and winning the WS, there would be a pretty good case for Farrell.

[joeybee12]

4. Bitter...

I think Francona deserved it, but there was a strong case for John Farrell, even if you don't want to admit it!