Wedge And Melvin Named Managers of the Year
MLB has announce that Arizona Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin and Cleveland Indians manager Eric Wedge have been named respectively National League and American League Managers of the Year. Melvin took a team that was in last place in the National League West in 2006, to Division Champions in 2007. The Diamondbacks were eliminated in the N.L.C.S. by the Colorado Rockies. Melvin received 119 votes to win the award by a comfortable margin, his nearest competitor was Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie Manuel who finished with 76 votes. Colorado Rockies manager Clint Hurdle whose team finished as the Wild card winner came in third place while Lou Piniella, in his first year managing the Chicago Cubs came in fourth.Wedge won the award with 116 votes over Angels manager Mike Scioscia who had 62 votes. Former Yankees manager, now L.A. Dodgers manager Joe Torre finished third while World Series Champion Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona finished in fourth place. If John Wayne was ever a MLB manager he would have been Eric Wedge. When Cleveland Indians General Manager Mark Shapiro first started talking about then Triple A Buffalo Bisons manager Eric Wedge in the fall of 2002 when he was a candidate for the parent club's vacant field boss job, the words dynamic and intense came up a lot. Those words still apply. Wedge can say more with a glare or a raised eyebrow than most people could say in a 10 minute monologue. He treats people as individuals, yet realizes, no part is greater than the whole. The word TEAM means a lot to Eric Wedge, a philosophy he has stressed since day one. That is why the Cleveland Indians this year are playing better than the sum of their collective parts. Because of Wedge's team concept. I had the pleasure of covering "Skip" as I called him for four seasons, he is one of the most impressive people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.
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