I'd like him to, but never did I see the Braves or Cardinals making the playoffs this year. After the Braves free agent losses and minor acquisitions, it's quite a feat Bobby Cox managed the Braves to the postseason. Also, the Cardinals, I woulda said your insane if you said the Cards would beat out the Cubs and Astros in the division much less have the best record in baseball at the end of the regular season. Those two managed their respective teams to great years for their teams. I'm not saying they did a better job then Garner (because I'm not arguing with 36-10), but they did it longer and with less talent. Hopefully Garner could win it, though.
Bobby Cox. It's a tough choice. Garner led a remarkable turnaround, but the Braves exceeded expectations by so much, while the Astros either just barely fulfilled them or didn't meet them (if you go by preseason hype). LaRussa will probably get plenty of votes as well.
I pretty much agree with Jebus. Garner will, and deserves to, get plenty of votes. 1. Cox 2. LaRussa 3. Garner The job Garner did was just amazing. He really changed this team, starting with the running game. He wasn't afraid to constantly change the lineup (how many times was Bags switched around?) and bullpen mix until a winning combo was found. The mind boggling thing is, even though we won, like 29 out of our last 37, this team still had alot of flaws: Relatively slow Sub-part defensively (especially after Everett went down) Weak starting rotation (after Clemens and Oswalt) Semi-weak bullpen with an inexperienced closer Even during the last 6 weeks, our offense had its typical periods of inconsistencies. The last 2 games of the Colorado series, he managed his ass off. Hopefully, the Stros performance will help dismiss many of Garner's critics who based his managerial qualifications on the low talent teams he had in Detroit and Milwaukee.
Garner didn't even manage the Astros for half their games. As amazing a run as the Astros put together, no way he wins manager of the year. He'll get some votes and deserve them, but I can't see him winning an award managing 1/3 the games of someone like Bobby Cox or LaRussa. It's not that they were that much better than him, but they managed the entire season. You won't win the MVP award if you only play half the season, same thing here.
Did Garner do a great job, a truly monumental task...Yes...However, it was only for a half a season, albeit, the best half ever...Not sure the voters will take that into account...
He won't win it but he will get considerable votes. Garner should finish in the top 3 in the voting. Hell of a job he did.
