Great Managers vs Great Players?

We've seen it countless numbers of times where the best baseball players aren't the best managers and often times the best coaches didn't have the most successful MLB careers.

Andrew McCutchen is on the back side of his career and has played for 5 different MLB teams resulting in 7 different managers.

I thought it would be fun to look at where those managers were in 2009 when Cutch debuted and a brief history of the manager's careers.  All the managers that Cutch has played at least 25 games with at the MLB level had a Topps Flagship or Topps Heritage card produced in 2009. I will show off both a Topps Flagship and Topps Heritage when possible.  

Cutch debuted in June 2009 for the Pittsburgh Pirates who were on the verge of another rebuild due to the franchise's last winning season in 1992. 

John Russell was the manager of the Pirates when Cutch debuted in 2009.  He became manager of the Pirates in 2008 and was the first manager under the new Neal Huntington GM days. Russell had a difficult situation as manager of the Pirates as the team was transitioning to new ownership and a new GM/VP.  This of course meant a complete year down of the major league roster.  The 2007 Pirates were the second worse team in baseball standings and their farm system was also one of the worst with only a few bright spots on the horizon of becoming productice MLB players (Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, Steve Pearce being among the leaders).  Russell had the distinction of having to develop young talent as the major league roster got desimated at the 2008, 2009, and 2010 deadlines.  

During Russell's stint as manager it saw former All Stars Jason Bay, Freddy Sanchez, Jack Wilson, Matt Capps, Oliver Perez, Xavier Mary and Nate McLouth get traded or DFA.  It also saw guys like Javier Lopez, Jose Bautista, Adam Laroche, and Jesse Chavez get traded with subpar returns. 

Russell had to manage a team of revolving players and after a 105 loss season in 2010 it ultimately lead to his departure from the organization.

John Russell managed a 186-299 record with the Pirates. After the Pirates, he caught on with the Baltimore Orioles as an assistant coach from 2011-2018. His playing days career lasted 10 seasons over the course of only 448 games played at 1B, C, and LF.  He amassed a -3.2WAR with a .225 batting average.

Following John Russell's departure from the Pirates, the team had a lengthy interview process, but ultimately chose to bring in former Rockies manager, Clint Hurdle.

Clint Hurdle was a former top prospect that made the cover of Sports Illustrated as a teenager. His MLB career fell short of the expectations of a phenom. His debut occurred in 1977 as a 19 year old and he was out of the league in 1987 after having appeared in only 515 games over a 10 year career.  He finished his career with 32 HR, 193 RBI, and a .259 batting average. 

When Cutch debuted in 2009, Hurdle was managing the Colorado Rockies, a team that Hurdle lead to the World Series just two seasons prior.  Hurdle took over the Pirates in 2011 and would manage them through the 2019 season.

There's a famous quote "We came to kick some ass and chew bubblegum"

Clint Hurdle chew a lot of bubblegum.

The former top prospect had a managerial career of 584-549 when managing teams that Cutch was on.  When he was hired as the manager of the Pirates he said he wanted to reunite the Pittsburgh fanbase to the Pirates and end the (at the time) nearly two decades long losing streak.  On the teams that featured Cutch & Hurdle leading the ship, the team posted a .515 winning percentage.  He helped lead the Pirates to three straight postseason appearances.  During those three seasons, the Pirates had the second best record in all of MLB with a 280-206 record (.576 winning percentage).  His overall managing career with the Rockies and Pirates (including 2 seasons post Cutch era) was 1269-1345 (.485 winning percentage)

Following the 2017 season, the Pirates began a firesale on their 2 former faces of the franchise.  Gerrit Cole was traded to the Astros and a few days later, Cutch was traded to the San Francisco Giants for the 2018 season.  2018 marked the last year on Cutch's guaranteed contract prior to entering free agency for the 2019 season.  Cutch joined an aging Giants team that was looking to spark their offense by grabbing not only Cutch, but another former face of the franchise in Evan Longoria, formerly with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Cutch's new manager would be Bruce Bochy to start the 2018 season.

Bruce Bochy is likely the most accomplished manager that Cutch will have played for over his career.  Bochy, like Cutch's two former MLB managers, was a catcher in his playing days.  Bochy played for 9 seasons and amassed only 2.3 WAR over 358 games.  His last game played, like Hurdle was also in 1987.

Bruce Bochy has won 3 World Series Championships with the San Francisco Giants (2010, 2012, 2014). 

The Giants were in contention through the July trade deadline and held onto all their potential trade chips, but injuries and a very poor August by the team lead them to put Cutch on the trade block prior to the (now defunct) August 30th waiver trade deadline.  The Giants finished with a 68-68 record while Cutch was on the team under Bochy's management.  

Overall Bochy's record sits at 2003-2029 (.497 winning percentage).  Often times we hear that Bochy is a no doubt Hall of Famer, but I think recent bias makes us forget about all those bad seasons the early 2000s Padres teams and late 2000s Giants teams had.  Side note, once Cutch left the Giants the team managed to win only 5 games in September and Cutch despite not playing the last month of the season with the Giants, finished in second for HR and H and lead the team in RBI.

 

Cutch joined the New York Yankees for the last month of the 2018 season after the waiver trade deadline ended.  He joined a powerhouse lineup that was facing a lot of injury concerns, but being managed by Aaron Boone.

Aaron boone is best known for his 2003 ALCS Walk Off HR.  He only had 1 card produced in 2009, a Topps Heritage card featuring him with the Astros. He played in 10 games that season with Houston and finished his career with one All Star Game appearance (2003) as a member of the Cincinnati Reds.   

Aaron Boone is still managing the NY Yankees.  Since joining the club, they have made the playoffs every season.  

Cutch's 2018 Yankees tenure under Boone's management, the team went 14-12, but were eliminated in the ALDS to the eventual WS Champs Boston Red Sox.

For the first time in Cutch's career he got to choose where he would play.  

The 5xAll Star chose the city of Philadelphia to be his new home as he signed a 3 year contract with a 4th year team option (which wasn't picked up).

Leading the 2019 Phillies was Gabe Kapler.  When Cutch debuted in 2009, Kapler was signed to be a member of the Tampa Bay Rays for the 2009 season after a successful utility role on the Brewers in previous seasons. 

When Cutch signed on with the Phillies in 2019 he joined a team that was in a win now mode despite the franchise not having a winning season since 2011. Kapler had managed the Phillies the season prior to Cutch joining the organization.  Kapler gave Cutch his traditional #22. The Phillies started out very strong in 2019 with a team of former All Stars Cutch, Bryce Harper, Jean Segura, and JT Realmuto joining a club that narrowly missed the playoffs the previous two seasons.  The Kapler lead squad with Cutch on the field in 2019 was 33-26 (1st place in division) prior to a season ending ACL tear and another late season Phillies collapse.

Kapler won the NL Manager of the Year in 2021 after surprising many with a postseason run with the Giants. His current managerial record is 332-275 (.547 winning percentage).  He played 12 seasons as an outfielder for 6 different teams.

Joe Girardi was brought on to manage the Phillies for the 2020 season.  He won a World Series with the New York Yankees in 2009, the year Cutch made his MLB debut. Like many other managers, Girardi played the bulk of his games as a catcher.  He debuted in 1989 and played until 2003.  He was selected to be an All Star in 2000 as a member of the Cubs. He was also the starting catcher for the expansion Colorado Rockies.  He won 3 World Series as a player with the Yankees. 

Recently in the 2022 season, the Phillies dismissed Joe Girardi from his managerial duties after starting the season under .500. 

Girardi and the Phillies missed the playoffs in both the 2020 and 2021 seasons.  The Girardi lead Phillies with Cutch had a 110-112 record. 

For only the second time in Cutch's career he got to choose where he would play, signing with the Brewers for the 2022 season. 

Craig Counsell has been managing the Brewers since 2015.  Counsell played in the majors as a utility infielder (2B, SS, and 3B) and won 2 World Series (2001 Diamondbacks & 1997 Marlins).  He was the NLCS MVP in 2001. He was playing for the Brewers in 2009 when Cutch debuted. 

A World Series hero in his playing days and one of the best current managers, Counsell has a career .526 winning percentage (563-508) through June 15, 2022, Counsell is very unorthodox in his approach at the plate and behind the fence.  

Now to finish out I will leave with this great card of current Brewers manager Craig Counsell.  Look at that stance before the pitch approaches the plate.  They just dont teach that approach in little league these days.

What active players do you think could be a good manager in the future?

Do you have a favorite manager?

Do you wish Topps still produced manager cards in both Flagship and Heritage?