Handicapping the 2007 Manager of the Year Award in Major League Baseball

The Major League Baseball Manager of the Year Award has been given out annually since 1983 to the skipper in both leagues that have been deemed to have done the best job guiding their teams that season. The Sporting News gave out the award prior to 1983, beginning in 1936 when Yankee manager Joe McCarthy took the honors. The two current managers that have garnered the Manager of the Year Award the most times are the Cardinals' Tony LaRussa and the Braves' Bobby Cox, who have each won four times. The Manager of the Year Award for 2007 is up for grabs, with perhaps some history about to be made, as no skipper from the Mets, Diamondbacks, Indians, Brewers, or Devil Rays has ever been named the winner, but could be this year.

The American League Manager of the Year should come down to a race between Eric Wedge of the Indians and Joe Torre of the Yankees. Torre has the Yankees four games in front in the wild card chase after a horrible beginning to the season, when injuries to key players hamstrung their efforts. However, since the All-Star break, Torre's Yankees are playing .667 baseball, having gone 38-19 as of this writing and pulling away from both the Tigers and pesky Mariners for that last playoff spot. New York has an outside shot of overtaking the Red Sox, who had an incredible fast start but have cooled off since, but that would be asking a lot at this point in the season. The fact that New York has the highest payroll in the sport could hurt Torre's chances, as many voters figure the Yankees should be in the hunt every year no matter who is at the helm. Torre has the won the award twice before with New York, in 1996 and again in 1998.