Ranking the 2017 American League Managers

It has become an annual tradition around these parts for me to offer up my thoughts on each and every manager in the MLB. It began as a ranking exercise, becoming one of our most popular posts. Since then, it’s morphed into more of a report card system; an A-F scale, with A reserved for only the cream of the managerial crop, and F standing in for ‘Should be Fired.’

As usual with my mid-winter grades, I won’t offer any score for first time managers, but if a guy has managed elsewhere in the majors he’s fair game, even if this will be the first season with his current team.

Let’s get to it!

American League East

John Farrell, Boston Red Sox: First to worst and back again. And again. And again. Farrell’s Boston teams seem to be either really good or really bad, and that doesn’t reflect too well on the manger. Seems to me, a well run team filled with talented veterans should be able to do a better job of consistently competing. 2017 will be a big challenge for Farrell for many reasons. First, he’ll be trying to string together back to back good seasons, but beyond that, the Red Sox are now so loaded with talent that expectations are going to be sky high. As we’ve seen in baseball many times before (e.g. 2012 Miami Marlins) super teams on paper don’t always pan out. Let’s see if Farrell can get all the parts to mesh. Grade: B

To continue reading the definitive rankings of 2017 American League Managers, click on over to our mostly baseball blog at Off The Bench.