Melvin MOY

Bob Melvin Wins AL Manager of the Year

Receiving 16 of the 28 first place votes, the Oakland A's skipper took home the trophy for AL Manager of the Year. This was the only possible outcome in my opinion. Not to take away from the job that Buck Showalter did, but Melvin won the toughest division in baseball this year with a very miniscule payroll and a roster loaded with rookies.

Not only did Melvin deal with the no name roster into a AL West powerhouse, he dealt with some major blows along the road. Spring training started with the loss of Scott Sizemore for the season, and sent the team scrambling for an option at third. They went with Donaldson and Sogard, some relative unknowns that figured to be minor leaguers coming into spring training. Barton and Kia'ahue were to split the duties at first base and Kurt Suzuki was coming off his worst year as a pro offensively. The team started out with a very rough record, and a less than potent lineup, but Melvin kept the players going and they eventually turned it around in the late part of June after being nine games below .500.

With the addition of Brandon Inge, Brandon Moss, Stephen Drew, and the emergence of Reddick, Cespedes, Cook, Parker, and Milone, the A's and Melvin took off. They turned around the season in a hurry during the last four months of the season. Melvin managed two platoon situations and kept both players happy in both situations. Gomes and Smith worked well as the DH platoon, and Carter and Moss worked out as well. Also, he dealt with the Colon suspension right after Bartolo had started pitching his best all year. Another blow towards the end of the year was dealt to Brandon McCarthy with a line drive to the head that knocked him out for the rest of the season. The A's also did without Dallas Braden who was figured to be back in play before the All-Star break at the least, but ended up having another season ending surgery.

With 5 rookie pitchers at the end of the year, in Straily, Parker, Milone, Blackley, and Griffin they managed to sweep the Texas Rangers in a three game set for the division. For me, that all but locked up the award for Melvin. I look for him to do more of the same next year, and hopefully he's a repeat recipient.