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Rays' Maddon Named AL Manager Of The Year

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By TONY FABRIZIO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 12, 2008

Updated: 11/12/2008 03:49 pm

ST. PETERSBURG - Nice guys finish last, and that's exactly what the Rays did in nice guy Joe Maddon's first two seasons as manager.

Tampa Bay finished with the second-to-worst and worst records in the major leagues in 2006 and 2007, and anyone watching had to look close for signs that Maddon's positive reinforcement approach was taking root.

The Rays' brass never lost faith, though, and Wednesday, after a season in which the club completed one of the greatest turnarounds in professional sports history, Maddon was named the Baseball Writers' Association of America's American League Manager of the Year.

"What I thought at the time we hired him (on Nov. 15, 2005) was he was the right guy for our team at that time," executive vice president Andrew Friedman said. "We also had a strong conviction that he could ultimately grow into one of the best managers in the game.

"He's got a great mind, he's a great communicator, and he's been remarkably consistent since the first day of spring training in 2006."

Maddon listened to skepticism that he wasn't forceful enough to extract better play from a team that had never won more than 70 games. In 2008, his emphasis on fundamentals, hard work and consistency produced a 97-win season and American League pennant.

In the process, the white-haired 54-year-old with the thick black glasses and litany of motivational sayings became a media celebrity.

"We knew what we were doing (and) we knew it was going to take time," Maddon said from Rome, where he is honeymooning with his bride, Jaye. "We knew we had to make changes. We knew we had to get some new guys in there and some guys out."

And they did, drastically improving the bullpen and defense for 2008.

"The toughest part is to absorb the body blows on a consistent basis, because people automatically assume that you don't know what you're doing based on the number of losses the team has," Maddon said.

Maddon was an overwhelming choice, drawing first-place votes from 27 of the 28 voting writers on a ballot taken before the postseason. Minnesota's Ron Gardenhire, who received the other first-place vote, finished second.

Before this year, the Rays had a best season of 70-91 in 2004 under Tampa's Lou Piniella, who was selected National League Manager of the Year with the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.

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