I\u2019ve recently covered the top closers and home parks in Major League Baseball for 2011. To gauge the top active managers, it\u2019s better to look at their career win percentage, as their 2011 records are obviously just the same as the standings (aside from the interim guys who came in after firings). <\/p>\n
Here are the top 10 active managers in baseball today (with a minimum of 320 games managed).<\/p>\n
1. Joe Girardi, New York Yankees (402-311, .564)<\/strong><\/p>\n He\u2019s only been at it for five years but four of them have been with the New York Yankees. He took them to the World Series title in 2009. Still, with the standards so high in the Bronx, Girardi\u2019s job isn\u2019t the most secure. If the Yanks miss the playoffs this season, he could wind up on the hot seat.<\/p>\n 2. Charlie Manuel, Philadelphia Phillies (805-644, .556)<\/strong><\/p>\n Manuel may not be everyone\u2019s favorite personality but he isn\u2019t going anywhere. Under his tutelage, the Phillies have finished at least 14 games over .500 every year and their record has improved for four straight seasons. Manuel also had a brief but somewhat successful run managing Cleveland in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n 3. Mike Scioscia, Los Angeles Angels (1013-838, .547)<\/strong><\/p>\n Scioscia hasn\u2019t been perfect ever season with the Angels but he\u2019s guided them to a World Series crown, five division titles and six 90-win seasons since 2000s. He, like Girardi, supports the theory that catchers make the best managers.<\/p>\n 4. Ron Gardenhire, Minnesota Twins (829-695, .544)<\/strong><\/p>\n Gardy is particularly impressive in that he has six division titles with the Twinkies despite consistently working with a small payroll. He\u2019s one of the best of his time.<\/p>\n 5. Tony LaRussa, St. Louis Cardinals (2676-2323, .535)<\/strong><\/p>\n Only Connie Mack has managed more games than Tony LaRussa, who helmed the dominant Oakland Athletics teams of the 1980s and early 1990s before moving to Missouri. He fostered the careers of greats like Rickey Henderson, Mark McGwire (steroids be damned) and, of course, Albert Pujols now that he\u2019s the St. Louis Cardinals\u2019 longtime skipper.<\/p>\n 6. Terry Francona, Boston Red Sox (978-870, .529)<\/strong><\/p>\n Terry Francona\u2019s career is a nice redemption story. His four seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies were disastrous; he never posted a win percentage higher than .475. But He\u2019s been a stalwart in Boston, winning two World Series titles, including one in his first year with the team. He\u2019s a legend in Beantown forever now. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/p>\n 7. Ozzie Guillen, Chicago White Sox (633-570, .526)<\/strong><\/p>\n He\u2019s far more famous for his motormouth but Ozzie Guillen has also enjoyed a fairly successful career managing the Pale Hose. He has a pair of division titles, a World Series crown and five above-.500 finishes in seven full seasons. Because he also played most of his career with the White Sox, he\u2019s entrenched in their lore and thus has more job security than you might think.<\/p>\n 8. Dusty Baker, Cincinnati Reds (1441-1317, .522)<\/strong><\/p>\n His methods often seem ancient, crazy even, but he\u2019s managed to win a division crown at least once with all three of his teams, the Giants, Cubs and Reds. Capturing the NL Central with Cincinnati last season should buy him at least another year even if the Reds fall short this season.<\/p>\n 9. Buck Showalter, Baltimore Orioles (946-890, .515)<\/strong><\/p>\n Showalter is the only guy in the top 10 with no major-league playing experience. He\u2019s also the shortest-tenured with his current team, having managed just 121 games with the Orioles. They\u2019re quietly seven games over .500 since he took over last year. Showalter has the habit of taking teams to the cusp, then stepping aside (voluntarily or not). He managed the 1995 New York Yankees and the 2000 Arizona Diamondbacks; both teams won it all the year after his departure.<\/p>\n 10. Ron Washington, Texas Rangers (367-349, .513)<\/strong><\/p>\n Washington is the least experienced manager in the top 10 but he\u2019s taking to the job in Texas nicely. The team\u2019s win totals since Washington took the reins; 75, 79, 87, 90. Steady improvement. It looks like his stay in the Lone Star State will be a long one.<\/p>\n Shea Matthews weighs in with another MLB handicapping article for all you MLB baseball bettors out there. Here are the top 10 Top Managers of 2011 and teams to bet on in MLB\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":39328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49700,670],"tags":[49732,49832,49730,31331,49733,36859,49834,678,11784,49833,39285,32396],"class_list":["post-39314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fantasy-sports","category-mlb-baseball","tag-2011-fantasy-baseball","tag-best-managers","tag-betting-on-mlb","tag-charlie-manuel","tag-fantasy-mlb","tag-joe-girardi","tag-mike-scioscia","tag-mlb-betting","tag-mlb-betting-lines","tag-mlb-managers","tag-ron-gardenhire","tag-tony-larussa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/195"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39314"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39330,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39314\/revisions\/39330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}GRAB OUR BEST Expert MLB Picks for 2011 MLB Betting! \u2014\u2013><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"