Joe Maddon

[Chief Brody]

Is he a Top 5 coach/manager if we accounted for all 4 major sports? Dude is ing solid tbh, and he's been doing it for awhile in that black hole of a baseball town (or state for that matter).

[monosylab1k]

tbh I'm more of the "moneyball" belief that in baseball the GM is more important than the manager. but in Maddon's case it does seem like, aside from a few years there when they had legit star talent, he's taken a team that on paper should be .500 and made them a playoff level team.

[JamStone]

I like Maddon. I think he's one of the better managers in baseball. I like how he's not afraid of doing unconventional things, regardless if it doesn't work out.

But as far as team success goes with Tampa the last several years, I think it's been directly tied into their pitching. For 5-6 years now, they have just kept a pipeline of really good young starting pitching pumping out of their system. Their scouts and lower level minor league pitching coaching has really given them the ability to compete at the MLB level with a low budget and often a below average offense. You think about the last few years especially with Price emerging, then bringing up Matt Moore and Jeremy ickson. And even this year, Chris Archer and Alex Cobb lead the rotation in ERA, a rotation with David Price and Matt Moore. This is how they have been able to compete at a high level in the AL East without the big money players.

Joe Maddon is good. But I give a lot of credit to the scouting of young pitchers and the pitching instruction those young pitchers receive before getting to the majors.