Buck Showalter a finalist for AL Manager of the Year award

Winner of BBWAA award will be announced Tuesday night

Orioles manager Buck Showalter shows he has a wonderful way with words. Taken from press availabilities through out the season. (Baltimore Sun video)

By Dan Connolly The Baltimore Sun

6:57 p.m. EST, November 7, 2012

Orioles fans need to wait until next week to find out if Buck Showalter has won the prestigious American League Manager of the Year Award.

But the first step toward that is now out of the way.

Showalter was announced Wednesday night as one of three finalists for the Baseball Writers' Association of America's award after leading the Orioles to a 93-69 record and their first playoff appearance since 1997.

His competition is Oakland’s Bob Melvin, who led the small-market A’s to an American League West crown, and first year skipper Robin Ventura of the Chicago White Sox, who finished second in the AL Central.

Showalter, 56, has won two previous BBWAA manager awards, in 1994 with the New York Yankees and in 2004 with the Texas Rangers. He’s finished in the top 5 in voting three other times (1993, 1995 and 1999). Earlier this offseason, Showalter was named The Sporting News 2012 AL Manager of the Year.

This Manager of the Year award will be announced Tuesday at 6 p.m., the second of four days in which the BBWAA is televising its winners on MLB Network – the first time the organization has done that in its history.

Rookies of the Year will be announced Monday, the Cy Youngs on Wednesday and the Most Valuable Players on Thursday, Nov. 15.

During Wednesday’s BBWAA announcement of finalists, no other Oriole was named a top 3 finalist for Rookie of the Year or Cy Young, or a top 5 finalist for MVP.

Here are all the finalists:

AL Rookie: Yoenis Cespedes, Oakland; Yu Darvish, Texas; Mike Trout, Los Angeles.

NL Rookie: Todd Frazier, Cincinnati; Bryce Harper, Washington; Wade Miley, Arizona.

AL Manager: Buck Showalter, Orioles; Bob Melvin, Oakland; Robin Ventura, Chicago.

NL Manager: Dusty Baker, Cincinnati; Bruce Bochy, San Francisco; Davey Johnson, Washington.

AL Cy Young Award: David Price, Tampa Bay; Justin Verlander, Detroit; Jered Weaver, Los Angeles.

NL Cy Young Award: R.A. Dickey, New York; Gio Gonzalez, Washington; Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles.

AL MVP: Adrian Beltre, Texas; Miguel Cabrera, Detroit; Robinson Cano, New York; Josh Hamilton, Texas; Mike Trout, Los Angeles.

NL MVP: Ryan Braun, Milwaukee; Chase Headley, San Diego; Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh; Yadier Molina, St. Louis; Buster Posey, San Francisco.

dan.connolly@baltsun.com

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ppdocthirteen at 6:52 PM November 07, 2012

I sure can't say whether or not Buck will win, but IMHO he deserves. The O's have been mired in mediocrity for so long that my 21 year old son does not remember the Orioles ever haviing a winning season. He did that in the AL east competing with teams that can throw away 30 million on a player that does not work out. Credit must be given to Andy McPhail and Duquette, but it was Buck that took this bunch of "guys" and turned them into a competative baseball team, despite losing one of his best players in Markakis, not having his 2nd baseman, and dealing with an ever changing starting rotation.

He may not win the Manager of the Year, but in my mind, he gets the award. After watching the trash we have had as managers all the way back to our last real manager, Davey Johnson, it is a joy and a pleasure to watch this guy's approach to the game.

I know his history says that he will only last here another few years, but I really hope that Peter has learned his lesson and that Buck has mellowed to the point that he doesn't once again become his own worst enemy. I would love to see him manage the O's for the next decade or so. That would be a really fun experience.

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