[alnorth]

I've said it before, but I think its worth repeating, I'm fine with Ned Yost. If DM gave me the power to hire a new manager, I would retain Yost.

That doesn't mean I think Yost is great or is responsible for a lot of wins. I generally think the manager can't get you many, if any wins, but he can definitely lose a lot of games. A manager is all downside, almost no upside. I think over the course of a full season and including all decisions not just focusing on the bad ones, on a net basis Ned doesn't lose many games. I don't think we can do much better. Assuming a very minimal ability at lineups and pitching changes, there are really only two ways a manager can significantly hurt your team.

1) He can forget that he's in the American League and play small-ball too much, too early. (Ned doesn't, he manages like an American League manager)

2) He can overwork our pitchers and hurt them. (Ned doesn't, he generally pulls young pitchers after 100, and doesn't let our vets go to 120+ more than once or twice in a row.)

Ned meets my very, very low bar of expectations, so he's fine. We had a long line of managers who failed one or both of those 2 tests I have for a manager, and Ned's the first one in a very long time who passes.