[alnorth]

He's not perfect, but Ned Yost is probably as close to my ideal manager as we'll ever get. I don't believe that "good" managers add many, if any, wins, but a bad manager sure as hell can add a ton of losses with dumb moves and pitching injuries. He seems to handle the pitchers and bullpen well, no one gets overworked to the point of shredding their arm, and he also realizes he's in the american league. He still bunts a little bit more than I'd like, but for the most part he sits back and lets them swing away. (I'm not going to complain about stealing, we seem to be a pretty good stealing team, and the sabermetric value of a stolen base, if your SB% doesn't suck, has improved to the point of being worth it since the Moneyball days, mostly due to fewer runs scored around the league)