Farrell Robbed by 8 BWAA Morons

Apr 16, 2013; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona (left) and Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell shake hands before a game at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Of course John Farrell was robbed of the AL Manager of the Year Award by the infamous morons at BWAA [Baseball Writers Association of America], the same ass clowns who vote on Hall of Fame inductions.

Farrell was robbed by eight particularly ignorant writers, which included ESPN.com’s Christina Kahrl, morons from the Jiji Press, the Antelope Valley Press, the Akron Beacon Journal and Scott Ostler, who prides himself on being a contrarian outlier.

The award is the only non-player honor and typically goes to the skipper whose team most exceeded expectations.  So, let’s look at the expectations for each team before the 2013 commenced.

ESPN’s Christina Kahrl, who voted “Francona, Melvin, Madden” in this year’s AL Manager of the Year Award, nailed it:

Ms. Kahrl’s forecasters at ESPN
Projection: 15th in MLB, 4th in AL East

Adam Wells, Bleacher Report
Projection: 15th in MLB, 4th in AL East

Matt Snyder, CBS Sports
Projection: 22nd in MLB

Fox Sports
Projection: 20th in MLB, 5th in AL East

Stan McNeal, Sporting News
Projection: 18th in MLB, 5th in AL East

Sports Illustrated
Projection: 18th in MLB, 5th in AL East

Baseball Prospectus
Projection: 4th in AL East

Sure, almost every pundit and nitwit predicted the Red Sox to finish dead last in the AL East, but what do they know?

Did anyone publish a prediction that the Red Sox would even win the AL East crown in 2013?

Last February, we wrote a post– How Red Sox could win the AL East Crown—and listed exactly how the Sox could pull it off:

“Let’s make a list of things that could, reasonably, happen and understand that they don’t ALL need to occur for the Sox to finish first in the AL East.

1. New manager, John Farrell, is familiar to many Red Sox players and, after a year of playing against their manager in 2012, the team can now focus on playing against other teams. [https://bosoxinjection.com/2013/02/04/how-red-sox-could-win-the-al-east-crown/]

The case for John Farrell over Tito Francona and Bob Melvin comes down to this:

Q:  Which manager’s team went from LAST place in 2012 to winning the World Series in 2013?

A:  Francona’s Indians finished 2^nd in the AL Central, got a WC slot and crapped out.

Melvin’s Athletics lost gallantly to the AL Champion Tigers and won just one less game in the regular season than the Red Sox.

You could make the case that Melvin deserved the award more than Francona, but, Ms. Christina Kahrl, ESPN.com, you cannot leave John Farrell off your ballot and vote: Francona, Melvin, MADDON.

Clearly, it is past time to take the Manager of the Year Award and the Hall of Fame voting away from the BWAA, whose only right to vote is their membership card.

"BWAA, Hah, Hah, Hah! BSI RELATED STORY HERE: https://bosoxinjection.com/2013/11/13/john-farrell-snubbed-al-manager-award/"

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The voting (5-3-1 scoring system):

Manager, Club

1st

2nd

3rd

Points

Terry Francona, Indians16102112John Farrell, Red Sox1210696Bob Melvin, Athletics251136Joe Girardi, Yankees2511Joe Maddon, Rays239Jim Leyland, Tigers13Buck Showalter, Orioles11Ron Washington, Rangers11Ned Yost, Royals11

Below is a breakdown of the 30 individual ballots, submitted by two writers representing each city in the American League. Note that in some cases (*), when a city does not have enough eligible voters, a writer from another city will represent that chapter. For more information on the voting, see our Voting FAQ.

Name

Affiliation

Chapter

1st

2nd

3rd

Pat StoetzerCarroll County TimesBALFarrellFranconaMelvinJim HennemanHonoraryBALFarrellFranconaMelvinBrian MacPhersonProvidence JournalBOSFarrellFranconaGirardiSean McAdamComcast Sports New England.comBOSFarrellFranconaGirardiChristina KahrlESPN.comCHIFranconaMelvinMaddonMeghan MontemurroNorthwest Herald (Ill.)CHIFarrellMelvinFranconaTerry PlutoCleveland Plain DealerCLEFranconaFarrellYostSheldon OckerAkron Beacon JournalCLEFranconaGirardiFarrellMatthew B. MoweryOakland (Mich.) PressDETFranconaFarrellGirardiJames SchmehlMLive Media GroupDETFarrellMelvinFranconaJesus OrtizHouston ChronicleHOUFranconaFarrellMaddonBill MaddenNew York Daily NewsHOU*FarrellFranconaGirardiTod E. PalmerKansas City StarKCFarrellFranconaMelvinRustin DoddKansas City StarKCFranconaFarrellMelvinBrian GoldenAntelope Valley PressLAFranconaMaddonFarrellJill PainterLos Angeles Daily NewsLAFranconaFarrellMaddonTom PowersSt. Paul Pioneer PressMINFranconaFarrellMelvinPatrick ReusseMinneapolis Star TribuneMINFranconaMelvinFarrellAndy McCulloughNewark Star LedgerNYFranconaGirardiFarrellGeorge KingNew York PostNYFarrellLeylandMelvinScott OstlerSan Francisco ChronicleOAKMelvinFranconaFarrellDaniel BrownSan Jose Mercury NewsOAKFranconaFarrellMelvinAsuka Iinuma BrownJiji PressSEAMelvinMaddonShowalterGeoff BakerSeattle TimesSEAFranconaFarrellMelvinJoe SmithTampa Bay TimesTBFarrellFranconaMelvinMartin FennellyTampa TribuneTBFarrellFranconaMelvinTodd WillsESPN DallasTEXFarrellFranconaWashingtonTim CowlishawDallas Morning NewsTEXFranconaMelvinFarrellMike RutseyToronto SunTORFranconaFarrellGirardiTom MaloneyThe Globe and MailTORFranconaFarrellMelvin