Fragona received 17 first-place votes for 112 points. Baltimore Orioles skipper Brandon Hyde came in second and Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais finished third. Dusty Baker of the Astros, Aaron Boone of the Yankees and Kevin Cash of the Rays also received votes. Francona, 63, led baseball’s youngest team to a division title, reaching the second round of the postseason after beating the Tampa Bay Rays in the wild-card round.
“It should be considered an organizational award, because that’s how I feel,” Fragona said. “You start hearing people talk about you personally, it makes you a little anxious, but for the things it allows me to brag about our organization, that makes me really happy.” It’s the third Manager of the Year Award for Francona — all with Cleveland — after taking home the award in 2013 and 2016. He just completed his 22nd season as a manager in the big leagues after stops in Philadelphia and Boston before becoming the captain of the Guardians in 2013 . Cleveland wasn’t expected to make the postseason given its lack of experience and offensive firepower, but Francona got his players to buy into a contact-oriented offense while playing stellar defense and running the bases aggressively. The result was a 92-70 regular season record after an 80-game winning streak in 2021. Player, TeamFirstSecondThirdTotalsTerry Francona, Guardians179–112Brandon Hyde, Orioles99779Scott Servais, Mariners181443Dusty Baker, Astros33731Aaron Boone, Yankees–111–Kevin Ca—-111– Francona has 1,874 career regular season wins and two World Series titles. Francona made it after serious health issues forced him out of the team in 2020 and 2021. The 63-year-old said he was reinvigorated by his young team, which had 17 players make their major league debuts this season . He plans to return in 2023, but Francona and the Guardians have an open-ended agreement that would allow him to leave if needed. Hyde, 49, was the man behind the Orioles’ first winning season in seven years, leading Baltimore to an 83-79 record. He did it with a group of pitchers, many of whom were released or DFA’d by other teams. Hyde has been the manager of the Orioles since 2019. Servais, 55, led the Mariners to their first playoff berth in two decades, ending the longest postseason drought in baseball. Seattle won 90 games for the second consecutive season while beating the Toronto Blue Jays in the wild-card round before losing to the Houston Astros. Servais was also nominated for coach of the year in 2021, losing to Cash. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
