The Worst Manager

Who is the worst manager in all of baseball?

Maxim (yes, I admit it, I do read Maxim, though I restrict my reading to the web site) has a list of the five worst managers in the game. From the least worst to the actual worst, they are:

Dave Trembley, Orioles

John Gibbons, Blue Jays

Willie Randolph, Mets

Ozzie Guillen, White Sox

Dusty Baker, Reds

Do you agree or disagree with the listing? Well, I have some problems with it. Trembley has the Orioles playing the most surprising ball of the new season, after making a good first impression in 2007. I'm not sure exactly what he's done to merit inclusion on this list. Randolph definitely doesn't belong here, but is being buried because of the Mets' disastrous performance in September.

Given Baker's current status as the Sabermetric whipping post among managers, I wonder if the article was written by someone with a statistical inclination. I have mixed feelings about Baker (great motivator, lacks a disciplinary touch), but some of his recent rants against on-base percentage make me wonder if all of his success in San Francisco was merely a mirage.