Sporting News MLB awards: Terry Collins, Paul Molitor voted top managers

Justin McGuire

Sporting News MLB awards: Terry Collins, Paul Molitor voted top managers image

Terry Collins of the Mets and Paul Molitor of the Twins are Sporting News’ 2015 National League and American League Managers of the Year, respectively, as selected by a panel of 27 major league managers. SN has given Manager of the Year awards since 1936.

Collins, a veteran skipper in his fifth season with the Mets, led New York to 90 wins and the NL East title in a year in which the Nationals were supposed to run away with the division. Molitor, a Hall of Fame player making his managerial debut, took a club projected to finish last in the AL Central and nearly nabbed a playoff spot with 83 wins.

MORE: Find out who made the 2015 SN National League All-Star team!

Mike Matheny of the Cardinals and A.J. Hinch of the Astros finished second in their respective leagues. Voting was conducted before the postseason began.

SN AWARDS: AL Rookie of Year | NL Rookie of Year | AL Comeback Player of the Year | NL Comeback Player of the Yea

Mets OF Michael Cuddyer praised Collins' efforts in leading New York to its first winning season since 2008.

"He’s been a true professional the whole year. The communication has been good; he’s been great with that,"  Cuddyer told Sporting News. "He’s letting us go out and play. He’s not a meetings guy. When we were treading water in July, and June, he didn’t call us aside … he let us go out and play. He let us go through it, and because of that, we’re a better team."

Collins, who managed the Astros and Angels in the 1990s, said he has improved his communication skills in recent years.

"I think I spend more time in conversations with my players than I ever have before ... Where years ago, I wrote the rules, I put down the policies, I don’t do that anymore. So, I think the fact that the players know they have a voice that they can come in my office at any time, I have no ego. I wasn’t a star player. I don’t get caught up in headlines. I get caught up in go have fun playing. That’s all I ever wanted to do was play the game. So, yeah, I think I’ve changed. No question about it."

Gil Hodges (1969)  is the only Mets skipper to win the SN award previously.

'Tremendous respect' for Molitor

Unlike Collins, Molitor entered the season with no managerial experience. But that didn't prove to be a problem as the Hall of Famer led Minnesota to its best record since 2010.

"Molly has tremendous respect from the guys because of his baseball knowledge, and he lets guys like Torii (Hunter) take charge of the ra-ra stuff behind the scenes and just goes to work," Fox Sports North’s Kevin Gorg told Page 2 Sports. "He has a solid set of coaches working with him too."

Gorg added:" I expected the Twins to be better, but was pleasantly surprised by the jump they took this past year. Postseason contention into the final weekend was terrific and the experience gained by the younger players especially will be huge in the upcoming years."

Previous Twins skippers to be named SN Manager of the Year are Sam Mele (1965), Tom Kelly (1991) and Ron Gardenhire (2004, 2010).

VOTING RESULTS

National League (voting by NL managers)

1. Terry Collins, Mets — 7

2. Mike Matheny, Cardinals — 5

3. Joe Maddon, Cubs — 1

American League (voting by AL managers)

1. Paul Molitor, Twins— 5

2. A.J. Hinch, Astros — 3

3. Jeff Banister, Rangers — 2
John Gibbons, Blue Jays — 2

4. Joe Girardi, Yankees — 1
Kevin Cash, Rays — 1

THIS WEEK’S SN AWARD SCHEDULE

Monday: Rookies of the Year (AL and NL) and Comeback Players of the Year (AL and NL)

Tuesday: AL and NL Managers of the Year

Wednesday: AL All-Star Team | NL All-Star Team

Thursday: MLB Player of the Year

Justin McGuire