AL Manager of the Year Rankings: Tribe Boss Manny Acta Reenters Top 5

Over in the National League, it really doesn't make any sense that the New York Mets are inching closer to the 40-win plateau and are currently sitting just three games out of first in the NL East. They're a team that doesn't wow you with the talent they have on paper, and there are times when they look totally overmatched against superior competition.

But hey, there they are. 

If there's a version of the Mets in the American League, it has to be the Cleveland Indians. On paper, they look like a mediocre team. And since they play in the AL's weakest division, that basically means they look like a bad team. They shouldn't be in first place.

But hey, there they are. And they just swept the Cincinnati Reds, for crying out loud.

It's time like these when you have to give credit to Tribe manager Manny Acta, who has been squeezing wins out of an undermanned ballclub all season long.

Acta has a tendency to come and go in my weekly AL Manager of the Year rankings based on how the team is playing (they really are that up and down). Since the Indians are sitting in first place as we speak, he's back in the top five this week.

Let's take a look at where he ranks.

Note: Feel free to check out last week's rankings.

5. Joe Girardi, New York Yankees

Last Week: No. 4

OK, so it turns out that the Yankees aren't unbeatable after all. 

After winning 10 games in a row, the Yankees promptly lost their last two games to the Atlanta Braves at Yankee Stadium. Their starting pitching finally blinked, as Hiroki Kuroda didn't have his best stuff on Tuesday and Phil Hughes went back to looking like Phil Hughes on Wednesday.

Bound to happen.

Nonetheless, Joe Girardi still deserves plenty of credit for the way he's handled the Yankees this season. The Bombers usually have it pretty good, but they've been dealt more than their fair share of adversity this season. Michael Pineda was lost early on, Mariano Rivera was lost in early May, David Robertson had to go on the DL soon after, Brett Gardner has been missed more than a lot of people realize, Alex Rodriguez looks old and tired (though batting him No. 3 more often has helped), the team itself hasn't hit with runners in scoring position...

And so on, and so on and so on.

Nevertheless, the Yankees still look very much like the Yankees. They're on top of the AL East, they have the second-best record in the American League and they're still exuding that classic sense of Yankee-ness that makes you feel like they're going to win every day.

In a nutshell, what Girardi has managed to do this season is maintain the normal order of things in Yankee-land. He'd be a good manager anywhere, but he's a truly great Yankees manager.

4. Manny Acta, Cleveland Indians

Last Week: Unranked

If you're wondering why Girardi dropped a spot this week, it's so I could make room for Manny Acta.

And room had to be made for Acta, of course, because his Indians continue to hang around despite the fact they really shouldn't be hanging around.

The Tribe has been maddeningly inconsistent this season. One minute, they're sweeping the Detroit Tigers. The next minute, they're losing two out of three to the Minnesota Twins. Some days, their pitching breaks down. Other days, their offense breaks down.

Cleveland's pitching has been the biggest issue this season. The Indians have talent in their bullpen, but the team as a whole has an ERA of 4.51. That ranks towards the bottom of the league, and it's a big reason why the Indians have a run differential of -31 this season. Only one team in the AL has a worse run differential than they do.

The Indians are in first place anyway because they're clutch. Manny Acta's boys are 12-2 in one-run games, and they have a knack for coming up big in series against tough opponents. Their three-game sweep of the Reds this week, payback for their sweep at the hands of the Reds in Cincinnati, is a good example. They're also 5-1 against the Tigers this season, and they've looked like a legitimately dangerous team in those games.

All of this goes to show how good of a motivator Acta is. He's the right man in the right place in Cleveland, and it's scary to think how good his team would be if it had a consistent pitching staff.

3. Bobby Valentine, Boston Red Sox

Last Week: No. 5

There's been a lot of buzz about Bobby Valentine's domain recently. 

ESPN's Buster Olney started it all when he wrote that Boston's clubhouse was a "toxic" place where "a lot of players and staff [are] unhappy for a lot of different reasons."

This notion has since been dispelled...to a degree.

Today, CSNNE.com's Sean McAdam wrote that things aren't all bad and that some players have "no problem" with Bobby V's way of doing things. Other players aren't so happy with him. One (or more; it's hard to tell) player even went so far as the openly challenge him this season.

You'd think we were discussing a last-place team, but we're not. The Red Sox have won four in a row to climb two games over the .500 mark, and they're just six games off the pace in the AL East.

Any other year, this would be a disappointment. And indeed, there are no doubt some fans who are disappointed with the way things are going this season.

But the Red Sox shouldn't be over .500. Not with a disabled list that features Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury, Andrew Bailey, John Lackey, Ryan Sweeney and now even Josh Beckett. Adrian Gonzalez hasn't helped matters by underachieving. Ditto Jon Lester. Daniel Bard was a disaster as a starter.

Nonetheless, the Red Sox are second in the majors in runs scored, and their starting pitching staff tends to get rescued by what has turned out to be an excellent bullpen. 

So whatever you do, don't bury the Red Sox. If they're still languishing around .500 after they get healthy, that's when you can bury them, and Bobby V with them.

Until then, he deserves some credit.

2. Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay Rays

Last Week: No. 2

If I were to rank all 30 managers in baseball (not a bad idea, come to think of it), Joe Maddon would be No. 1 on the list.

Hands down.

Much like Liam Neeson's character in Taken, Maddon has a very special set of skills. He's as good a motivator as the next guy, but he's able to motivate his guys while also keeping things loose. Not an easy thing to do.

That would be impressive enough, but Maddon also has an uncanny ability to take the players Andrew Friedman gives him and find ways to put them to use. Ben Zobrist is probably his greatest accomplishment, and this year, the Rays are getting good production out of guys like Matt Joyce, Elliot Johnson, Jake McGee and Fernando Rodney.

And as I've noted before, don't pay attention to Tampa Bay's 59 errors. Pay attention to the fact that they're fourth in baseball with 26 defensive runs saved, according to FanGraphs. Maddon's infield shifts make a difference.

But just like with Acta and Valentine, what's impressive about Maddon is that he's done a lot with very little. The Rays weren't stacked with talent to begin with, and they've gotten less talented as their list of injured players has gotten more and more crowded.

Yet they're only three games out in the AL East, baseball's toughest division. If the season ended today, they'd be in the postseason.

All the credit goes to Maddon. Don't be surprised if he walks away with his third AL Manager of the Year award this season.

And for the record, he was right to call out Davey Johnson for using bush league tactics.

1. Buck Showalter, Baltimore Orioles

Last Week: No. 1

The Texas Rangers have the best record in the American League. Behind them are the Yankees.

Behind them are Buck Showalter's Orioles.

The O's ran into a bit of a buzzsaw in the New York Mets this week, but before that, they had won seven of eight games to move to within 2.5 games of first place in the AL East.

It also bodes well that the Orioles got swept because their offense went into a slump. That's something that's not going to happen all that often, as Showalter's lineups are going to contain a lot of power on a daily basis. The O's are not a team opposing pitchers look forward to facing.

What's been more surprising about the O's this season is how good their pitching has been. Baltimore currently ranks 11th in baseball with a team ERA of 3.78, and its bullpen leads the majors with a 2.38 ERA. 

In 2011, the Orioles finished last in baseball with a 4.89 team ERA, and they had a bullpen ERA well over 4.00.

This is the Showalter effect at work. The O's had talent before he arrived late in the 2010 season. What he's done over the last couple years is convince his players that they're capable of competing in a division that is used to looking down on the Orioles.

The O's are by no means a perfect team. But at this point, it's too late in the season to write them off as a complete fluke. Showalter has gotten his team to play well all season, and that will continue to be the case straight through to the end.

At the rate they're going, Showalter is a lock for AL Manager of the Year.

Last Week's Rankings

5. Bobby Valentine, Boston Red Sox

He looked like a dead man walking in early May. So much for that.

4. Joe Girardi, New York Yankees

Down one this week, but he should be able to hang around in the top five for the rest of the season.

3. Robin Ventura, Chicago White Sox

The White Sox have the worst record of any team in the AL Central during the month of June. That doesn't reflect well on Ventura. Neither does the fact that the White Sox would be well under .500 if it wasn't for their uber-hot stretch in May. He's a good manager, but his team is slipping.

2. Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay Rays

Steady as she goes.

1. Buck Showalter, Baltimore Orioles

Ditto.

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