The Wall Street Journal recently published a study grading the top managers in baseball.

Where did Charlie Manuel rank? How about the fourth best manager in all of baseball.

Nice going, Chuck.

(By the way, how about the evolution of the manager has had in this town? Manuel drew one of the bigger ovations on Opening Day.)

This WSJ study was based on the following criteria: "how their teams perform in close games when the manager's strategic decisions have the most impact, how many games their teams win compared to how many runs they score and allow (a formula known as Pythagorean wins) and whether they get more out of players than other managers, measured by additional games won per season."

If you're surprised where Manuel ranked, look how far down you have to scroll to find Jim Leyland.

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The Archive Files

(I apologize for not posting the links yesterday -- they're up now, just scroll down to the first post from April 1).

The Phillies made some news on their first off-day in the schedule Tuesday when word leaked that the team agreed to terms with veteran reliever Rudy Seanez.


But who's the odd man out as the Phillies clear a roster spot for Seanez? The answer: it's likely to be Wes Helms, who's spot was already in jeopardy since the team also has to create a spot for Brad Lidge this weekend.