Over at the Hardball Times, Chris Jaffe had an article yesterday on Mike Scioscia and some other manager of a team I'd prefer to ignore.  He's continuing the analysis from his book, Evaluating Baseball's Managers, 1876-2008.  Some things we know, his teams strike out less, walk less, and hit more singles than most.  There are some surprises, he gives his outfielders the least rest of anybody.  He rides the outfielders while giving his top catchers plenty of time off.  Mike Napoli not in the starting lineup opening day?  Well, at least Mathis hit a bomb so the complaints will have to wait.

Finally, Scioscia is first among all 10 year managers in ERA+ from his bullpen, and in piling up the saves, first in saves per win.  One thing I found in the book is that Scioscia is great at handling pitchers, his pitchers generally beat their projections to the tune of 30 runs per year for the whole staff.  He's good with hitters too, but he really stands out with his handling of the pitching staff.

We all know Scioscia is a great manager.  I recommend Jaffe's book to anyone who wants to try and quantify that.