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Originally Posted by Russ
The biggest part of being a manager,IMO, is motivation. Johnson could handle the egos well which I think was a bug part of Torre's success.
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I think the thing about Johnson is that he is considered past his prime and is not much of a strategist. Ken Rosenthal really blasts him in this recent article about how he managed Team USA in the WBC:
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Actually, as poorly as Davey Johnson managed, the people at USA Baseball who appointed him should be even more embarrassed.
Johnson was once a great manager, a master handler of bullpens, the cocksure leader of the 1986 Mets. But he's 66 now, and his best days were behind him when the Dodgers fired him in 2000.
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FOX Sports on MSN - MLB - Team USA ill-served by Johnson
And this story is from the LA Times just before he was fired by the Dodgers:
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Dodger officials were upset because they believe Johnson should have managed more efficiently in late-inning situations, sacrificing to advance runners.
But that's not Johnson's style.
Although Johnson is under fire for his strategy and didn't improve his position during the previous two series, he said he doesn't plan to change at this point.
He will stick with what helped him become baseball's winningest active manager no matter what others think.
"All of a sudden to reinvent the wheel isn't going to win any more ballgames," Johnson said. "Maybe in somebody else's mind it will, but not in my mind."
Chairman Bob Daly and General Manager Kevin Malone have encouraged Johnson to manage more aggressively.
They want to see the Dodgers do more of the "little things," though Johnson said the team wasn't built to do that.
Johnson relies on home runs and execution, trusting veteran players to perform in key situations.
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http://articles.latimes.com/2000/aug/12/sports/sp-3324
If this is typical opinion of Johnson these days, I would say Pena and Mattingly would have nothing to worry about as far as he is concerned.