FanSided MLB 2012 Awards: NL Manager of the Year: Davey Johnson

For many fans, the end-of-season player awards are one of the biggest highlights of the long MLB offseason. There’s just one problem: the most deserving players don’t always win. Though the BBWAA generally does a better job with the MVP and the Cy Young than with, say, the Hall of Fame, their picks for the coveted hardware are often questionable, if not dumbfounding.

So at FanSided, we decided to put our money where our collective mouth is. At the end of the 2012 MLB season, 52 FanSided writers representing 28 different sites from around the MLB network cast their ballots for Most Valuable Player, Cy Young, Manager of the Year, and Rookie of the Year.

Earlier this week, we unveiled the results of our first awards: the Rookies of the Year in both the AL and the NL. Yesterday, we announced our American League Manager of the Year, so today we move to the National League.

A couple notes on the voting: Balloting opened on October 1 (when each team had three games left to play) and closed on October 5 before the first playoff game stared. Each voter named three players on his or her ballot, with votes scored on a 5-3-1 basis.

Without further ado, here are the results:

Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson takes home the honors, earning 187 out of a possible 230 points. Dusty Baker comes in second with 95 points. Mike Matheny (47) barely edges out Bruce Bochy (41) for the bronze, with Fredi Gonzalez rounding out the Top 5. Clint Hurdle, Ozzie Guillen, Jim Tracy, Bud Black, Ron Roenicke, and Don Mattingly all got support as well.

Johnson earned 33 first-place votes and appeared on 43 of 46 ballots cast. Baker got six first-place votes, Matheny and Bochy each earned three, and Guillen received one.

What do you think? Did we make the right choice?