manager. I think it is impossible to know anything of value unless you consider the relative offensive capabilities of the batters, and the author of the article says:

To look at hitters’ wOBAs would require a whole lot more work that I don’t have time for.

I would add that there are many other situational factors which might go into determining whether the decision was good or bad, such as: RH/LH matchups, whether batters are hot or slumping at the time; the batter’s history against the pitcher; the bench status for both teams; the bullpen status for both teams; and the score/inning. For instance, we know that Cooper is very aware of the LH/RH match up issue, and I would bet that a lot of his IBB involve relievers who have a poor handedness split and hitters with distinct splits. As an example, there were many critical situations late in the season where Cooper made (IMO) good judgements to IBB a good LHB in order to keep LaTroy Hawkins in the game.

I would also point out that managers get second guessed much more by the media and general fandom for failing to walk batters than they do for giving intentional passes. Early in the season, Chronicle writers blasted Cooper for failing to walk Pujols and Derek Lee in situations where they won the game (Tejada also second guessed Cooper for failing to walk Lee in that Cubs game). I’m sure that can subtly affect managers’ judgements. I don’t know how many times i have argued with Astros fans who post comments that “Garner and Cooper are idiots because the Astros should walk Pujols every time he comes to the plate.”

Finally, the other skepticism is that the article lists two managers as the worst on IBB who are generally considered very good strategists (Cox and Leyland) and another (Manuel) who took his team to the WS championship….all three supposedly worse managers than Cooper.

teh three worst mangers were two men who took many a team to the the post season and one who won it all this year in Bobby Cox, Jim Leyland, and Charlie Manuel whereas the three “Best Managers” were Trey Hillman, John Russell, and
John Gibbons.

What I’d like to see are comparable statistics for how runs scored when the actual batters intentionally walked did when they batted. For example, what happens when Albert Pujols bats in the ninth inning with runners on second and third with two outs in a one run game versus whar thappens when he is walked in that situation.