I find it hard to talk about managers. Twenty years ago, the GM handed a manager an active roster, and from there on, everything that happened on the field was under the manager’s purview. Now, the manager is one member of a steering committee — the individual level of autonomy a manager has varies by organization, but if you think Kevin Cash made the call to take Blake Snell out of the World Series all by himself, you’re kidding yourself.
Still, the manager is by far the most visible part of that steering committee, and the one that catches the most heat for underperformance.