While the Diamondbacks success by itself wasn’t that surprising, the fact that they did it without Randy Johnson turned it into a surprise. And because the Diamondbacks won a National League leading 90 wins with a very young team, Bob Melvin walked away with the National League Manager of the Year. He was first place on 19 of the 32 ballots and no other manager had as many seven. Charlie Manuel came in second place but he was a distant 43 points behind Melvin.
Now of course, we need a follow up in 2008. The young talent on this team should make the Diamondbacks a solid contender for the next few years and Melvin will have to make sure that talent turns into playoff appearances.
