Like some of his predecessors, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt seems like a fit for the job

Some guys are just built for the job, and you realize it very quickly. In 2012, Cleveland's baseball team lost 94 games and finished 20 games out of first place. The next year the team hired a new manager, and they won 92 games and came within a game of winning their division. The new manager was Terry Francona, and in six of the next 10 years Francona's teams not only reached the postseason, but they reached the World Series. They not only reached the World Series, but, they almost won it in 2016, in one of the most electrifying Game 7's in the history of the sport. Sometimes one man can make a difference. Terry Francona did. He made a big difference. In his 11 years as the manager of a franchise that has still not won a World Series in over three-quarters of a century, Francona, and, prior to him, the great Mike Hargrove, helped teach a team and a town how to win. How to win, and how to recover after losing. Incredibly, as Cleveland managers, Hargrove and Francona both lost a World Series Game 7, in extra innings! In the case of Hargrove, it led to one of the most painful exchanges ever between a reporter and a manager. In spring training the following year, a reporter asked the manager how long it took him to get over his team's excruciating Game 7 extra-inning loss to Florida, in Florida. Hargrove's reply for the ages: "I'll let you know when it happens." Worse yet, although we're splitting hairs here, was Francona's Indians losing their World Series Game 7 to the Cubs ... in extra innings .... AT HOME! It doesn't get any more gruesome than that. The common denominator in both these examples are the way the team's managers handled the worst moment of their professional lives. But both did. It comes with the turf for baseball managers, who must be at their best, no matter what. In the case of Hargrove and Francona, they both helped write the book on class under duress. It comes with the managerial turf. Managers who can't handle crushing defeats frequently are not managers for very long. That's because it's not easy having to be the guy who must answer all the questions he hopes won't be asked. Some guys are built for the job, and, some aren't. Good luck if your manager is behind door No. 2. One way or the other, you realize it very quickly. That's one reason why the baseball lifespan of many managers isn't very long. It's a difficult job, and in many cases it comes down to one of two realities. Either the manager can handle it, or he can't. Hargrove could. Francona could. So, too, it seems to these eyes, at this still very early stage of his managerial career, can Stephen Vogt. He is just a year and a half into his career as Cleveland's manager, but in his year and a half on the job there have, periodically, been hints that have surfaced and suggest that all the recommendations to Guardians officials from those whose opinions on Vogt, Cleveland officials sought seem to be valid. To this point — still, obviously, very early in his managerial career — Vogt seems to have all the managerial genes necessary to follow in the footsteps of Hargrove and Francona. For starters, look at Vogt's still-under-construction track record. Last year, in his rookie season as a major league manager, he guided his team to a 92-win season, in winning the AL Central crown. That was just for openers. This year Vogt has had to wrestle with numerous challenges, including another year of endless pitching injuries, a plague that seems to follow the Guards from city to city, hoping to torpedo any hope for success. But Vogt delivered success anyway, winning a division title in his first year on the job. Being a rookie major league manager for a team whose owner is reluctant to rubber stamp whatever it takes to keep the team competitive is a challenge for any major league team, but especially one with a rookie manager. Vogt passed that test last year with a division title. This season has been another run it up the flagpole and see what happens experience. Vogt has steadied the course, without his No.1 starting pitcher, Shane Bieber, who is now a Toronto Blue Jay, and currently without closer Emmanuel Clase. Offensively, the manager is currently trying to win games with a two-man lineup of Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan, while suspended Clase, the best closer in the game, has probably saved his last game in Cleveland. Through it all, Vogt has been Vogt. Instead of his team fading down the stretch, it is playing better than it has all year. Some guys are built for the job. Vogt is one of them. Contact Jim Ingraham at jingraham4@gmail.com.