Sometimes as fans people forget that Major League Baseball is a business, and has to be run like one. Fans do not want to see their favorite player leave because their skills have diminished after years of service, nor do they like to see a manager who has put his heart and soul into the team get the axe. Yet, every season fans have to deal with this, and this season will be no different. Players will leave either by free agency, retirement or from being cut, and managers will be fired.
It is often hard to tell which managers will be fired until the last week of the season, but it is always easy to see which managers will be on the hot seat. Earlier in the year, if you asked anyone who pays attention to baseball, the two managers in Los Angeles had the hottest seats in all of baseball. The Angels have begun playing up to their potential, and this streak they are on could very well save the job of Mike Soscia. Meanwhile, the emergence of Yasiel Puig has given the Dodgers a spark, and may very well be the final piece of the puzzle that is winning baseball in Los Angeles. In the process, Puig may have single handedly save the job of Don Mattingly.
With the two Los Angeles managers no longer in the hot seat, who is still in trouble of being out of a job when winter rolls around? I have compiled a list of four managers who I think are in serious trouble of losing their jobs this season.
Ron Gardenhire - Minnesota Twins
Gardenhire is in his 11th season as manager of the Twins, but I believe it very well could be his last. He doesn’t seem to be getting attention from the national writers as someone that could be fired at the end of the season, but when you look at his recent track record it is hard to see why. Since winning the AL Manager of the Year in 2010 Gardenhire’s Twins have finished in last place two years in row, and currently sit in fourth. The last two seasons Gardenhire avoided the hot seat because injuries to Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau derailed the offense and gave him a good excuse as to why the team floundered. This season, though, he has not had that as an excuse, and even with Mauer playing at a high level, the team is still flirting with last place. If the Twins cannot turn this around, I expect them to go another way with the manager position, and possibly the GM one as well.
Eric Wedge - Seattle Mariners
You may not remember this, but Wedge once won AL Manager of the Year as the manager of the Cleveland Indians. After the Indians were bounced from the playoffs, Wedge could not repeat his winning ways, and his team finished third and fourth in the division in the following years before he was relieved of his duties following the 2009 season. Now Wedge is in his third season as manager of the M’s, and is again in danger of being fired at the end of the season. Wedge did not come in to a very good team when he took this job, but what manager does? Following the 2012 season, though, the M’s decided to do as much as possible to make his job easier. They made a trade for power hitters Michael Morse and Kendrys Morales to turn around a lineup that was seriously lacking in power, and in doing so they fixed the one glaring weakness in the offense. The offense has been better because of it, but the team overall still has no improved. The regression of Dustin Ackley and an injury to Morse could be to blame for some of the team's struggles, but the M’s still should have improved more this season than they have. They are still in fourth in the division, (no longer last thanks to the addition of the Houston Astros) and under his eye, the bullpen has gone from bad to worse. If Wedge isn’t fired at the end of the season, his seat will be red hot under his rear next season.
Charlie Manuel - Philadelphia Phillies
Manuel is 69 years old, and sometimes the stars of his team seem just as old as he is. It is hard to believe that he is on the hot seat, but even after two NL pennants, one World Series title, and not a single season under .500, Manuel is in trouble. This is the cold hard reality for him, though, because Manuel is in the final season of his contract with the Phillies, and if he can’t turn this season around then expect the Phillies to just let him go rather than offering him an extension. It is hard to blame the team’s struggles on him. The ace of his rotation, Roy Halladay is done for the year, Chase Utley cannot stay on the field and the guy the team decided to give the big money to, Cole Hamels, has completely fallen apart. All of the excuses the Twins had for keeping Gardenhire after the 2012 season, Manuel has even more, but yet it is probably Manuel that is going home at the season.
Terry Collins - New York Mets
Collins has a pattern going in his career that doesn’t bode well for him this season, a pattern of being fired after his third season as manager. Collins has managed the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Angels, and in each instance he lost his job three seasons after being hired. Guess what, Collins is in his third season as manager of the Mets, and it doesn’t bode well for him to break the pattern now. Collins is on pace to have his third consecutive fourth place finish in the NL West, and as most people know, that is not good enough in New York. There is a lot going well for the Mets right now. David Wright looks like he will be the starting third baseman for the All Star game, and Matt Harvey could very well be the starting pitcher for the game, and they won the season series with the cross town rival New York Yankees. Those things will not save Collins job, though. Honestly, I don’t think anything short of a run similar to the Oakland Athletics run of last year would save his job, and at 12.5 games back currently, it would be similar if they did it. Expect the Mets to be looking for a new manager when this season ends, and whoever gets the job will be in for a treat with a rotation that wields Harvey and Zack Wheeler at the top.