So you wanna be a manager…?

It’s no secret that managing a baseball team can be one of the most stressful positions in professional sports. Why? Because you have absolutely no control over what is happening on the field. Sure, managers fill out the lineup card and make several decisions during the course of a game, but baseball is too unpredictable to count on something going right every single time.

New York Mets manager Willie Randolph takes a break from watching his team. The Mets have been underachievers this entire season even after just breaking the .500 mark.

Since we are now two months into the Major League Baseball season, we should start hearing from fans, the press and even players that a manager has worn out his welcome and needs to go. However, Mike Vaccaro wrote a piece for the New York Post, which talks about how firing a manager midseason is rarely the answer that teams are looking for. Yet, some jobs seem to always be changing managers, which is why Jason Whitlock wrote in the Kansas City Star that managing the Royals can be a crazy job.

I see pros and cons of firing a manager in midseason. Some think that it may spark the team and they might win more games or at least begin playing better, while others think that firing a manager during the season can cause drama and the team might just mail the rest of the season in. I am of the thought process that you need to make other changes in coaching personnel before actually firing the manager. Take a look at the pitching coach and the hitting coach well before firing that manager, it could save his job. Sure, many managers bring in guys they want to be pitching and hitting coaches, but if they aren’t getting it done, the owner/general manager/team president needs to step in and go in a different direction.

And while I’m on the subject of firing managers midseason, there are a few managers this season that could be let go well before the All-Star game. Guys like Trey Hillman (Kansas City Royals - shocker?), Willie Randolph, Clint Hurdle (Colorado Rockies) and the Seattle Mariners’ John McLaren. I wouldn’t bet on Jim Leyland’s job being completely safe either, especially if the Tigers sink into the cellar just after the All-Star break.

If I were a GM for any of these teams, I would immediately fire Randolph and McLaren. Hillman has less to work with and his team was actually off to a good start to begin the season. Now, they are just playing like the roster of young guys that they actually are. However, the Mets and Mariners are veteran-laden teams and there is no excuse for the pathetic starts to their seasons. Randolph can use the excuse of not having a healthy Pedro Martinez all he wants. He still has David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and the best pitcher in the game in Johan Santana. And no, Fernando Tatis is not the answer for the Mets. McLaren should have one of the best pitching 1-2 punches in baseball with Erik Bedard and Felix Hernandez. He also has one of the most exciting players to watch in Ichiro Suzuki, yet the Mariners are the worst team in the American League.

I would give Hurdle a free pass since he had his team in the World Series last year after they made an amazing run in the second half of the season just to make the postseason. Yet, it still doesn’t look good that the Rockies have the worst record in all of baseball. It seems the thin air of Denver is deflating any hopes of the playoffs early on this season.

Is there a manager that I didn’t list that you think should be fired before the All-Star break? Let me know about it.

Photo: Newscom