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Six MLB managers in danger of losing their jobs

Joe Girardi New York Yankees

In Major League Baseball, a team’s performance ultimately falls on its manager. If an MLB team is losing, one can bet that the manager’s job will be in jeopardy.

The 2016 season is offering no shortage of managers who are in danger of getting fired. Some are underperforming on teams that was built to win. Others have just been mired in mediocrity (or worse) for far too long.

Which MLB managers are most in danger of being shown the door at the end of the 2016 season?

1. Mike Scioscia, Los Angeles Angels

With the possible exception of the Minnesota Twins, no team is having a more disastrous season than the Angels. As recently as July, Twins owner Jim Pohlad said that he intends to have Paul Molitor manage the team in 2017. Until further notice, he doesn’t belong on a list like this.

Scioscia, on the other hand, absolutely does.

The Angels are 49-68 and are one of baseball’s worst teams. The problem in Los Angeles is that this team is not in rebuilding mode in any way. In Mike Trout, the Halos have the game’s best player. In Albert Pujols, Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson, they have plenty of high priced veterans in their 30’s.

If that doesn’t scream “win now,” nothing does.

Obviously, that’s not happening. Having managed Los Angeles since 2000, Scioscia is the longest-tenured skipper with one team in the game. Since winning the American League West for a third straight year in 2009, the Angels have only returned to the playoffs once.

This disastrous season is the final sign that 17 seasons in one place may be enough.

2. Robin Ventura, Chicago White Sox 

The fact that Ventura was kept on to manage in 2016 was puzzling. Chicago was 85-77 in his first year, but it did not finish better than 76-86 in the subsequent three seasons.

This year, it’s been more of the same. The White Sox sit at 56-61 and are well out of playoff position. This is despite the fact that the Sox were one of baseball’s best teams in the early going, starting the year 23-10. The South Siders also had a busy offseason, landing guys like Brett Lawrie and Todd Frazier.

Chicago was built to contend this year, but that simply has not happened.

As if all of that wasn’t enough, that clubhouse seems chaotic from the outside looking in. Whether it was the Adam LaRoche saga in spring training or Chris Sale taking a knife to the team’s 1976 jerseys, the stories coming out of this team’s clubhouse have been bizarre. That reflects on the manager.

Granted, much of that may be as much of a reflection on the front office as it is on Ventura, but the front office will not fire itself.

Ventura won’t be so lucky.

3. Chip Hale, Arizona Diamondbacks

It’s been a dismal season in Arizona. The Diamondbacks have not only failed to contend, but they sit at the bottom of the National League West. That’s a bad look for Hale, their second-year manager.

After a 79-83 season in 2015, Arizona was a major player in the offseason. It signed Zack Greinke away from the Los Angeles Dodgers and made a blockbuster trade with the Atlanta Braves to land Shelby Miller.

Miller’s performance has been dismal. He’s now trying to rediscover his form in the minors. Greinke was inconsistent for most of the season before getting hurt. His return to action has been terrible.

Now, none of that is to say that Hale should be blamed for the poor record. But this situation is very much like the one in Chicago with the White Sox.

Dave Stewart and Tony LaRussa aren’t likely to fire themselves for the bad personnel decisions they made. Blaming the manager is the more likely play. With that in mind, the odds certainly aren’t great for Hale to keep his job in 2017.

4. Bryan Price, Cincinnati Reds

In the three years before Price took over as Cincinnati’s manager, the Reds won an average of 89 games. The three subsequent years have been much worse.

Now, the overall record is a little deceptive. Cincinnati did enter a rebuilding period with the hiring of Price.

Still, that’s nowhere near enough progress for the Reds. If a rebuilding project isn’t complete after three years, it should have a very clear light at the end of the tunnel. Cincinnati doesn’t have that under Price.

The 2016 season is the final year on Price’s contract. The smart money says that come next season, someone else will be running the show for the Reds.

5. Terry Collins, New York Mets

Just a year removed from managing the National League champions, Collins has his head on the chopping block.

Like the Mets, the Kansas City Royals are also having a down year. Still, it doesn’t seem likely that Ned Yost is going anywhere. So, why is the manager of one World Series team safe and the other in such precarious position?

There are a few reasons. The first one is that the 2015 Royals make the 2016 Mets look especially bad.

In 2014, the Royals lost a crushing World Series. They responded by winning the World Series the next year, dominating the American League all season in the process.

The 2015 World Series loss wasn’t as crushing for New York as 2014 was for Kansas City, but it was frustrating. The Mets led in all five games and realistically should have won three of the four games that they lost.

Yet they’ve shown essentially none of the same drive that the Royals had in 2015. After a strong start to the year, New York has simply been flat.

Also, Yost has a more impressive body of work. The Royals won 86 games in 2013, 89 in 2014 and 95 in 2015. It’s fair to say that the 2016 struggles may be the true outlier.

From 2011-2014, the Mets won 77, 74, 74, and 79 games. In 2015, they won 90. In 2016, they’re struggling to hang around .500. Which of the last two seasons looks like the true outlier?

6. Joe Girardi, New York Yankees

Had Girardi enjoyed the kind of record that he’s had in New York with any other organization in baseball, it would be an unqualified success. But the Yankees have different standards.

Girardi has managed more games in pinstripes than all but five men. While he’s far from a bum, his success does not stack up well compared to the other five.

Ralph Houk — the only manager on the list with a lower winning percentage than Girardi — amassed that percentage in two different stints.

The Yankees have also made only one trip to the playoffs since getting swept in the 2012 ALCS. That trip was quick and ended with a shutout loss in 2015’s American League Wild Card Game against the Houston Astros.

Additionally, New York has finally decided to embrace a rebuilding project. Many of the big-name veterans that helped Girardi accrue that record in the Bronx are now gone or will soon be out the door.

Rebuilding projects often feature a clean slate, which frequently means a new manager. Girardi hasn’t managed a young team since his one year with the Miami Marlins in 2006.

Make no mistake, Girardi isn’t a bad manager. Still, it would make a degree of sense for the Yankees front office to look for a manager more experienced with younger players. It would probably be better for Girardi to go to a place with a more immediate championship window.

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