MLB’s managerial transition year could be historic
This season in baseball is all about the end of eras and the start of new beginnings, at least in terms of managers. This season we have seen teams fire their managers, hire new ones, managers announcing their retirement and searches continue for new ones.
It is truly the end of an era with Atlanta Braves’ manager Bobby Cox retiring at the end of the season. He has won so much for the Braves and will go down as one of the greatest of all time. The same goes for Chicago Cubs’ manager Lou Piniella. Although his farewell season doesn’t appear that it will end on a high note, he has had a great career and is certainly a manager that won’t be forgotten, not only because of his success but his passion, emotion and memorable tirades against umpires will always keep Sweet Lou in fans’ memories. Toronto Blue Jays’ manager Cito Gaston will step down as well, leaving room for new faces to lead these franchises into the future.
There’s also speculation that other legendary managers like Joe Torre and Tony La Russa are considering retirement. Both have amazing track records of their own. La Russa is undecided, but the 70-year old Torre appears to have made up his mind: "It's not the managing part. It's the fact of leaving home rather than staying to watch my daughter play softball. I don't think it will be the energy. This job is very demanding -- the travel, stuff like that."
"If those guys all go out at once, that would definitely be the end of an era," Chris Jaffe said, author of the book "Evaluating Baseball's Managers: A History and Analysis of Performance in the Major Leagues, 1876-2008.
"These are guys who have been around since the late '70s, each and every single one of them. They have, by and large, been around the game in one capacity or another nonstop their entire adult lives. There's literally never been a trio of guys who have stood side by side for as long as these guys have, year after year. It would be the most impressive departure of managers in one season in baseball history, period."
While those managers are leaving on their own terms, some managers have been forced to leave, including former Seattle Mariners’ manager Don Wakamatsu who was fired as the Mariners are in the middle of a very disappointing season. The team is in search of a full-time manager while Darren Brown takes over on an interim basis.
The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Florida Marlins also fired their managers, A.J Hinch and Fredi Gonzalez and are looking for new permanent managers at this time.
The lowly Kansas City Royals and the Baltimore Orioles fired their managers. The Royals dismissed Trey Hillman in favour of Ned Yost while the Orioles took Buck Showalter, who has a history of turning teams around and is off to a great start in Baltimore.
More managers are in the final year if their contracts, including the New York Yankees’ Joe Girardi, Ron Washington of the Texas Rangers and Dusty Baker of the Cincinnati Reds. All three have their teams vying for the playoffs and extensions will likely be offered, but Girardi is being looked at as a candidate for the vacant Cubs job. Girardi spent seven years with the Cubs as a catcher in his career.
There will already be eight changes made by the end of the season, guaranteed with three managers retiring and five managers already fired and some hired. More may come if Torre and La Russa retire and other managers become free agents and move somewhere else. The record for managerial changes in one season is 13, set in 1992 and 2003.
The level of the managers leaving the game is remarkable. La Russa (No. 3), Cox (4), Torre (5) and Piniella (14) all rank in the top 15 in career managerial wins, and combined with Gaston there are a combined 10 World Series titles won as skipper and 13 Manager of the Year awards in the bunch. What makes this year special is not only the amount of managers leaving, but the level of the managers leaving.
"What is interesting is to see all these changes occurring at one time," Jaffe said. “It's already one of the three or four biggest years in history in managerial departures with Cox, Piniella and Gaston retiring. And if you throw in just one of La Russa or Torre -- if just one of those two guys jump in -- it could very easily become No. 1 all-time."
Nothing lasts forever but these managers are icons walking away from the game. The new decade will bring new beginnings as young managers will get a chance to build their names and no one will ever forget what the departing managers have brought to the sport of baseball.
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