Of any position in a Major League clubhouse, nobody has it tougher than the field manager. Year in and year out the skipper takes the brunt of a team’s success or failure, and their job is always up in the air as General Managers look to reload the lineups in an effort to help the field manager teach and lead his players into a hopeful postseason berth. Some managers have long, fruitful careers, while others are cast aside without a moments notice.
A prime example of this was shown throughout the 1980s when then-New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner hired and fired managers as often as most fantasy owners shuffle through the free agent wire, including adding and dropping the same guy (Bill Martin) three times in a 10-year span.
In 2014 there will be five new managers taking the helm, two in the American League and three in the National League, with only one of them coming with prior MLB managerial experience, Lloyd McClendon of the Seattle Mariners.
Long gone are the days of a manager getting the backing of the front office through thick and thin for more than a decade.
Only Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia and Minnesota Twins manager Rod Gardenhire have hit double-figures when it comes to years spent in charge, but even with their past success, dire times have epitomized their careers for the better part of the last four years.
But as teams continue to get young and managers get older, the ability to teach, at least in the eyes of the front office, is becoming more strained as the seasons turn.
With that, 2014 might be the final year for a handful of managers who have seen the good times, the bad times and may otherwise be on the hot seat in the eyes of the powers that be.
Ron Roenicke- Milwaukee Brewers
Since 2011 Roenicke has been the skipper of the Brewers, and in his first season he set the franchise record in wins with 96 and even got his team into the National League Championship Series where they ultimately lost to the eventual World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals.
Even though Roenicke finished the season with a second place finish for the NL Manager of the Year Award, his last two seasons have been met with disappointment: 83-79 in 2012 and 74-88 in 2013.
Granted, Roenicke took two hard hits in the span of two years, the first of which came with the loss of first baseman Prince Fielder to free agency at the end of the 2011 season and the suspension of Ryan Braun in the middle of the 2013 season.
As if things couldn’t get worse f or Roenicke, this offseason he lost power-hitting first baseman/outfielder Corey Hart to the Mariners and gained a potential headache in Matt Garza. While it may seem extreme for the Brewers to drop Roenicke with a potential bad 2014 showing, it wouldn’t be out of the boundaries of rationality.
For example, prior to Roenicke taking over, the Brewers only gave Ken Macha two seasons (2007-2008) to wow them before they gave him the hook and he went 80-22 and 77-85 respectively.
This of course was after the Oakland Athletics had parted ways with Macha after four successful seasons in which he won two American League Western Division titles and finished with less than 91 wins once during his tenure (88-74 in 2005).
John Gibbons- Toronto Blue Jays
It’s still a mystery as to why Blue Jays’ General Manager Alex Anthopoulos though it would be a great idea to bring John Gibbons back for a second stint as manager shortly after the team struck their epic trade with the Miami Marlins.
From 2004-2008 Gibbons led the Blue Jays to a 305-305 record and only finished with a winning record one time in that span, 87-75 in 2006, which was good enough for a second place finish in the AL East. Gibbons forged solid relationships with a few players, but had widespread fallout with former talent Shea Hillenbrand which eventually got him traded to the San Francisco Giants in the middle of the 2006 season.
Keep in mind, Hillenbrand had a career-year in 2005 with a .291 average, 18 home runs, 82 RBI and even made the roster for the All-Star Game. With one of the best pre-season rosters in 2013, Gibbons and the Blue Jays only managed to finish with a 74-88 record, dead last in the AL East.
Granted, injuries to Jose Reyes and Jose Bautista threw a few wrenches in the gears, but even with those losses Gibbons still had plenty of guys who he could have shuffled around to sustain the damage and compete.
Bud Black- San Diego Padres
Of all the managers on this list, Black has certainly had the toughest road, but at the same time has been apple to shake things up in the standings year-after-year.
Despite the fact that he only has two winning seasons in the seven years he’s been at the helm of the Padres, he has one Manager of the Year Award to his name which he nabbed in 2010 when the team finished with a 90-72 record, two games behind the eventual World Series champion Giants. T
he biggest problem that Black has been facing over the years is a lack of help from GM Jed Hoyer (2009-2012). Even though the Padres did well in 2010, most of that credit goes to former-GM Kevin Towers.
In 2013 Josh Byrnes took over the job and has done everything within his power and budget to give Black what he needs including starting pitching, a little bit of bullpen help and two more bats in the lineup.
But with only two winnings seasons in seven years (540-595), the last of which coming four years ago, Black needs to boost his team into the postseason for the first time in his career in order to save faith with the club.
Mike Scioscia- Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
As mentioned above, Scioscia has the distinguished title of being one of only two managers to hold their job for 10 or more years; but not only that, he has the title of the longest tenured manager in the league.
For the last 14 seasons Scioscia has racked up an impressive 1233-1035 record which includes five AL Western Division titles (2004-2005 and 2007-2009), a World Series championship in 2002 as the AL Wild Card winner and two Manager of the Year Awards (2002 and 2009).
But even with the amount of success that Scioscia amassed prior to 2010, it’s hard to give him full credit for all that the Angels have accomplished when you consider the fact that he had current Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon, current Padres manager Black and even current Brewers manager Roenicke on his staff.
As each member of the staff was picked off by other teams, the Angels’ success over the years began to dwindle. It’s almost like what happened to Mike Holmgren with the Green Bay Packers and later the Seattle Seahawks.
Both he and Scioscia are good coaches, but their success is truly defined by the other men they put around them. After all, Maddon was the manager of the Angels before getting replaced by Scioscia in 2000, and look at how well Maddon landed on his feet after leaving Anaheim.
The point in all of this is that Scioscia doesn’t exactly have anybody of real worth in his corner anymore, and has nothing but second and third place finishes since 2010 to show for it.
The most detrimental part of this outcome is that the Angels and GM Jerry Dipoto have been shelling out a ton of money to make them a success again, but they aren’t exactly picking up the right pieces to the puzzle. If the losing trend continues again in 2014, somebody has to be the fall guy. And if there is one thing that baseball has taught anyone over the last decade it’s that nobody’s job is safe, even wife a World Series ring to show for it. Need proof, just ask Terry Francona and the Boston Red Sox.
Ron Gardenhire- Minnesota Twins
It’s kind of sad to have the second-longest tenured manager on this list, but if you look at Gardenhire’s track record there really isn’t a terrible amount to show for it. In 12 seasons Gardenhire’s record is a little bit above par (998-947).
That is kind of odd when considering the fact that he and the Twins have won the AL Central Division title 50 percent of the time that he has been in charge (2002-2004, 2006 and 2009-2010) including one AL Manager of the Year Award which he won in 2010.
Even though the fans and players all love the guy, he unfortunately boasts one of the worst managerial records in the playoffs (6-21), with their only series victory coming against the Athletics during the 2002 “Moneyball” season in the AL Division Series.
Since winning the AL Manager of the Year Award Gardenhire and the Twins have had a lot of bad luck on their side. Injuries to both MVPs Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer and the losses of Johan Santana, Michael Cuddyer, Torii Hunter, Denard Span, Ben Revere and even Joe Nathan over the years have left the team scrambling for replacements in order to compete.
But while some in the front office might want to blame Gardenhire for the “less-than-expected” finishes over the last three seasons, the real blame has to go on GMs Terry Ryan’s and Bill Smith’s (2007-2011 while Ryan stepped down) shoulders for consistently signing players within the organization as opposed to going after highly touted free agents.
As a result, some players get called up way too early (Aaron Hicks for example) before they’re fully developed, which resulted in a pretty consistent string of losses over the years.
Thus, the guy who takes the brunt of the blame is usually the guy who pens him into the lineup every day.
Gardenhire’s situation is a rough shake and it would be a true loss if 2014 is his final season other than going out on his own terms.
General manager Terry Ryan and the Twins finally decided to pull the trigger of a few free agent pitchers this offseason, the only problem for Gardenhire is that they’re Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes; not exactly two guys that any veteran manager would like holding the fate of his future in their hands.
But regardless of those two, Gardenhire needs to finish the season in at least a respectable position. Finishing in a spot (dead last) that the Kansas City Royals made look like an art form for so many years for a third straight season doesn’t look too favorable in the owners’ eyes, no matter how successful you’ve been in the past. Once again, something that Francona and the Red Sox know all too well.