2019 MLB Season: The Managerial Hot Seat
By Bill Felber
Entering the 2019 MLB season, several managers have reason to feel uneasy about their own job security.
The 2019 MLB season will begin soon, and most races appear to be contentious. One thing, however, is virtually certain: somewhere, someday, some manager will be canned.
It happens routinely. Last season alone, Mike Matheny in St. Louis, Jeff Banister in Texas and Bryan Price in Cincinnati all got the bad news. Over the past 10 seasons, 28 managers failed to finish a season they started, at least one in every season except 2017.
Nearly two-thirds of major league teams made at least one mid-season managerial change during the decade.
Managers get replaced for various reasons. Disappointing performance, obviously, is one. Matheny was ousted as Cardinals manager during the 2018 All Star break because the Cardinals were on course to miss out on post-season play for a third straight season, the franchise’s first three-year streak of failure since 1997-99.
Another reason front offices sometimes make a mid-season move is because a manager’s contract is about to end. Executives know it won’t be renewed either for cost or performance reasons and they want to get a jump on the job search.
It can also sometimes be a simple matter of economics. The average manager today makes less money than he did a few years ago. Increasingly, managers are being treated as middle managers, useful more for their ability to implement front office strategies than for devising those strategies themselves.
That’s led to a weedingout process at the top of the pay chain. The three best-paid managers in 2018 were Joe Maddon, Mike Scioscia, and Bruce Bochy. Scioscia retired, and Bochy will retire at the end of the 2019 MLB season. As for Maddon, well, more on that momentarily.
Which managers might be feeling least secure as the 2019 MLB season begins? Here’s a look at seven who could, if things go wrong, be in trouble.