2019 MLB Season: What’s happened to the managerial ax?
Nearly 100 games into the 2019 MLB season, none have been fired; that’s unusual
We are the point in the 2019 MLB season where a very valid question is: Who, if anyone, is sharpening the managerial ax?
Nearly 100 games into the season, no manager has been dismissed of his duties yet. That’s unusual.
In the last 25 seasons, the average number of games before a managerial firing is fewer than 66. Only once in that span have the managers all made to season’s end; that was in 2017.
In only six of those seasons did they all make it to the 100-game mark.
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Last year two necks had gone under the ax by now. Bryan Price was dismissed 18 games into Cincinnati’s season, and the Cardinals dispatched Mike Matheny in early July.
Based solely on his team’s performance, one might assume that Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais could be gone at any moment. After a 16-8 start, The Mariners have gone 23-52 and are solidly in last place in the AL West.
But Servais has job security. GM Jerry DiPoto gave him a multi-year extension – at undisclosed terms – just last year and said at the time he ”couldn’t imagine” not having Servais as manager.
Most other low-performing teams fit into one of two categories that might also make them immune to managerial shifts. Several came into the seasons with expectations so low that it would be virtually impossible to envision their managers failing to meet them. Don Mattingly in Miami, Brandon Hyde in Baltimore and Ron Gardenhire in Detroit fit into this category.
The second category encompasses long-standing managers of under-performing teams who have already term-limited themselves by announcing their retirements at season’s end. Bruce Bochy in San Francisco and Mike Scioscia in Los Angeles both fit that category.
In his first season in Toronto, Charlie Montoyo has gotten off to a rough start. The Jays are just 35-61. But Montoyo has a contract that runs through 2021, and it’s unlikely the Jays would reverse a hire they made so recently.
In Kansas City, Ned Yost’s 35-62 Royals have under-performed low expectations. But Yost has the residue of the 2015 World Series win to fall back on; that goes a long way in Kansas City. So does his loyalty; he’s been the Royals manager since 2010.
Bud Black’s 2019 season in Colorado has, to date, been a disappointment. Last year’s NL wild-card team sits at 46-50 and last in the NL West. But Black, like Servais, recently signed an extension through 2022.
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It’s possible, then, that the 2019 MLB season might be a stable one for managers. Unless the Mets decide to pull the plug on Mickey Callaway, there are no other obvious candidates for removal.