The trap has already sprung beneath two MLB front office setups this summer. If history is any indication, there will be upheavals in two or three more by season’s end.
The Detroit Tigers released general manager Al Avila several weeks ago. Then earlier in August, the Texas Rangers dismissed long-time team President Jon Daniels, leaving that organization in the hands of general manager Chris Young.
With a bit more than one month of games remaining to be played, numerous front office situations fit the profile of candidates for a shakeup at season’s end.
What creates that profile? It does vary from situation to situation, but recent history suggests a few guidelines we can look to in order to determine which team presidents and/or general managers might be in the greatest jeopardy.
- Front office executives usually get at least a four-to-five year window to produce results, meaning to develop a plausibly contending team. A front office that has been in place longer than that without developing a relatively consistent winning approach is in trouble.
- If a front office executive’s contract will expire in the next year or two and he/she hasn’t been renewed, that’s a bad sign.
- A front office executive running a historically successful franchise with a recent track record of under-performance is often in trouble. The same is true for the exec of a team failing to meet high pre-season expectations in 2022.
That last yardstick might point a finger directly at Boston Red Sox team President Chaim Bloom and/or general manager Ryan O’Halloran. It is stating the obvious to note that expectations are always high in Boston, which for the moment at least resides in the AL East cellar.
At the same time, Bloom and O’Halloran only came on board following the 2019 season, and their operational window was immediately shortened by the 2020 Covid-interrupted season. That being the case, even if the Red Sox flatline this year Bloom and O’Halloran may get a one-season reprieve. No guarantees on that, but they might.
Here’s a look at five other front office leadership teams that, based on the criteria, may not be as fortunate come October.