3 MLB managers on the hot seat one month into 2023

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We are one month into the 2023 MLB season and as usual, there have been some surprises and some disappointments through the first 30 days for all 32 teams.

Twenty-five or so games into a 162-game season is a small sample size for baseball and you can’t win a division in the first month … but you can undoubtedly bury yourself in the standings and make the rest of the season a mountain to climb out of.

A bad start to a season can make for a long summer for a team and their fanbase. Yes, their expectations may not be high, but an excellent start to any season can be good for any team. Generally, when a team doesn’t meet expectations, it’s not the players that take the fall, but the manager.

Last season four managers did not survive the season. Joe Girardi (Philadelphia Phillies), Joe Maddon (Los Angeles Angels), Charlie Montoyo (Toronto Blue Jays), and Chris Woodward (Texas Rangers) all fell victim to the reality of the job of not getting it done.

Don’t get me wrong, I would never want to see someone lose their job, but it’s the reality of the sport and the business.

Here are three MLB managers that could be on the hot seat one month into the 2023 season.

May 11, 2022; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez (4) looks on from the dugout against the New York Mets at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Scott Taetsch-USA TODAY Sports /

Dave Martinez, Washington Nationals

It certainly feels like a lot longer than four years ago when the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros in seven games to win the 2019 World Series. They look a lot different now than they did then roster-wise.

Gone are Trea Turner, Anthony Rendon, Juan Soto, and Max Scherzer, just to name a few. They currently sit in last place in a good National League East, a place where they have finished the last three seasons. They are coming in a 107-loss 2022 season and it wouldn’t be surprising to see them close in on that number again this season.

Dave Martinez, who began his coaching career as a bench coach for the Tampa Bay Rays, is in his sixth season as manager of the Nationals and he won the World Series in just his second year in charge. Since then, however, a lot has changed and Washington is a team that is stuck in a long rebuild after trading and losing key pieces of the club the last couple of seasons.

They have some good young players, including pitcher Josiah Gray, but being stuck in the NL East is not a division you want to be in with the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, and Phillies when you’re in a rebuild. When a team goes through a rebuild, generally a tenured manager like Martinez doesn’t stick around to see it through. Moving on from him and bringing in a new voice with the recent struggles might be the move that Washington makes sooner rather than later.

Manager AJ Hinch in the dugout before the Detroit Tigers played on Opening Day vs. the Chicago White Sox, Friday, April 8, 2022, at Comerica Park.Tigers Chiwht /

A.J. Hinch, Detroit Tigers

Like the Nationals, A.J. Hinch’s success with the Houston Astros seems like a long time ago. His tenure there ended with the cheating scandal the organization went through before the pandemic, but it didn’t take long for Hinch to find another job.

He was hired prior to the 2021 season by the Detroit Tigers, but things have not gone as well as the team hoped they would. Detroit had expectations they would compete for a postseason spot in 2021, but finished 77-85, before finishing 30 games under .500 last season at 66-96.

This season, Hinch pulled Javier Baez from a game against the Toronto Blue Jays because he lost track of the outs and ran himself into a double play. It’s never a good thing when you need to pull a guy you signed to a six-year, $144 million contract to be a leader of a team with young players that have underachieved the last two seasons and there is hope they finally crack the .500 mark by the end of the season.

Hinch has to be looking over his shoulder a,s since his hiring, the Tigers hired Scott Harris as president of baseball operations. When there is a new boss above you and you are not the guy he hired, it’s always a tenuous situation and they will want to bring in their own guy, something Hinch could find out soon.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 22: Manager Aaron Boone #17 of the New York Yankees looks on from the dugout during the fifth inning against the Houston Astros in game three of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium on October 22, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

Aaron Boone, New York Yankees

It’s highly unlikely that GM Brian Cashman does this, but it makes you wonder how Aaron Boone has survived the last couple of seasons. The Yankees have not been in a World Series since 2009 and have been to just two American League Championship Series under Boone in the last five seasons.

Last season, the Yankees had a fast start to the season that allowed them to win 99 games. However, despite their successful regular season, they sputtered once again in the playoffs at the hands of their playoff nemesis, the Houston Astros. This season, they are one month into the season and they already are buried near the bottom of the AL East standings just ahead of the Boston Red Sox and way behind the Rays.

Gerrit Cole has been very good this season on the mound for Boone and Nestor Cortes was good until his start Tuesday night against the Minnesota Twins. Offensively, they are putting up runs, but their pitching has let them down, including the bullpen. These are the New York Yankees, an organization that prides itself on championships and they don’t have one since 2009. They also don’t have a World Series appearance since then. It makes you wonder how much longer of a leash the front office will give Boone.

It’s only a matter of time before a manager loses their job in a dugout and a lot of the time, it’s necessarily their fault. They are the ones who take the fall for an underachieving team or he is not the manager hired by the current leaders in the front office. Last season, four managers were cut loose during the season and it’s a safe bet that it’s only a matter of time before it happens in 2023.

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