The bottom feeders in the league have already started cleaning out the GM and manager ranks, so let’s prognosticate who else will be joining them soon after the season ends. This doesn’t include previous moves made as the interim managers rarely stick with the clubs they steer to the finish line and should be assumed will be in the market for a new skipper.
Matt Williams - Washington Nationals. Quick name someone who didn’t have the Nats penciled into winning the East and at least representing the NL in the World Series. Matt Williams takes the fall for his pitching staff that on paper was one of the all time best but performed like a team that will finish at about .500. GM Mike Rizzo narrowly avoids the ax despite adding malcontent Johnathan Papelbon and his salary to the bullpen.
Brad Ausmus - Detroit Tigers. GM Dave Dombrowski is already gone but Ausmus only goes if the team finishes in the basement of the division, which unfortunately they will. It doesn’t seem possible that this team could pull a Boston and go from first to worst but looking at the pitching staff questions and injuries to Miggy and V-Mart yeah you kind of can see it.
Lloyd McClendon - Seattle Mariners. His GM is gone and whoever comes in will surely let McClendon go for his inability to coax wins out of the talent his roster had.
Billy Beane - Oakland A's. Part owner Beane should fire the fulltime GM Beane. His trades of Addison Russell and Josh Donaldson alone would have been enough to be let go but the team’s dismal performance this season can be attributed to the product GM Beane put together. He won’t show himself the door but he should.
Bryan Price - Cincinnati Reds. He inherited a roster with a lot of questions but the trade of Mike Leake signified his ouster as the team is beginning a tear down process. They couldn’t trade Joey Votto if they wanted to with that contract so he stays along with Tod Frazier to be the face(s) of the franchise going forward.
Walt Weiss - Colorado Rockies. GM Jeff Bridich took over for Dan O’Dowd in October of 2014 and is dealing with the former’s incompetence. The Jose Reyes trade however falls directly on him as they failed to net an impact pitching prospect from Toronto in the Troy Tulowitzki deal. Its likely Weiss is the fall guy for a rebuilding franchise while the GM sticks.
Robin Ventura - Chicago White Sox. This team underachieved all year and that falls squarely on the manager. He is a Kenny Williams guy and while Williams isn’t the GM anymore he is still in the building, and current GM Rick Hahn may not have the freedom to replace him. The Tigers fall might be his saving grace.
The Mets PR Nightmare
The Matt Harvey innings debate has many angles on the field and off it. Does a player or his agent dictate his use or does the team “own” the player to the point where they make the call on how he is used and for how long? What it tells me is two things: 1. GM Sandy Alderson didn’t enter the year with a plan, or if he did the team wasn’t aware of it. If he was to have an innings cap then why not hold him out until May or skip a start here and there? The second thing is perhaps the most telling thing; it says to me that the team didn’t think they would be contenders this year to be put in this position. Granted nobody outside of Flushing thought they would win the division. What Alderson should do is leak to the media that he is in talks with Yoenis Cespedes about a contract, get some good PR going.
