Kuzul

While the Florida Marlins may have their hands full with finding their next manager and signing Dan Uggla to a contract extension this offseason, they face an uphill battle in fixing what was broken throughout the 2010 season, bullpen aside the catcher position gave the Marlins headaches all season long. 

I’d compare it to the Marlins buying a brand new battery and having to change it every few days, which translates to every couple of weeks for the Marlins who went through an assortment of them this past season. 

The primary starter John Baker who underwent Tommy John Surgery in the summer hopes to be ready by the time spring training rolls around but it won’t be easy process considering he’ll still need to use his throwing arm after every pitch and when base runners are on the loose.

And from the looks of it, the Marlins might not be as intrigued to bring back backup catcher Ronny Paulino after his positive test for performance-enhancing drugs in mid-August.

Down the stretch after losing Paulino, the Marlins went with an array of catchers, ranging from Brad Davis to Brett Hayes to Chris Hatcher and Mike Rivera.

In 2010, the quintet of Baker, David, Hayes, Hatcher, and Rivera went on to hit a combined .197 (56 for 284) with 5 home runs and 28 RBI in 104 games. You can make the argument that may have been a reason why the Marlins lost as many games as they did these season and could have been anywhere in the 85 to 90 win range had they had a solid healthy catcher throughout the season. 

Looking at the free agent market, the only intriguing name out there is Victor Martinez yet he 32 and would demand big money—upward of $50 million, which is Dan Uggla money—if the Marlins intend to rise their offer. 

While familiar names such as Ramon Castro, Miguel Olivo and Matt Treanor can all possibly be free agents, I don’t expect the Marlins to go to either because of age and money combined. I can’t envision the Marlins paying Treanor or Castro more than $2 million, which is what they may command and Olivo is likely to return to Colorado with his mutual option pending. 

As for the trade market, the Marlins can probably pursue Ivan Rodriguez from the Nationals and perhaps get him for virtually a class-A minor leaguer yet he won’t bring with him the impact bat the Marlins need. 

The remaining candidate who is on the block at a reasonable contract price and is under 30 years of age? Mike Napoli.

Napoli carries with him the perfect bat to a possible Marlins lineup that use some added protection considering Jorge Cantu and Cody Ross have departed via midseason trades.

While the Marlins may have Gaby Sanchez, Dan Uggla, Hanley Ramirez, and Mike Stanton as their power hitters, adding Mike Napoli gives the Marlins a dangerous lineup which could easily rival that of the Phillies and Braves and set themselves up for a good 1 through 8 in the batting order. Imagine starting off on Opening Day with Coghlan, Morrison, Ramirez, Uggla, Sanchez, Stanton, Napoli and Maybin. 

Mike Napoli can be non-tendered by the Angels if they decide to go in a different direction but more than likely, Napoli will be shopped around the league which brings a catcher weak Marlins team into the fold.

Napoli is a local South Florida product hailing from Charles Flanagan High School in Pembroke Pines and he was born in Hollywood, Florida. He would welcome a return to the Sunshine State in a heartbeat especially if he was non-tendered.

2010 Batting Statistics: .238 batting average, 26 home runs and 68 RBI

2010 Contract: $3,600,000 

2011 Projected Salary: $ 5-6 million (third year arbitration eligible) 

Defense will certainly be an issue for any team that has Napoli who committed a league high nine errors as a catcher in 2009. I’d suspect that if Mike Napoli ever came to be a Florida Marlin, he’d more than likely split time with John Baker in a platoon role with right and left handed pitching. Napoli hit .219 last season against right handed pitcher.

The ultimate factor is money for the Marlins in acquiring a guy like Napoli. The money has to be used in signing Dan Uggla to an extension and shoring up the depleted bullpen for the Fish yet if can give the Marlins a stable catcher for the next few seasons until Kyle Skipworth is ready then they should pursue the opportunity especially if Napoli gives them the hometown discount. 

Nevertheless, if the Marlins expect to draw any interest of fans to their new stadium they’ll have to do it by getting competitive and spending their money. Their image has been ruined in the public by their own local government, MLB, and by Cody Ross’ performance in the postseason.

If they want to repair their image they’ll have begin making trades to add pieces, not dumping them and I would like to see it happen in the offseason and not the midseason trading deadline when the team is on pins and needles. Mike Napoli would be a solid first step in that direction for a franchise undergoing a major facelift soon.

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The Braves hiring their ‘in-family’ manager to replace Bobby Cox in naming Fredi Gonzalez his successor is nothing less than a huge mistake for the entire Braves organization.

Coming from a fan who has watched Gonzalez manage in South Florida the last few years, he has major flaws.  First off, he doesn’t understand player chemistry.  Hanley Ramirez is arguably the best player in the Major Leagues at the shortstop position and Gonzalez constantly clashed with him. 

Gonzalez could not get along with his superstar and thus he alienated other teammates in the process.  He even got in Ramirez’s face in the dugout and there were several reports of turmoil between the two.

Secondly, he is horrible at managing pitchers. 

Gonzalez is a huge pitch counter and he pulls pitchers out of the game way too soon.  When he managed the Marlins, he often yanked the pitchers out early when they were cruising just because they were at 85 pitches or near 100 pitches.  Josh Johnson had a no-hitter going at one point and Gonzalez said he would not have allowed Johnson to finish his no-hitter and “wasn’t going to allow him to throw 150 pitches.” 

He was relieved at his pitcher losing his no-hitter so he didn’t have to pull him.  I guess Gonzalez didn’t see Edwin Jackson’s no-hitter earlier this year where he threw 149 pitches.  But it’s far more than no-hitters, it’s consistently pulling pitchers early who could give another one or two innings to make the bullpen’s job easier or give them the night off.

If you saw last night’s game in Tampa where Cliff Lee went nine and completed the game against the Rays to win the series, this likely would not have happened had Fredi Gonzalez been the manager of the Rangers—Gonzalez would have likely pulled him after the seventh.

Finally, he didn’t even win half of his games in Florida. 

He was fired with an overall win percentage of .497.  He was 35-36 in 2010 when Marlins owner, Jeffery Loria pulled the plug on him and said, “we can do better and be better.” 

So why were the Braves so quick to go after this guy?  Edwin Rodriguez, who previously had no experience as a manager in the Big Leagues, tookover for Gonzalez and posted a better record than Gonzalez and ended up finishing with a .500 record (46-46).  He got along well with Ramirez, and the team had much more respect for an inexperienced Rodriguez than they did for Gonzalez, who had been around for three years.

It also makes me wonder how fair of a coaching search this was.  Why would the Braves be so quick-handed not to interview some other quality candidates and jump at a guy with a less than .500 record? 

Rumors flew throughout the season that Gonzalez was going to be in Atlanta after the Marlins fired him.  I feel sorry for the candidates who didn’t get a fair crack at the job because of an old boys network connection that Fredi had with the organization.

However, he might be ideal for team president John Schuerholz, who tolerated underachieving and early exits from the playoffs for years under Bobby Cox.  Currently, the Braves have lost their last eight elimination games and have been eliminated in the first series the last six times they made the playoffs. 

If this was the New York Yankees and the Steinbrenner family running the team he would have been fired three times over again.

When Gonzalez was dusted by the Marlins, he uttered the words, “It doesn’t surprise me, these things are normal in this job.”  His below .500 record and inability to relate to his players is also normal.

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Once again, the ever-popular name for the Florida Marlins managerial job has brought out the big fish that Jeffrey Loria desires: Bobby Valentine. The current ESPN analyst has once again emerged as the “leading candidate” to manage the Marlins, reports Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post, citing a person familiar with the process.

According to the report, “Valentine has been in touch with the Marlins over the last two weeks,” and, while it’s no secret that Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria wants Valentine, team president David Samson and others in the front office are against it because, according to sources, “They’re reluctant to give Valentine the power he wants in personnel decisions.”

Three months ago, an internal struggle caused Loria to keep interim manager Edwin Rodriguez for the remainder of the season. Rodriguez went 46-46 as manager of the Marlins but has seemingly ended up as the Marlins’ last resort on the managerial front.

The other candidates the Marlins are keeping their eye on are Atlanta Braves scout Jim Fregosi, Dodgers minor league manager Tim Wallach, Yankees bench coach Tony Pena, and former Diamondbacks and Marlins third base coach Bo Porter.

At this rate, if Valentine gets the job it’ll be because of Jeffrey Loria and his desire to hire a big name over the not-so-popular alternatives. Valentine, 60, has a 1,117-1,072 record in 15 seasons managing the Texas Rangers and New York Mets (1996-2002). He managed in Japan from 2004-09, and won the Japan Series with Chiba Lotte Marines.

The Marlins are heading to a new stadium in 2012 and need a set manager in order to establish chemistry. The bottom line is the Marlins are making a gamble with their next manager because of the bright future that lies head with the new stadium and nucleus of young talent.

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The Cardinals came into this season expecting to challenge the Philadelphia Phillies for the National League pennant and to dethrone the New York Yankees in the World Series.

Yet they were out of contention by the middle of September, in the clutches of a collapse from a first-place tie with their longtime rival, the Cincinnati Reds, and were far removed from being the hottest Redbirds team in three seasons.

Collapse is a more powerful word than the phrase “second-half swoon,” but collapse is more appropriate in this situation, without question.

Redbird Nation is baffled:

How a team expected to swim deep into the playoffs needed CPR, personal oxygen tanks, and a breathing apparatus by the beginning of September is beyond us.

Instead of challenging the Phillies in the playoffs, the Cardinals were eliminated by the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates with a week remaining in the regular season.

Watching their barroom-brawling rivals run away with the division crown this particular season is a James Bond movie-like bitter and poison pill for diehard Cardinals fans to swallow.

They were 12-6 against the Reds, but their record was an ugly 26-33 against the rest of the division, and 46-50 against teams with a losing record.

Again this year, thanks to a second-half swoon that has become the norm over the last three Redbirds seasons, the Gateway City’s Gas House Gang’s gritty baseball team flavor lost its savor under their now-embattled tragic Cardinal of a manager: Tony LaRussa.

The Cardinals were playing like the best team in baseball from the first pitch after the 81^st All-Star Game.  Starting on July 15, their first eight games after the break were played in St. Louis against two of the top NL teams: the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Eight revenge games to start the second half: The Dodgers had swept the Cardinals out of the playoffs in 2009, and the Phillies were the defending NL Champions.

After the infield dust settled, Major League Baseball eyes watched in admiration at the Redbirds’ sizzling performance.

First, the Birds swept the Dodgers by outscoring them 22-9 in the four-game series.  In July, Joe Torre’s squad was still considered the front-runner to win the NL West.

Then, the Cardinals bopped the Phillies in three straight games, taking the series 3-1, and outscoring Philadelphia 23-8 in the four contests. 

Then, in the very next series, in Chicago against their top rivals (the woefully struggling Cubs), the Cardinals were dismantled by yet another team that owned a losing overall record.

The Cardinals’ August began in Houston against the cellar-dwelling Astros.  Houston shoved an 18-4 loss down the Cardinals’ throat; an embarrassing effort that drew the ire of Cardinals fans who experienced the bitter commentary of MLB analysts as well as those from other team’s fans.

But the Redbirds made up for it a week later, by running Cincinnati red—in Cincinnati.  This was the “Scrap Series,” where the Cardinals swept the clashes but ended up losing the conflict.

Cincinnati’s cocky infielder, Brandon Phillips, a breathing conflict on the diamond, fired the then-second-place Redbirds up with his comments that I will not repeat here.  And when he stepped to the plate, the Cards’ rugged catcher, Yadier Molina, dared Phillips to shine across the line.

Phillips did so and the brawl was on to the Reds’ detriment, or so it seemed.

Being swept by his managerial Mad Hatter in Tony LaRussa, Cincinnati’s skipper Dusty “Batman” Baker’s blood boiled as he was seen bristling in postgame interviews.

The Reds went on a division-clinching run after the series’ infamous summer brawl, while the Cardinals started to swoon.

To end August, the Cardinals got swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates and by the Astros, plus Albert Pujols and the St. Louisans were almost swept by the Washington Nationals.  In the last 10 games of the month, the Cardinals record was 1-9.

The swoon was now lasting way past June.  Even though the Redbirds destroyed the Reds by a score of 6-1 in a game played on national television on the Saturday before Labor Day, for all intents and purposes, the division race was over.

How could a relatively young team with a Cy Young candidate (Adam Wainwright), a first baseman vying for the Triple Crown (Pujols), a $25 million enforcer (Matt Holliday), a top NL closer (Ryan Franklin), and a former Cy Young winner (Chris Carpenter) miss the playoffs? 

Before asking yourself “What just happened?” chew on this:

As you know, I believe that the blame has to fall squarely on the grudge-holding mind of manager Tony LaRussa. 

Both LaRussa and McGwire are pond scum, and now we see them for what they truly are. Hopefully, in this long offseason, consequences and repercussions will be the result. 

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With the seats getting emptier at Sun Life Stadium in the wake of yet another Marlins late-season collapse, the surging Miami Dolphins snatching the local sports headlines, and the impending start of the NBA season with the Heat Elite of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh about to take the hardwood, the Marlins are in need of a revival.

Luckily, there is a bright light at the surface for the Marlins in their pursuit for their next manager who can be the cherry on top as the Marlins open their new stadium in 2012.

That delicious cherry on top may be a little sour with the media, but he will be loved dearly in Miami, and that name is none other than White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.

Rumors have swirled that have Guillen likely parting ways from the South Side in order to possibly take the Marlins job on South Beach. For months, Guillen’s relationship with general manager Ken Williams has been strained, to say the least, and not winning the division this season only makes it worse.

In fact, since winning the World Series with the Sox in 2005, the team has averaged 82.5 victories, not including this season, and faces yet another season without October baseball.

Guillen’s contract runs through 2011 and holds a club option for 2012, so he has nothing guaranteed beyond next season.

”I never talked to them that I don’t want to come back,” Guillen told the Chicago Sun-Times. ”First of all, I don’t have the power to do it because right now they don’t want to hear that s—. They don’t want to hear me … if I don’t want to come back. I know the answer, ‘All right, have a good one somewhere.’

“But I want to know where I stand in this organization. I don’t want to come here and work day-by-day. I’m better than that. I give this organization more than that. I deserve—I’m not going to say respect—but [I deserve] more consideration about yes or no.”

According to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, it seems as though all talk of “wanting to stay” is all but an exit strategy. Rosenthal mentions that the likely scenario of Guillen’s exit would involve him asking for a contract extension that goes beyond 2012. If the White Sox were to object to that, Guillen could simply resign or ask owner Jerry Reinsdorf to allow him to pursue the Marlins’ managerial opening, which essentially is asking for his plane ticket bound for Miami.

The Florida Marlins are in a dire need of finding the right manager who will lead the Marlins to the postseason. The training wheels of Joe Girardi and Fredi Gonzalez have been all but used up, and now the front office must conjure up a manager who will bring a balance with the Marlins in the local sports media that is and will be heavily dominated by the Miami Dolphins and Miami Heat.

Ozzie Guillen is the perfect man for the job who can bring a spark to the ball club and be that 10th guy on the field. He may be known for controversy when it comes down to things he says in the media, but the Marlins wouldn’t mind that; in fact, they’ll embrace it. Why?

 The Marlins haven’t really been selling tickets quite like the Heat have when LeBron arrived, ahead of their opening in the spring of 2012.

Guillen can be their pitchman and the driving force to get fans, especially Latin fans, to show up at the ballpark. There is no doubt he is very popular in the Latin community, and the Marlins will get their fair share of fans if he is managing the Marlins.

Does Guillen really want to return to the White Sox next season with the same headache of a boss in Ken Williams? If the situation really is so sour, why not take the sweet oranges of South Florida and manage the Marlins?

Let’s not forget that Ozzie Guillen was once with the Florida Marlins as a third base coach when they won the World Series back in 2003. Guillen also owns a home in Miami, where he makes his offseason home.

The bottom line is the door is wide open for Ozzie in Miami, and 2011 is the deciding season for the Marlins to really give a taste to fans of what’s to come when they enter their ballpark. It is their marketing pitch that the team is for real and that it finally means business.

At the end of the day, the reality is clear: There will be job openings galore this major league offseason, and it will rival the current job market. The question remains as to whether the big fish will be swimming out of the Windy City and heading for the warmer waters of South Beach—will Ozzie Guillen make the perfect scenario come true in his only chance to?

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Entering their final season at Sun Life Stadium in 2011, the Florida Marlins will yet again relocate a home series.

It won’t be by their choice, but because U2 is having a concert at the stadium on June 29, 2011.

On June 24-26, the Florida Marlins will be facing the Seattle Mariners in an interleague series. Essentially, it wouldn’t give the crew at Sun Life Stadium enough time to set up for the concert stage and seating. 

Reports have mentioned that the Marlins would essentially have to take the series north of the border rather than south and down to Puerto Rico for a San Juan Series Part II. Why north? Well, both the Marlins and Mariners have West Coast games right after the series, making it easier to travel than taking the series further south to Puerto Rico. 

The Seattle Mariners are slated to face the Atlanta Braves in Safeco Field on the 27th, while the Marlins head to Oakland to face the Athletics the 28th. 

The site sought out would be the once domed BC Place stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia. If you know your geography, Vancouver is about a two-hour drive from Seattle, which would make it a road game for the Marlins. If played in Canada, it would be the furthest road game in franchise history away from Miami.

Now I mentioned “once domed” for a reason, and there is a problem with BC Place. The stadium was shut down after the 2010 Winter Olympics and is currently undergoing a $458 million renovation to add a retractable roof. It isn’t expected to be ready until around mid-late 2011. It is still possible it could get finished prior to the time the Marlins and Mariners are slated to play.

If not Vancouver, the Marlins might consider playing further west in Hawaii at Aloha Stadium. Back in 1997, the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres played a three-game series on April 19-20th that included a doubleheader. It would be nothing new, and both teams could easily travel to the West Coast to play their next teams.

Oddly enough, U2 made their final stop at Aloha Stadium for their world tour of their album Vertigo in December of 2006.

If they want to stay closer to home, the Marlins could tinker by playing the three-game series in Champion Stadium in Orlando like the cross-state rival Tampa Bay Rays did in 2007 and 2008. Champion Stadium seats only 9,500, but standing room could raise capacity a bit.

Nevertheless, 2011 is the final season for the Marlins to tinker with a San Juan Series against the Mets or an O Canada Series or Aloha Series with Seattle as they move to their new stadium in 2012.

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October can’t come any sooner for fans of the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, and Texas Rangers. The American League has little to no excitement on the postseason hunt in September with teams like the Red Sox and White Sox playing for any realistic hope that just isn’t there to be had. 

Major League Baseball is in a difficult spot when it comes down to September every year. The National Football League opens play in September and if a team such as the Red Sox or White Sox is out of the hunt you pretty much forget baseball to focus on your Patriots or Bears. 

Personally to play 162 games in the regular season and only have four teams from each league pass through to the next round of the season makes it impossible for teams to end playoff droughts. Teams like the Washington Nationals or Kansas City Royals will never make it to the playoffs in this system. Not with the wealthier teams dominating in their divisions with no space for them to make any ground up. 

Now with Major League Baseball taking the initiative to end the postseason before Halloween, any such fix to the playoffs would have to be relatively short. So what can be done to fix up a leaking faucet of a playoff system? MLB could start by adding a pair of teams into the mix giving 6 teams a shot at the playoffs from each league. 

American League/National League

Team #1 (Best Record); Bye                                                 Team #1 (Best Record); Bye

Team #2 (Second Best Record); Bye                                     Team #2 (Second Best Record); Bye

Team #3 (Winner advances to LDS)                                       Team #3 (Winner advances to LDS)

Team #4 (Loser goes home)                                                  Team #4 (Loser goes home)

Team #5 (Winner advances to LDS)                                       Team #5 (Winner advances to LDS)

Team #6 (Loser goes home)                                                  Team #6 (Loser goes home) 

Italics: Teams play in Wild Card Series (best-of-three) 

Essentially you would have your usual three division winners and now three wild card winners instead of a solo wild card team from each league. The top two teams from each league, if you were translating to this season, Rays and Yankees in the American League and let’s say Phillies and Reds in the National League would get a “bye” for the first round of the playoffs. 

This extra rest adds incentive to play well in the regular season and finish with a better record. This can be seen as one reason teams rarely reach 100 wins in a season mainly because the All-Star game awarding home-field advantage to the winner. Teams usually rest their players down the stretch once they clinch a spot and that’s what eliminates the triple-digit wins from the standings. 

Beyond the top two teams from each league, you have a pair of “Wild Card Series” games in each league. In order to keep the postseason within the month of October, the “Wild Card Series” should only be a best-of-three format. After it’s said and done, the best team from both leagues faces the lowest seeded team (team with lowest record) and vice-versa with the other two teams in both leagues.

In other words, the postseason would revert back to its original format with the LDS (League Division Series) in a best-of-five and a LCS (League Championship Series) in a best-of-seven. The World Series would be the grand finale to a baseball season in its usual best-of-seven format. 

In using this formula for the National League we would see the likes of the Braves, Reds, Padres, Phillies, Rockies, and Giants all in the playoffs this season. Now this would certainly take away from the luster of making it into the playoffs but it would make for an exciting run to see who can avoid the “Wild Card Series” and have a bye to start off instead. Additionally, more teams would be involved in the playoff mix such as the Cardinals or Marlins although both are further back than the rest of the pack this season. 

In the American League, in addition to the Red Sox and White Sox, a team like the Blue Jays or Athletics could be in the mix. They’re records may not be approximate to Boston and Chicago but it would be better if they knew there were more spots up for grabs. 

The reality is that September is seen a trial period for the grand majority of Major League teams. Rosters expand to 40 players and you have an array of players make their debut or essentially try out for a spot next season. It takes away from having teams go all out at the end versus just laying low and parking your season in. Baseball needs more markets involved while it tries to stay afloat against the National Football League in its final weeks. Having six teams in each league make it to the postseason would give more teams hope they can be in the Fall Classic. Since the league doesn’t have a salary cap it makes it hard for low market franchises to ever dream about October, yes, Pirates, Royals, and Nationals I’m talking to you and I hope Major League Baseball is listening too. 

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The Florida Marlins started the season with two potential aces on their pitching staff—Ricky Nolasco and Josh Johnson.

Unfortunately, they will end the season with no aces on their roster.

The Marlins shut down Nolasco in August with a knee injury, and now they have shut down their No. 1 starter in Johnson with a back injury.

According to Joe Capozzi of The Palm Beach Post, via Twitter, the Marlins have ended Johnson’s season prematurely because of a lingering back injury.

Johnson was scratched from his start last Friday, and his goal was to pitch on Wednesday, but he couldn’t throw a bullpen session over the weekend, and any hopes of him returning this season went down the tubes.

Johnson finishes the season with an 11-6 record, a 2.30 ERA, a 1.11 WHIP, and 9.1 K’s/9 in 183.1 IP. His 2.30 ERA currently leads the National League.

This is really disappointing for Johnson, as I think this injury puts him out of the Cy Young Award race. I thought he would finish second in the voting at the beginning of the season to Roy Halladay, and Johnson certainly lived up to expectations.

From his May 2nd start to his July 27th start, Johnson was the best pitcher in baseball in my opinion. He was 8-2 over those 16 starts and had a ridiculous 1.31 ERA. If the Marlins offense gave him any support during those starts, he could have been 16-0 during that stretch.

Johnson should make a full recovery by the start of next season and should once again be a Cy Young favorite.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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With what essentially was a three-game sweep at the hands of the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies, the Florida Marlins can officially kiss their last playoff hopes goodbye.

The ship began sailing when Ricky Nolasco went down and now recently with Josh Johnson and his back. JJ might be shut down to avoid any further injury when the team is no longer in the race. 

Entering the final offseason of the Sun Life (aka Pro Player, Dolphin, or Joe Robbie) Stadium era, the Marlins face an uphill battle to turn this team back to their winning ways in lieu of a new stadium in 2012.

It will be quite the extreme makeover of sorts from this season and Opening Day 2012 and a whole lot needs to happen in order to have fans even consider buying a Marlins ticket with Heat and Dolphins tickets the hot items in South Florida. 

Here is what the Marlins need to and what I believe they should do to address it. 

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Major League Baseball is about to get a serious face-lift on the managerial front this offseason considering that already this regular season there have been five managerial firings. These include Seattle’s Don Wakamatsu, Kansas City’s Trey Hillman, Baltimore’s Dave Trembley, Arizona’s AJ Hinch, and Florida’s Fredi Gonzlez. 

Once this season ends, we won’t see Bobby Cox, still managing the contending Braves, or Lou Pinella, who got a head start on retirement, any longer as a manager. The duo have combined for over 4,300 major league victories, six National League pennants with a pair of World Series titles. 

We can’t forget about Cito Gaston who is managing in his final season with the Toronto Blue Jays and his managing career. Gaston has as many World Series titles (two) as Pinella and Cox. 

Yet as we look upon this season as the Year of the Pitcher how about can we have a standing ovation for the Year of the Manager? This offseason will dictate the future of Major League Baseball for years to come because as many as 10 teams will have probable openings with a few other teams on the bubble depending on the rest of the hirings or firings. That’s nearly three quarters of the entire league, perhaps getting a new manager from Opening Day 2010.

Even though the regular season ends in early October, expect for their to be as much as a handful of managerial moves during the postseason. 

In an earlier article, I wrote about the possible MLB managerial changes this offseason and headlined those teams but a lot has changed and with a month left in the regular season, this can be seen as the update to what’s to come, whose on each teams radar, and the probable choice for the team’s new manager. 

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