Kuzul

In the past decade, a trend has taken over major league baseball front offices as they try to perfect their World Series formulas and put together the perfect baseball team. 

One of the most important decisions a general manager makes is not only who will play which position, but also who will reign over the team on a daily basis, make lineup changes, decide who pitches and control the clubhouse. 

Managers of baseball teams are given much of the credit when their team wins, and take most of the blame when their team loses. Some would argue that the manager is the most important man on the payroll. 

Among most of the recently hired managers, many are former players and are recent retirees. Robin Ventura, Joe Girardi (when he was hired in 2006), Mike Matheny and Dale Sveum lead a list of former players who are landing gigs as a skipper of a team rather than playing. 

What other former players will manage in the MLB one day?  

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With the future of free-agent shortstop Jimmy Rollins up in the air, here is an interesting rumor for you all to consider as a shortstop:

Omar Vizquel has been rumored to be working with the Phillies on some type of contract.

I first read about it on MLB Trade Rumors, but the original rumor broke with Enrique Rojas with ESPN on Twitter.

I really cannot imagine Vizquel being the top option for the Phillies. For a team widely considered to be far too old already, a 44-year-old shortstop doesn’t exactly help fix the situation. However, as much as it pains me to say this, I wonder if this means that the Phillies are planning on letting Rollins walk this offseason.

With Jose Reyes now off the market with his massive six-year deal with the Miami Marlins, it now affords the veteran shortstop a bit more leverage over the Phils. Talks between the two sides are reportedly not going well, however, as Rollins continues to insist on a five-year deal, while the Phillies won’t budge past three.

Please follow my logic on this one.

If Rollins does not return, the everyday shortstop could very well be 22-year-old Freddy Galvis. He had an excellent year in the minor leagues last year with a .278 average, eight home runs, 43 RBI and 23 stolen bases. However, Galvis still has some things to work on and it still trying to obviously reach his potential.

Who would possibly be a better mentor than a shortstop with the second-best fielding percentage of all time at the position? Vizquel has played more games at shortstop than anyone in history with a .272 career average. Could there possibly be a better mentor for a player who might possibly develop a similar skill set?

I know that is one very well could be purely speculation because the Phillies already have Michael Martinez and Wilson Valdez, with both capable of playing the position. It may not even come to more than this one article. For anyone who has read some of my previous articles, you know that I do not think that Rollins should go anywhere.

However, you have to admit that this is a pretty creative thought that I would have never even thought about speculating if the Phillies do not re-sign Rollins.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

It took 52 years, but the San Francisco Giants are World Series Champions.  I can now cross that first and foremost item off my sports fan bucket list.

The San Francisco Giants have given their fans numerous heartbreaks, too many to list in this article, but now, all is forgiven.  I have put together a fun piece to showcase the true Giant “hot dogs” who donned the orange and black. 

This article is designed to allow us to reminisce about some of the most fun, stylish and charismatic players we have had the enjoyment of watching in San Francisco over the years.  These are not always the best players, in fact, many are not.  They are, however, some of our fan favorites because of the way they played the game.

Our list is a tribute to those individuals that played the game with a certain flair that made them fun to watch.  These are the true “hot dogs” of the San Francisco Giants.  Enjoy our list for what it’s worth, 100% fun, just like the players mentioned, who played this wonderful game and entertained us all.

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