The 10 MLB managers will likely face the most criticism this season
Three up, how many more to go?
In the past seven weeks, the Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds have all fired their managers. If history is any indication, the turnover is just beginning.
A fourth job opens up when Skip Schumaker exercises his get-out-of-jail-free card with the Miami Marlins. Other changes are almost certain, whether through retirements, post-season flameouts or internal conflict.
Sometimes these things come out of nowhere. The Chicago Cubs’ hiring of Craig Counsell at the end of last season to replace David Ross was one such move. The firing of Mike Shildt by the St. Louis Cardinals after a 17-game winning streak propelled the team to a wild-card berth in 2021 was another.
Other times the movements are more predictable. The firing of Pedro Grifol by the White Sox in early August was all but inevitable. Even the Reds’ dumping of David Bell earlier this week wasn’t exactly a surprise.
Things will happen. Things always happen. Here’s a look at the 10 managers under scrutiny:
It’s hard to imagine the Dodgers blaming Roberts for the organization’s inability to keep pitchers healthy, especially when upper management passed on opportunities to make him a scapegoat for their Division Series losses in 2019, ’22 and ’23.
Since becoming manager in 2015, Roberts has led the Dodgers to eight NL West titles in nine years and to a 106-win season the year they finished second. The team that started on Wednesday had won 51 more league games than its nearest competitor, as well as the 2020 World Series.
Blowing a four-game lead to the Padres with eight to play would have put Roberts in jeopardy, but the Dodgers can clinch the NL West with a win on Thursday. However, a third consecutive defeat in the DS is still possible. And such an outcome could force president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman to make a change.
Roberts, 52, is under contract through next season, which begs another question: If the Dodgers keep him, would they sign him to another extension or allow him to start 2025 as a lame duck? Based on his performance, Roberts could legitimately ask for more than the $8 million average annual salary the Cubs gave Counsell.
Boone’s fate, like Roberts’, could depend on what happens in the postseason. The noise in New York will certainly get louder if the Yankees quickly exit the DS or even if they advance to the American League Championship Series and perform like they did in 2022, when they were defeated by the Houston Astros.
The Yankees have made the playoffs in all but one of Boone’s seven seasons, and are tied with the Atlanta Braves for the third-most wins in the majors during that time. However, the current team can be difficult to watch. According to FanGraphs, the Yankees are the worst starting team in the Majors. Their mistakes on the bases and in the field are a reflection on their manager on some level.
Still, the Yankees’ overall collection of talent may be their best since 2009, when they last won the World Series. Boone, 51, will have to be quick-witted in the postseason, using pinch hitters and pinch runners and managing a bullpen without a true closer (although Luke Weaver certainly looked good). The Yankees have an option on Boone through 2025.
Brian Snitker, Atlanta Braves
The Braves have no plans to force Snitker out after he kept the team in contention during a season marred by one injury after another. The better question might be whether Snitker — at age 68, after nine seasons as a manager and nearly 50 years in the Atlanta organization — still wants to manage.
With a contract until 2025, Snitker might be reluctant to leave on a sour note. He could also be reluctant, after decades of minor league pay, to sacrifice a salary believed to be between $1.5 million and $2 million. But the work is so taxing that health is a concern for every manager. And Snitker occasionally talks about the difficulty of enduring the strain at his age.
If Snitker wants to move on, an easy solution would be for the Braves to make him a highly paid consultant and make him part of the organization. If anyone deserves a golden parachute after six straight division titles and a World Series win in 2021, it’s ‘Snit’.
Baldelli is not solely responsible for the team’s collapse. It seems unlikely the Twins will hold him accountable. But the team’s cohesion has eroded since its early September loss in Kansas City amid a 12-23 freefall. And Baldelli, if he survives, may have to adjust his loose, laid-back style, which has apparently backfired on his young team.
Injuries are part of the problem for a club that has brought in three new starters and played part of the season without three top position players – Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis. But Correa, in comments after Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Marlins at Target Field, indicated that certain players weren’t showing enough urgency, saying of the Twins’ predicament: “Some guys look at it as poison and some guys consider it fuel.”
Baldelli, 43, has appeared more frustrated in the past six weeks than at any time in his six years as manager. However, his team’s lack of sharpness appears to be partly his own fault. Without the presence of an everyday force like José Ramírez of the Cleveland Guardians or Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals, the Twins may need a bigger boost from their manager in 2025.
Skip Schumaker, Miami Marlins
This one is a fait accompli. After the season ends Sunday, Schumaker will benefit from the freedom he was given last season when the Marlins agreed to void his 2025 option. At that point, the team will have to replace a manager who, as a free agent, is expected to be coveted by multiple clubs.
Assistant general manager Gabe Kapler, who managed the Philadelphia Phillies in 2018 and ’19 and the San Francisco Giants from 2020 to ’23, would be one candidate. But another possibility is that Kapler will remain in the front office and play an important role in choosing Schumaker’s successor.
Among the potential candidates: Cleveland Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz, who was part of Kapler’s staff in San Francisco; Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough, who hired Kapler as a minor league field coordinator in Los Angeles during his tenure as farm director; and Royals bench coach Paul Hoover, who coached the Tampa Bay Rays from 2019 to ’22, while Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix was in the Rays’ front office.
Derek Shelton is still looking for his first winning season after five years with the Pirates. (Jeff Curry/Imagn Images)
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington appeared to resolve the issue on September 11, he said fully expects Shelton to returnand called him the “right person to lead this team in 2025.” The only question, especially after Bell’s firing, is whether owner Bob Nutting is satisfied with the status quo.
Before the season started, Nutting said he expected the team to take a “meaningful step forward.” The Athletics“We collectively believe we can compete for a division and a postseason berth.” A 7-20 collapse from July 31 ensured neither would happen.
The Pirates are heading for their sixth straight losing season. They need two wins to match last year’s total, and it will hardly be a sign of progress if they somehow surpass that number considering this is the year they added Paul Skenes.
Cherington is in its fifth season. Shelton, 54, appears to be safe unless Nutting decides to completely overhaul the operation.
Last winter, after 89 wins in Schneider’s first full season, the Jays pursued Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto. They ended up with Justin Turner, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Kevin Kiermaier, all of whom they traded, and a club that will finish with the fourth or fifth worst record in the American League.
General manager Ross Atkins isn’t above pointing the finger at Schneider, as he did after the controversial ejection of José Berríos in Game 2 of the 2023 Wild Card series. But the Jays continue to signal that they’re trying to keep their crash-and- -burn as an aberration, and that they plan to kill Vlad, Bo and Co. to be rolled out again in 2025.
If Atkins fires the 44-year-old Schneider, it will only increase attention to his own shortcomings. The Jays came into Wednesday with just 12 home runs – 12! – from the clean-up area. That’s not the manager’s fault.
Grady Sizemore, Chicago White Sox
Let’s follow the Sizemore timeline.
Last season, he was a $15-an-hour intern with the Arizona Diamondbacks. This season, the White Sox gave him his first Major League coaching job. On August 8, general manager Chris Getz named him interim manager in Pedro Grifol’s place, saying the team would focus on candidates outside their organization for the permanent position. And on Tuesday, Getz reversed his opinion, saying Sizemore, 42, would be considered for the job.
Now that’s a climb!
It still seems likely that the White Sox will make an outside hire, assuming someone wants to take over their record-breaking (as of now) 120-loss juggernaut (there are only 30 of these jobs; someone will). Good luck to that poor soul.
Bud Black is completing his eighth season in Denver as Rockies manager. (Ron Chenoy/USA Today Sports)
Black, 67, has presided over six straight losing seasons, and the Rockies need to finish 3-1 to avoid their second straight 100-loss campaign. A rebuilding club could benefit from a fresh voice, but just about everyone likes Black and Rockies owner Dick Monfort to operate in an isolated bubble and prefer stability over change.
There will be a decision on black; he is unsigned after this season. He had preliminary discussions with Monfort during spring training about a contract extension. according to the Denver Post. But no deal was reached and general manager Bill Schmidt postponed any talk about Black’s future until the end of the season.
The 38-year-old Marmol appears to be safe in part because president of baseball operations John Mozeliak plans to return for another season. Mozeliak won’t hire a new manager a year before owner Bill DeWitt Jr. installs a new front office. The next head of baseball operations would have to make that choice.
The Cardinals will narrowly avoid losing records in consecutive full seasons for the first time since 1958-59. However, their problems run much deeper than those of Marmol, who led the team to 93 wins in 2022, his first season. His contract runs until 2026. He will get at least one more chance.
(Top photo of Aaron Boone: Brandon Sloter/Image Of Sport/Getty Images)
