MLB Roundtable: Who's on the Hottest Seat?

With a quarter of the season in the books, it's now clear which teams stumbled out of the gate and which teams never left the blocks. As such, jobs are officially on the line. In today's FanHouse Roundtable, we took a guess at which manager will get the ax first, and which one deserves to be on a hot seat.

The overwhelming consensus? Where there's smoke, there's fire: we think it's nigh time for Ned Yost to find a good real estate agent in Milwaukee. He shouldn't feel too bad, though; no fewer than eight other skippers were mentioned in our lengthy email conversation.

Mullet: I'll say Ned Yost will get fired first, only because I think Willie Randolph bought himself some time with the team meeting, and sweeping the Yankees which ... even though it's only two games ... counts for a little more here [in New York].

Andrew Johnson: Why do I think it's likely? Because the Brewers are floundering and entering a perilous stretch of seven games on the road against the Pirates and Nationals (perilous for Yost). There's no shame in getting swept at Fenway Park, but if Milwaukee can't go at least 4-3 or 5-2, the door will be wide open for Yost to get fired. No one's as close as Yost, especially after the Mets got the two-game sweep at Yankee Stadium this weekend.

Why should he be fired? Because as Ryan Braun's comments clearly indicate, this team seems to lack direction and has little confidence in their manager. I'm not big on clubhouse chemistry, but if a manager can't get his team going, then just why the hell is he still employed. Maybe the Reds never should have hired Dusty Baker in the first place, but at least now that he's been hired he deserves more than a month and a half to turn them into a winner.

Josh Alper: I think Yost is done. Yost is toast, if you will. Tough to blame him for what Rickie Weeks and Bill Hall have done at the plate or Gagne and Turnbow on the mound but the way he handled Gallardo and Sheets was horrifying. Sending Gallardo back out to pitch after an injury? Sheets throwing 108 and 112 pitches in his two starts after missing a start due to injury? You just can't treat assets like that and I agree with Andrew, it doesn't get more pressing than that.

Pat Lackey: Yost is gone for all the reasons you guys mentioned, plus the second half collapse last year. I'm not sure if there's a more hated manager in the league among the fans than Yost is right now.

Matt Watson: I'm going with Yost, who seems to be the popular pick. He's playing with fire with the pitching staff -- risking the future to win now is always dumb, especially when you're still not winning now.

Will Brinson: Yost is my vote too. I've never so irrationally upset for a team I don't care about as I was when he mishandled Gallardo and Sheets. I can't imagine being a Brewers fan.

Clint Hurdle, Colorado Rockies

Pat Lackey: The wild card right now? Clint Hurdle. He was on the chopping block last year before the Rockies crazy run and I've always thought he was kind of stupid, mildly insane, and not at all a good manager. If they don't turn it around he might be scapegoated pretty quick.

Josh Alper: And Hurdle's very interesting and an excellent call. I tend to think that winning buys you a little time but they've really been terrible. Would be surprised to see him not make it until the All-Star Break, say, but if they don't make a run between now and then all bets are off.

Will Brinson: Yeah, good call on Hurdle. If they're willing to talk about moving Holliday, Hurdle is certainly expendable.

Andrew Johnson: I can't see Hurdle getting canned the year after he got that team to the World Series, especially since the injury to Tulowitzki should take a lot of heat off of him.

Tom Fornelli: I like the Clint Hurdle angle, but I think the World Series earns him a job through the end of the season at least.

Willie Randolph, New York Mets

Matt Watson: For as much as the media likes to talk about Willie Randolph, I can't justify thinking that a guy whose team is just a game out of first honestly deserves to get axed.

Tom Fornelli: The Mets are a five-game win streak away from him being the greatest manager ever, so no, I don't think he's actually going to get fired.

John McLaren, Seattle Mariners

Josh Alper: John McLaren doesn't impress me much either but unless you believe the Mariners were going to be a contender this season (I didn't) they're not really much worse than expected.

Pat Lackey: Your point about the Mariners not really being good isn't wrong, but is that what the Bavasi/the M's ownership thought coming into the year? I'd be willing to bet that they didn't give two craps about what PECOTA said and they were expecting to contend. If that's the case (and I think it is), McLaren's in trouble. Maybe not as much trouble as Yost, but definitely in trouble.

Josh Alper: I think you're right about the Mariners FO and I wouldn't be surprised if McLaren doesn't last the year. Was speaking more about my own views about a couple of other guys who could/should/would be under discussion in our little roundtable than about what their teams might be thinking. McLaren isn't far behind Yost, at any rate.

Tom Fornelli: I had high expectations for the Mariners. They added a ace to a staff that already included Felix Hernandez, and finally added a #3 with Silva. They should be a lot better than they have been, and somebody has to take the blame for it.

John Gibbons, Toronto Blue Jays

Andrew Johnson: You know who hasn't been mentioned yet, but definitely should be: John Gibbons. He's had run-ins with his own players, he's repeatedly abused his pitchers and I could see the Jays finishing in fourth this year.

Pat Lackey: Agreed on Gibbons. I can't believe he's still there after the Hillenbrand incident from a couple years back. I never felt that anyone in that clubhouse liked him. And I only mentioned Hurdle because I had the impression O'Dowd wasn't a big fan of him before the run last year.

Josh Alper: Wouldn't be surprised if Gibbons got fired but would be gobsmacked if he and Ricciardi are back again next year. Neither one has done a good job and Toronto's spent too much money to be stuck in neutral every single year.

Ozzie Guillen, Chicago White Sox

Andrew Johnson: I stand by Ozzie as the sleeper to get canned if things start to go south on the South Side.

Tom Fornelli: Not gonna happen. (Ozzie getting fired, not the going south part. That's totally possible, and in fact, expected.)

Matt Watson: I like Ozzie Guillen as a sleeper. There aren't many people in baseball more polarizing than him.

Joe Girardi, New York Yankees

Tom Fornelli: Here's a wild card. The way that Hank Steinbrenner has been talking, what are the odds that Joe Girardi doesn't last the season if the Yankees stay at the bottom of the AL East?

Pat Lackey: I like the way you're thinking on Girardi and Lil' Steinz, especially with Mattingly unemployed at the moment.

Andrew Johnson: I'll second this. Hank, as Peter Gammons pointed out [Sunday] night, so far has spoken loudly but carried a soft stick, but if the Yankees continue to tank it, and I think that's more possible than in any season in recent memory, all bets are off.

Still, I don't think that's going to happen because I think Girardi's guys will play better from here on out. The Yankees have a good excuse for their poor play -- A-Rod and Posada being out -- but A-Rod is coming back and they're still only six games out of first place.

Josh Alper: If the Yankees are out of it come September, anything is possible, up to and including a mass killing in the locker room. I think Cashman's done if they don't win and that would not bode well for Girardi.

Mullet: Even though anything is possible in the Bronx (I remember the 80's and Billy Martin's five stints as manager), I can't see the Yankees basically admitting they were wrong on Torre (especially Hank) and pulling the plug on Girardi. If the Yankees don't make the playoffs, I think Cashman goes well before Girardi simply because of Cashman's recommendation not to get Santana ... combined with the struggles of Hughes and Kennedy if they last the whole season.

Bruce Bochy, San Francisco Giants

Pat Lackey: Another one to keep an eye on is probably Bruce Bochy, only because a new person running the Giants HAS to mean a new GM and a new GM usually means a new manager. I don't know when all that's going down since Magowan's technically on until the end of the year, but it's entirely possible Neukom will want the cogs churning as quickly as possible. The Giants' awfulness isn't really Bochy's fault, but that's how the ball bounces.

Jim Leyland, Detroit Tigers

Josh Alper: Leyland hasn't come up yet. I don't see him getting fired but could he quit if the team's still in the tank in late July?

Pat Lackey: Dombrowski won't fire Leyland. He might get frustrated and quit (which is unlikely before the end of the year because he's so proud), but I'd be shocked to see him get fired. You just don't fire guys like him, and the fact that he's friends with Dombrowski doesn't make it any more likely.

Tom Fornelli: You know, hearing the way Leyland has been talking the last few weeks, I honestly believe him when he says he has no idea what to do. He sounds beaten, and frankly, at his age, I wouldn't be surprised if he did leave before the season's over. I don't expect it to happen, but I didn't expect the Tigers to suck this bad either.

Mullet: I think Leyland has enough cache to survive if the Tigers don't turn it around.

Matt Watson: By the way, Leyland is "only" 63, which means he's the same age or younger than the likes of Tony La Russa, Lou Piniella and Bobby Cox (okay, Cox is a bad example ...). He just looks ancient because of all those cigarettes.