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Jim Bowden, ESPN Baseball Analyst 8y

Collins among MLB managers on the hot seat

This is the time of year that non-contending teams are finishing up the evaluations of their entire organization and deciding, among other things, if they want to make a managerial change. As I wrote, there were several managers on the hot seat early in the season, including John Gibbons of the Toronto Blue Jays, Brad Ausmus of the Detroit Tigers and Bryan Price of the Cincinnati Reds. Fortunately for all three managers, their seats have cooled considerably; Gibbons and Ausmus are in pennant races, and Price has piloted the Reds to the second-best record in the National League since the All Star break, which should save his job.

But there are five other managers whose seats are hot, and the next five weeks may determine their futures:

Robin Ventura, Chicago White Sox

The White Sox's front office was split at the trade deadline on whether it should buy, sell or stand pat. It selected the latter, with its only significant move being the trade of reliever Zach Duke. Ventura is 357-416 (.462 win percentage) in his five-year stint as White Sox manager with only one winning season, and that was back in 2012, his first year as skipper. The White Sox must decide if they're going to sell and rebuild and have Ventura start again from scratch, or try to win with this team. If they decide the latter, they might decide to try a different voice in the managerial chair.

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