Tony La Russa cleaned house in Arizona, dismissing manager Kirk Gibson and bench coach Alan Trammell on Friday, while the Twins fired manager Ron Gardenhire on Monday. The Rangers have already begun their search for a new manager.
The Diamondbacks also got rid of general manager Kevin Towers earlier this month and replaced him with Dave Stewart, but it is unknown who will be the next manager of the ball club. Arizona finished with the worst record in the MLB (64-98) and at the bottom of the NL West division. La Russa declined to manage the D-Backs throughout the weekend, which likely means he won't be a candidate for manager in 2015. There hasn't been any speculation on who would manage next season.
Minnesota fired Gardenhire after 13 seasons as manager mainly because of four consecutive 90-loss campaigns. Gardenhire was the second-longest tenured manager behind Mike Scioscia of the Los Angeles Angels. He led the Twins to six AL Central titles from 2002 to 2010, but hasn't seen much success since then. Now Minnesota will begin to explore candidates, but it's unlikely they have anyone lined up for 2015 because it was reported in August the Gardenhire's job was safe for next season.
The Rangers have gotten a head start on their search for manager because Ron Washington resigned earlier this month. The team named bench coach Tim Bogar as the interim manager, but he won't be guaranteed the job for next year. Since taking over, Bogar has gone 14-8, which will help him moving forward, but he'll have to interview for the job along with pitching coach Mike Maddux and Triple-A manager Steve Buechele. This comes as no surprise because these candidates were speculated to be the team's next manager following Washington's resignation. General manager Jon Daniels confirmed the news to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
As the Diamondbacks, Twins and Rangers search for their new manager, the Houston Astros have filled their vacancy with A.J. Hinch on Monday.
In the meantime, there will likely be much speculation, so check out ESPN's MLB Rumors blog for the latest news.
