First the general manager, and now the manager:
Well, at least Riggleman is not Buddy Bell. And it's not like things can get any worse than they are.
For the record, Riggleman has managed seven full seasons in the majors, during which his teams finished seventh, fourth, third, fourth, fifth, second and sixth. In his sixth season, his Cubs jumped all the way from 68-94 to 90-73 … then fell back to 67-95 the next season. After which he was fired. (In Riggleman's defense, the Cubs did even worse in Don Baylor's first season.)
Riggleman probably will be gone after this season unless the Mariners play .600 ball the rest of the way. And even that might not be enough to save his job, as the next general manager -- assuming interim GM Lee Pelekoudas won't keep the job -- probably will want to hire his own guy.
As for McLaren, he finishes his career with a 68-88 record -- 43-41 last season, 25-47 this season. Like nearly every other manager in major league history, he wasn't smart enough to fix the mistakes his general manager made. But I wonder whether he could have fought harder for the young players he managed, particularly Adam Jones and Jeff Clement.
Rob Neyer
