John Gibbons

Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons will reportedly have a new contract as he attempts to lead his team to a second consecutive American League East division crown.

Having a great manager doesn't guarantee postseason success.

Games are still won on the field, but managers are tasked with putting players in the best position to succeed.

Bruce Bochy didn't have a ton of success before joining the San Francisco Giants in 2007. Before arriving in San Francisco, Bochy managed the San Diego Padres for 12 seasons. 

In baseball, managers are often placed in an unenviable position. They are usually the first targets of blame if anything goes wrong with their team over the course of the season.

But, if the team ends up doing well, managers rarely get the credit that they deserve.

Just blame it on the manager.

In Major League Baseball, when a team that appears dominant on paper but underperforms on the field, managers tend to take the brunt of the fault. Often times, they’ll lose their jobs because of it even though they aren’t the ones playing.

Now that perceived top candidate Eric Wedge will be donning a Seattle Mariners uniform on opening day 2011, that leaves the Pirates in a position to take a look at what's left.  The front office has interviewed many candidates ranging from Carlos Tosca to Bo Porter to Dale Sveum.

Myself and others have been campaigning for names such as Phil Garner, Tony Pena and Ken Macha to become the new Pirates skipper.  None of these guys will have a chance at the job though.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are currently interviewing candidates to replace the recently fired John Russell. I thought I'd take some time to break down how I view the leading candidates.

Let's start with the candidates the Pirates have already interviewed. Their career win-loss record is in parentheses.

Eric Wedge (561-573)

Pro

Managed a young small market team to an ALCS appearance.