The struggling Kansas City Royals have dumped Trey Hillman and replaced him with former Brewers skipper Ned Yost. But don't expect Hillman to be the only MLB manager to be sent packing. There are plenty of other managers who also find themselves standing on thin ice. And so without adieu, here are the managers who I think will be gone before season's end.

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On a windy day in Detroit, the Yankees were shut out for the second time in the past three games as Justin Verlander dominated them in a 6-0 loss on Thursday.

The Tigers ace allowed just four hits and struck out four in 6.2 scoreless innings as he outdueled CC Sabathia, who was touched up for six runs on nine hits in six frames.

New York's offense has gone silent over the past week. Outside of a six-run ninth on Wednesday, the Bombers have scored just nine runs in their last five games, losing four of them.

Yankees Minor League first baseman Juan Miranda would probably be in the Major Leagues if he were on at least 15 other teams around baseball, but he’s a Yankee and stuck behind Mark Teixeira. It did make for interesting news the other day when he was almost called up only to find out that it was outfielder Greg Golson who was called up instead.

DeSean Jackson has been finding himself in the headlines a lot this week.

One interview with The Sporting News has turned into a giant fiasco, pitting Jackson against his former quarterback and his offensive coordinator.

Let me start off by saying this: I love Francisco Cervelli.

I love his game, love his heart.

He calls a better game than most guys who have been around much longer than him, and boy, is he swinging a hot bat right now.

But no matter how much I love Cervelli, he will have to wait his turn to be the New York Yankees' full-time backstop.

Because for now, it's Jorge Posada's job.

Why?

Because he deserves it.

He's hung in there. He's part of the core four. He's done so much for this team, and now, he is worthy of some respect.

Old illusions die hard.

Albert Pujols is a heart-warming inspiration. He’s also, potentially, a soul-crushing disappointment. After the traumas of the Steroid Era, many baseball fans have invested their remaining faith in the apparent integrity of the St. Louis Cardinals first baseman—which would be better news if St. Louis Cardinals first basemen weren’t an inherently untrustworthy species of idol.

Misery means longing for what you’ve lost.

Maturity, on the other hand, means living with what you’ve found.

When you have a team with this much talent, you have to wonder why they are struggling to stay above the .500 mark (the Red Sox currently have a record of 18-17) and, frankly, the only thing I have been able to come up with is that there is a pervasive sense of entitlement and unhappiness within the Red Sox clubhouse.

Just because you’ve slipped behind in the Stolen Base category doesn’t mean you can’t catch up.  Here are some reasonably available SB threats.


Tony Gwynn Jr., OF, San Diego Padres

If anybody should be upset about the Toronto Blue Jays playing a home series in Philadelphia in June, it should be Jim Haslett.

Haslett, who is currently the defensive coordinator for the Washington Redskins, was the head coach of the NFL's New Orleans Saints from 2000-2005, including the season in which the city of New Orleans was rocked by Hurricane Katrina.

While New Orleans was healing and rebuilding, the hometown Saints were finding new places to play, which included three games at Houston's Alamodome and four games at LSU's Tiger Stadium.

We’ve some some pretty horrific Albert Pujols memorabilia in our storied history of St. Louis fan hunting.

Large in part, this fanatical abhorrence is gender-biased.  Outside of a few pink jerseys here and there, our studies show that female Pujols fans tend to stay within traditional affection mechanisms.

That is, until we saw this…

(Hat Tip to Jason for the fan pic)