Jocketty Out

Will LaRussa be the next to go? And if he does where would he manage? Possibly he'd pull a Lou Pinella and sit out a year and then consider the inevitable openings that will arise after the 2008 season.

I don't envision too much manager movement this off-season. The Royals have an opening. Torre may not survive another Yankee winter. Toronto's Gibbons could be a darkhorse firing. Randolph still has to be cleared by the Met's upper brass. Mackanin in Cincy doesn't know if he'll be retained as of this writing. And with a new sheriff in town, Pittsburg's Jim Tracy could have a one-way ticket handed to him.

Barring any surprise retirements everyone else seems safe and secure in their positions.

If LaRussa leaves St. Louis he'll pick his next situation very carefully. LaRussa places the relationship he has with his General Manager high on his list of priorities and also places a high premium on organizational stability and shared purpose. That would put Kansas City and the Mets at the top of the list. The Pirates would be a distant third. I can't see the Yankees as the right fit for the mercurial LaRussa and in Toronto the general manager has an entirely different idea of in-game strategy than LaRussa.

The Royals have highly thought of general manager Dayton Moore at the helm and as a protege of John Schuerholz he bleeds competency and stability. In New York the Mets have experienced strong and competent leadership during general manager Omar Minaya's tenure. Minaya definetly sets a stablizing tone at Shea (look at how he rallied the troops in Montreal on a shoe-string budget). In Pittsburg general manager Neal Huntington is less of a known quantity and may not be secure enough to bring in such an overpowering personality as LaRussa for his first year on the job.

I wish I knew more about Drayton Moore's personality to determine whether he and LaRussa would be a good fit but I'll go out on a limb and say that if LaRussa leaves St. Louis and looks to manage in '08 he'll be heading to the Royals. The Midwest is more his speed and he'd be making a trimuphant return to the American League to try and raise a once proud franchise back from the dead.