There could be as many as 10 managerial openings before the first tee times of the offseason are scheduled, and looking at the potential junkyard of spare parts and rusted-out chassis, the early question of the winter is this:
Is the trend toward hiring young skippers with no coaching experience who recently retired as players headed the way of the black and white scoreboard?
Time was, you shopped for a new manager on the Good Old Boy Network. Guys like Mike Hargrove and Phil Garner were recycled more frequently than old newspapers and old Motown hits.
Recent hires like Walt Weiss (Colorado), Robin Ventura (Chicago White Sox), Brad Ausmus (Detroit) and Mike Redmond (Florida) have the job trending in a new direction.