In case of poor coaching, break glass

The top two managers in this week’s Axe Rankings have both received “votes of confidence” from their respective team’s front office personnel this season. THAT MEANS NOTHING. Consider….

#1: Jerry Manuel, the fairly well-liked skipper in Queens, cannot be blamed for his teams rampant injuries and his General Manager’s poor-decision making. However, if the Mets owners fire their General Manager, Omar Minaya, all bets are off regarding Manuel. Owners often give new GM’s the power to re-staff organizations as they see fit. Also, the Wilpons, who own the Mets, are as fickle as any other New York ownership.

#2: Eric Wedge is baseball’s fifth most tenured manager, and all four of the skippers ahead of him have had much better careers. Perhaps because of the longevity of his term in Cleveland, the Indians’ GM recently said Wedge his safe for the season. But with the Indians representing the dregs of the American League, there’s little hope for Wedge to be back next year without a complete turnaround.

Also, way back when, like six weeks ago, Nationals manager Manny Acta got himself a nice vote of confidence, too. Now he’s former Nationals Manager Manny Acta (and future Mets manager?).

All-in-all, the people whose jobs seem to be on the line at this point are ranked 1-5 (and #8, Joe Girardi as always).

The Axe Rankings (after the jump):

For an explanation of how the Axe Rankings work click here.