Leyland retired, Baker fired

With Leyland tired of being in the dugout and assuming Detroit doesn't want Dusty Baker to destroy their murderer's row of starting pitchers through letting them throw too many innings, that leaves  the immortal Bruce Bochy, he of the .500 career winning percentage, the active manager with the most wins (and tied with Terry Francona for most WS wins).

I kid, sort of, of course, because Bochy's seemingly unimpressive .500 career winning percentage is more a product of managing my beloved San Diego Padres for many years than any real ineptitude on Bochy's part.

Bochy started managing the Padres in 1995, and got to oversee the great Tony Gwynn's golden years.  While Gwynn was technically an active player in 00-01, he managed fewer than 200 plate appearances in those seasons.  Even in 1998 and 1999, Quilvio Veras posted a higher WAR than Gwynn. 

From 2000-2002, Phil Nevin and Ryan Klesko were Bochy's best position players by WAR, and Woody Williams and Brian Lawrence were the best pitchers. 

In 2003-2004, Mark Loretta was his best position player by WAR, and Peavy slowly established himself as the staff ace.

Bochy took over the Giants in 2007; this was Bonds' last year, Randy Winn was his 2nd best position player, and everyone already knew Zito's contract was an albatross.  What kind of masochist takes this job?  Someone who spent the previous 12 seasons managing the Padres, of course. 

In 2008, a 34 year-old Randy Winn was his best position player.

Despite neither Lincecum nor Cain reaching their 2009 peaks again, the Giants managed to win the 2010 and 2012 World Series with Buster Posey as the only position player who could crack the Yankees' starting lineup. 

If the '98 Padres had managed to sneak a WS win over the Yankees, Bochy might be the greatest manager of doing more with less of all time.