Odds: Bud Black favored as first manager fired in '12 MLB season

With the a full slate of games mere days away for the 2012 Major League Baseball season, now is the time for predictions. And odds. And whining and arguing about the odds/predictions when it comes to your favorite team being "disrespected" due to "bias" or whatever else. Well, here's some more material: Vegas odds on which manager will be fired first this season.

Courtesy of Bovada (www.bovada.lv, @BovadaLV), here's the list:

Bud Black, Padres 3/1
Brad Mills, Astros 5/1
Dusty Baker, Reds 11/2
Buck Showalter, Orioles 6/1
Ron Gardenhire, Twins 6/1
Jim Tracy, Rockies 9/1
Charlie Manuel, Phillies 10/1
Joe Girardi, Yankees 10/1
Bruce Bochy, Giants 10/1
Mike Scioscia, Angels 12/1

Black and Mills being atop the list make sense. Not only do neither of those teams look very good on paper, but both also have new general managers. That is also the case with the inclusions of Showalter and Gardenhire. The other type of managers on here seems to be from the high-expectation crowd, which makes some sense. If a team with high expectations completely falls apart, the manager gets the axe.

I have to say, though, I was shocked to see Manuel on there. The Phillies enter the season having won five straight NL East titles and face serious injury issues to the right-side of the infield (Chase Utley and Ryan Howard). I'm not quite sure what could get Manuel fired.

This is for entertainment purposes only, but if I was forced to wager on the above odds, I think I'd roll with Showalter on not much more than a gut feeling.

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