Who's on the Hot Seat?

It's never too early to start putting an ear to the rumor mill when it comes to GMs in danger of losing their jobs. Our sources indicate that there are a couple of seats beginning to boil, one in each league.

In the American League, plessburglar is probably starting to feel a little toasty. The Chicago Gangsta' Chimps won just 61 games in Season 1 and are on pace to get a game worse, with 60 wins this year.

But it's not for a lack of guts in the case of plessburglar, who really tried to shake this team up during the offseason. He imported SS Rudy Park from the world of free agency, who was a major contributor to the world championship Hartford Hartattacks team of a year ago. Unfortunately, playing in a bigger market has caused Park's numbers to take a nose dive, which doesn't help translate into wins for the struggling Chimps.

Also new to the big league squad this year is 22-year-old wunderkind 2B James Martin. Acquired in a high-profile trade from the Oklahoma City Kingfishers, Martin spent last season at AAA. One of the bright spots of the team, Martin has had no problem transitioning to major league pitching, posting a .404 avg with 12 HRs and 35 RBIs through 43 games.

The elephant in the room, though, is the pitching staff. With no true ace, the Chimps have posted a major league worst 6.43 team ERA. Even SP Jesus Furcal, another free agent addition to this year's squad, has failed to flourish on the north side. Furcal inked a $4.2 million deal with the Chimps in the offseason, only to post a 5.84 ERA to this point.

Over in the senior circuit, jjirish70's Richmond Spider Monkey club is just treading water. After winning 62 games last season, they are projected to win 64 this year. While this club has a few ballplayers on it, it lacks any of the star power necessary to post consistent wins. SS Greg Evers does the heavy lifting in terms of run production, but is a farcry from being an all-star type player.

The Spider Monkey seem to be a more balanced team than the Gangsta' Chimps, but unfortunately they are mired in mediocrity. SP Will Gragg is pitching out of his mind this year, but even his 5-1 record hasn't propelled this club beyond the realm of average. He is the only noteworthy arm in an otherwise underwhelming pitching staff.

Of course, the season is young and both GMs have time to improve their squads over the duration of this season. But as it stands, something must be done to rejuvenate both of these ballclubs, or these two general managers might be taking out classified ads in the near future.