Will Ryne Sandberg be the next Philly coach to go?

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After Flyers coach Craig Berube was fired, talk around town shifted to speculation about which Philly team would be the next to lose their head coach.

I'll save the suspense. It'll be Ryne Sandberg.

It's not as if I'm channeling some mystical energy to predict the future. Chip Kelly isn't going anywhere, and Brett Brown will be safe as long as the Sixers organization is supportive of Hinkie's tanking strategy. And it would take a meltdown of epic proportions this season for the Union to part ways with hometown coach Jim Curtin.

So that leaves Sandberg, the only Hall of Fame player coaching a major league squad. After finishing dead-last in the NL East during his first full year as manager, Sandberg is in charge of a Phillies team everyone went into the season expecting to be terrible. I'm just not sure everyone counted on them being this terrible this quickly.

Nearly two weeks into the long season, the Phillies are second-to-last in the league in runs scored (30) and RBIs (31), third-to-last in batting average (.212), and have scored 5 runs or more just twice all season.

The teams two biggest stars, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley, are batting a combined .145 with 22 strikeouts. Pitchers are no longer afraid to throw fastballs to Howard, who has found himself at times batting seventh in the Philllies lineup. Meanwhile, Utley has gone five straight games without a hit, and forget about the Mendoza line - at this point the second basemen is struggling to keep his batting average over .100.

On top of that, in six home games the Phillies are averaging a paid attendance of just 28,052. Keep in mind as recently as 2012 that average was 44,021. The team is so unwatchable the Phillies have resorted to selling half-priced tickets on Groupon to fill the seats. And it's not even May.

It's not as if this is all Sandberg's fault. After all, he can't be blamed for being stuck with a roster of aging veterans and virtually no starting rotation after Hamels. He can't even be blamed for starting Howard, which is likely a front-office decision being forced on him. But head-scratching bullpen moves and subpar pinch hitting decisions have almost become the norm with Sandberg, and it isn't like he's coaxing much out of his players, flawed as they are.

Bob Ford wrote in the Sunday Inquirer that he thought there was a 3-1 change Sangberg would be the next coach given a pink slip, noting his personality is so flat "you can't find it with a Geiger counter."

Las Vegas is even less optimistic about Sandberg's longevity than Ford. When Bovada Sports Book updated their prop bets after opening day, Sandberg topped their list of managers would will be fired first this season (5/2 odds).

Like Brett Brown, Sandberg was given a team that no one expected to win games. At least Brown was able to help foster the growth of Nerlens Noel into a legitimate rookie of the year candidate and has the ability to foster strong ties with his players. Plus, Brown is able to project a level of confidence you wouldn't expect from a coach with a record of 37-127.

Sandberg, on the other hand, admitted the Phillies bad clubhouse led to distractions that cost the team wins last season. He rarely questioned anything, even when Papelbon sat out with "general soreness" or Kyle Kendrick criticized his use of the bullpen.

This year, the team's attitude seems better, but it hasn't improved their performance. As the season grinds on, will Sandberg stoic personality (to put it nicely) help carry the clubhouse of a team that was out of the playoff hunt before opening day? That want to be traded away to contenders? That want a chance to start but are being blocked by $25 million-a-year has beens?

Like I said, you can't place all the blame at Sandberg's feet. He's in a no-win situation, a baseball "Kobayashi Maru" with a team that almost no manager would find sucess coaching. In baseball more than any sport, the players make the manager. Which is why I think Sandberg's fate was sealed before he even walked out onto the field opening day.

I just hope the organizaion sends the general manager with him.