ESPN Link The Cincinnati Reds have a managerial vacancy these days -- and a general managerial vacancy, as well. They're just beginning to line up GM candidates. But two baseball men who are friendly with Reds owner Carl Lindner say Lindner already has a first choice as manager: Pete Rose. No one would ever admit that publicly, of course. But rumblings about Lindner's passion to hire Rose as his next manager have bounced around baseball since last winter, ever since word got out that Rose could get unsuspended by Bud Selig one of these months. "Pete is still a folk hero in Cincinnati," says one friend of Lindner. "There is no doubt that if it were up to the ownership group and if it were up to the people of Cincinnati, Pete would be managing that team next year." Trouble is, they won't get to vote on this one. It isn't up to them, and it probably never will be, even if Rose is reinstated this winter. Sources close to this situation now say they expect the matter to pull out of Selig's parking lot again following the World Series. Selig clearly has no interest now in upstaging the pennant races or postseason by allowing the Rose circus to set up its tents in the near future. But once the championship tickertape settles to earth in late October, you can expect Rose's furnace to heat up again. The first order of business is getting Rose back on the Hall of Fame ballot. Because a player has to appear on that ballot within 20 years of the end of his playing career, Rose doesn't have much time left. His ballot clock runs out after the 2005 election, after which he'd be in limbo until at least the 2008 Veterans Committee election. And both Rose and Selig are well aware of that. So if Rose is reinstated, the only instant benefit for him figures to be clearance to appear on the ballot. But beyond that, as much as Rose wants to headfirst it back into baseball employment, there is no indication that Selig plans to allow him to accept a job as significant as manager, at least in the short term. There will be a probationary period preventing that type of employment initially. But even once the probation expires, there is expected to be a clause requiring the commissioner to approve any job Rose is offered inside baseball. So is Pete Rose going to manage the 2004 Reds? No shot. But is he going to end up working for the Reds some day? That appears almost inevitable. The Reds know he can sell tickets and make them money. Rose knows there is no better forum to make himself more money. So it's a dual marketing bonanza just waiting to happen. And as always, the only remaining question is when. -- Jayson Stark
All Pete Rose has to do is suck it up and admit that he gambled on baseball and apologize. The onus is on him and no one else.