General Managers who are hired to replace their predecessors who have been fired come into an obvious situation. They have not been hired to run a championship team or even a playoff contender. Their new teams are among the worst in the majors, and their job is to turn the teams around.

Among current general managers and presidents of baseball operations, 13, representing nearly half of the major leagues’ 30 teams, have been hired in the past two years. Some of the new guys have fated or are faring better than others.

For example, Dave Dombrowski won a division championship last year in his first full season as Boston’s president of baseball operations. The Red Sox finished the season with a 93-69 record compared to 78-84 the previous season.

They have continued their success under Dombrowski this season, entering Sunday’s schedule leading the American League East with a 45-35 record, second best in the league.

At the other end of the spectrum are the Philadelphia Phillies, who in October 2015 named Matt Klentak general manager following a 63-99 season, which was the team’s full-season worst since they had the same record in 1969.

In his season and a half as the man designated to rescue the Phillies from ignominy, Klentak has not pulled off any miracles or magic tricks. Last season, his first, the Phillies won eight more games than the previous season. But this season, the Phillies have regressed. They went into Sunday’s games with a 26-53 record, meaning they had won only one of every three games.

That pace, if maintained, won’t get the Phillies into a positive route to improvement. Klentak did not return multiple telephone calls seeking discussion of the plight of the Phillies and their general manager.

David Stearns did not call back either. He is Milwaukee’s general manager, having been named six weeks before Klentak. The two have something else in common. They got their jobs by having worked in the commissioner’s office.

Stearns worked with Rob Manfred when Manfred, now the commissioner, was the chief labor executive. Klentak got his job with the Phillies because when he worked in the commissioner’s office, he worked with Andy MacPhail on labor matters. MacPhail is now the Phillies’ club president.

Digressing further, if I may to bring up a favorite subject, blacks and Latinos don’t get into positions where they can work with the Manfreds and MacPhails because the commissioner’s office doesn’t seem to hire blacks and Latinos for important, door-opening intern positions.

That, among other things, tells us that the commissioner’s self-touted pipeline program for minorities is fraudulent.

Meanwhile, back to the primary subject of the column: how are clubs faring under the general managers who have been hired in the last two years? That raises other questions:

Are new general managers given a limit by which they have to produce or face dismissal? Put another way, how long should a new general manager get to fix the team?

“That’s a tough question,” Dombrowski said. “I really don’t know the answer. Each situation is different so it depends on what you walk into. Let’s say you walk into a complete rebuild, a really bad major league club and your farm system isn’t good. That’s going to be a longer rebuild than let’s say your major league club isn’t very good but your farm system is fairly stocked. Then that’s a different scenario.

“Then you have to talk about ideal circumstances. If you’re talking about starting from the very beginning and you have a zero farm system, that takes a long time. You’re probably talking 5 to 7 years. You need to start showing strides in years 4 and 5 to be able to stick around until year 7. Even though officials say they have patience, it’s hard to find it.

“You probably have to start showing progress in 3 to 4 years if your big league clubs isn’t very good. But again every circumstance is different. I think probably the most important thing is you’re on the same page as your owner. What are the expectations of ownership? Hopefully, when you take the job, you’re on board with the same thought process.

“It always helps to win. There’s just so much involved in those types of questions and thought processes—the club you inherit, the people in your system, your ability to bring everybody together, your ability to work with ownership. There’s just so much involved.”

Dombrowski, who will be 61 July 27, is one of the most highly respected and regarded front-office executives in baseball. That’s why it took the Red Sox only two weeks to hire him after Detroit inexplicably dismissed him in August 2015.

Although Ilitch never explained Dombrowski’s dismissal, it was believed that llitch, 86 at the time, wanted to win another World Series before he died and felt he had given Dombrowski enough time.

Ilitch, who died a year and a half later, named Dombrowski’s assistant, Al Avila, general manager, but the Tigers’ 86-75 record last year fell short of the post-season. This season the Tigers have a 36-44 record.

The most impressive improvement made this season by a new general manager has been directed in Arizona by Mike Hazen, who left the position of the same title in Boston to have greater control of the team. In Boston he was general manager, but he was under the president of baseball operations, Dombrowski.

In Arizona, Hazen has transformed a 79-83 team into a team that has a 51-31 record in the first half.

“Players can have seasons like that,” Hazen said, referring to players’ poor performances. “Collectively guys have rebounded from those performances. I think it’s a good group of guys who play hard every night. Torey has had a great impact on that. Halfway through the season we’ve played pretty good baseball, but we know we have another half to go.”

Torey Lovullo is the Diamondbacks’ new manager, having replaced Chip Hale, but the team’s changes at the top go well beyond that move.

For the previous two seasons, Tony La Russa was the chief baseball officer and Dave Stewart the general manager. Stewart and Hale were fired, but La Russa, a Hall of Fame manager, was given the option of staying, though in a different position. La Russa opted to stay, saying he wanted the opportunity to win with the team he basically built, but the final decision was Hazen’s.

“It was left up to me,” Hazen said. “Tony and I had some conversations about it. Tony said ‘I don’t want to be here if you don’t want me here.’ He said ‘I don’t want it to be uncomfortable. I’d love to be able to contribute.’ It seems like a natural fit.”

La Russa went from chief baseball officer to chief baseball analyst.

According to Hazen, the setup is working well. “He’s involved in all our baseball operations, the general manager said. “There are no boundaries in our baseball operations. We rely a lot on Tony’s wisdom and experience in the game. He’s still a critical member of our team. I’m glad he’s here.”

Has Hazen felt any discomfort or awkwardness with the arrangement?

“Not at all,” Hazen said.

TIME FOR MLB TO CARE FOR ITS OWN

As a 14-year survivor of malignant brain cancer, I pay close attention when I hear or read that someone, especially someone connected to baseball, has brain cancer. Anthony Young, a former Mets pitcher, who set a major league record with 27 consecutive losses in 1992-93, is the latest victim.

Young died last week at the age of 51. He was said to have an inoperable tumor in his brain stem.

No report that I found identified the type of tumor. That might not matter because whatever type tumor it was, it killed Young. But it does matter to me because my son and I have kept track of former players who have died of a particular tumor. It’s frightening, it’s so consistent.

These former players are known to have died of a glioblastoma:

• Bobby Murcer
• Gary Carter
• Tug McGraw
• Johnny Oates
• Dick Howser
• Dan Quisenberry
• John Vukovich

Add to that list Michael Weiner, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association.

Others have succumbed to brain cancer, but as with Young, a specific type of tumor was not identified. Fortunately, my tumor was not a glioblastoma.

Every year MLB sponsors drives to raise funds to combat breast cancer and prostate cancer. They are noble and admirable efforts, and I wouldn’t suggest MLB do anything different with those efforts.

But MLB might want to look in house and plan a similar effort to raise funds to combat brain cancer. I would gladly be the first to contribute because I’m happy to be here 14 years later.