Pretty Much Rule Out This Former Cubs Catcher As Joe Maddon’s Replacement…David Ross On The Other Hand
We all laughed at Bob Nightengale’s story from last year, when late in the season he reported that the Cubs would consider firing Joe Maddon if the team didn’t go deep into the playoffs. Well, they got caught by a red-hot Brewers team, lost the division and then lost the Wild Card Game against the Rockies and Maddon still returned for 2019.
Put another tally in Bob’s loss column.
Now, a year later it pretty much seems like Maddon’s time with the Cubs is coming to an end. We’ve seen a core that led the Cubs to a World Series title regress overall, while the play on the field has become sloppy. Mix in awful in-game decisions and making a flawed roster even worse with by not maximizing the talent that is still around and you’re talking about a manager change after what’s been a disappointing season.
So, if Maddon is gone after 2019, who’s going to replace him as Cubs manager? You know who it probably won’t be? Joe Girardi.
Well, at least according to Ken Rosenthal, who says David Ross has a better chance than Girardi to be the next Cubs manager.
Via The Athletic.
A homecoming for Joe Girardi? There would be a better chance of the Cubs hiring David Ross – another former catcher, though one with no coaching or managing experience – to be their Aaron Boone.
Good. Girardi seems like a nice guy, but you can’t really justify replacing Maddon with a guy who was fired because he was failing to connect with the players in the Yankees clubhouse just two years ago.
As for Ross, he kind of seems like the chosen one for this front office. They wanted him to be the bench coach ever since Dave Martinez was hired as the Nationals manager. Yet, at this point there’s no indication that Ross wants to leave his cozy life working for ESPN and being an assistant to the GM for the Cubs.
But again, this recent offseason showed that the Cubs are more than comfortable hiring coaches who don’t have much experience.
Tommy Hottovy went from a run-prevention coordinator to the Cubs pitching coach, while Anthony Iapoce became the hitting coach after three years with the Rangers in his first MLB gig.
After Brandon Hyde was hired by the Orioles as their new manager, Mark Loretta became the Cubs bench coach. This is Loretta’s first year coaching in MLB.
The Cubs want new faces, not old. We’ll see what happens between now and the winter, as the team is clinging on to a playoff spot.