The Next Cubs Manager will be One of These Two

After the 2016 season, I wouldn’t have imagined that I would be writing this. Heck, even after the 2017 season I wouldn’t have thought this would be possible. I even wrote a piece in the 2017 season hoping the Cubs find a way to extend Maddon. But, to my dismay, that did not happen.

We are not facing an uncertain offseason. With several changes likely to be made, the team will be looking for that dugout general to lead the team into its next championship window. While I, and many others, will argue that the best option moving forward is Maddon, sometimes it is just time to make the change. So, the Cubs will be moving forward this offseason looking for a replacement to someone who should be a Chicago legend for years to come.

Sunday morning, as I was hoping to hear news on Maddon’s fate, Doug Glanville joined Matt Spiegel on Hit and Run. While on the show, he mentioned that he interviewed for the Tampa Bay Rays job when Maddon left, and he revealed that most of the questions weren’t revolving around X’s and O’s and strategy and situations – it was how they will create a culture. He also mentioned something we have talked about on our Facebook page, teams are looking to hire guys that have worked in front offices as their managers.

See, before a manager can come close to influencing outcomes, the front office is creating teams, shaping rosters, influencing lineups and rotations, and bullpens. There are even times when they are mandating lineups. They are involved in pregame strategies and a number of other conversations that impact on-field success. Quite frankly, the front office is impacting team outcomes more than the manager is, and thus, they are leaning on guys with front office experience in dugouts as they are an extension of their thought process. So, the only guys that make sense right now are Mark Loretta and David Ross.

Mark Loretta

Loretta was a special assistant to the GM in San Diego. There he learned nearly every aspect of how an organization works. How they look at players, how they scout, how they communicate to other organizations, how to set expectations, how to basically do everything needed to run an organization. When he was hired here in Chicago, he was given weird access to the front office, and was a direct pipeline from the players to Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer, circumventing Maddon. This is a telling piece on how much they trusted Loretta, and likely gives him an edge in any managerial conversations (which Vegas has also noticed).

David Ross

Much like Loretta did with the Padres, grandpa was doing the same here in Chicago. Shadowing Theo and Jed throughout the season, being involved in executive meetings, sitting alongside them in their suite. Ross, while having one foot in and one foot back home, was really learning how to run a team, create rosters, and manage an entire organization. He was learning, from Theo and Jed’s mouths, how they would prefer things to have played out and the organizational preferred way. This should not be ignored. This gives him a giant advantage over any other candidate.

I know the disclaimer on Ross is the no experience thing, but quite frankly, that argument is an ignorant take on how the game is managed today. Ask the Brewers how the no-experience Craig Counsell is working out. Ask the New York Yankees how the lack of experience Aaron Boone has is working out. Ask the Minnesota Twins how Rocco Baldelli’s inexperience has lost them games. They didn’t have managerial experience, but they all spent at least a season as a special assistant in some organization, and they have a .558 winning percentage.

This is the trend in baseball, and it is a trend for a reason. Expect to see one of those two at the top steps of the dugout in 2020.