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Yeah, I'm not impressed either but it feels like every manager makes some tactical blunders in the playoffs or their team gets eliminated before they get the chance or they just finished playing the Twins... I'd really need to talk to my friends on the west coast that are Dodgers fans to get a full understanding of the Pros and Cons of Dave Roberts. I have a friend (Braves fan) that was kinda shocked the Cubs were letting Maddon leave even though it's not a surprise to any of us here. I think Roberts is probably a top 10 manager (and maybe even top 5 after talking to friends/scouts). I think you'd be crazy not to interview him at least if he became available and you have an opening during that time.

A little off-topic, but I always wanted Dan Haren to come back to the Cubs as a pitching instructor/coach. He's hilarious and his politics and views on baseball are refreshing. Most players are idiots (look at Matt Garza's Twitter account) and have dumb takes on the sport, but he doesn't fall in that category. I believe he's working for the D'backs right now. Maybe we can get him at some point down the road. EDIT: I have no problem with Tommy Hottovy and think he's a fine pitching coach. Darvish speaks highly of him so I think we should keep him. I'm sure the new manager will be okay with him too.

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Maybe I shouldn't have called Joe Girardi the "Joe Biden of Cubs manager candidates"; he's definitely Mitt Romney.

I actually think Girardi won't be that expensive at this point. I think his desperation to manage a good team again is much stronger than his desire to be paid. He turned down opportunities last summer. I seriously doubt he's in consideration for our team. Theo and Jed want someone who will collaborate with the FO and better communicate with the young players. Also, I really think the way we employed shifts on defense was pretty bad the last couple years. I haven't looked at the stats and maybe I'm wrong, but it just felt like we weren't employing them correctly watching the games. Someone else can explain this better, but it seems like we were just shading our defenders slightly in their traditional spots in the infield instead of doing full shifts with 3 people on one side. I honestly don't even know if Maddon is to blame for this... Anyway, I think they're just doing their due diligence. The only candidate with a good chance (who is interviewing at this stage in the process) is David Ross.

[tweet] [/tweet] That was fast (Loretta already interviewed for the job). I wonder if this interview with Girardi is more of a courtesy. I doubt he registers very high with Theo and Jed. Things ended badly for Girardi in NY and it doesn't feel like he's changed much. He seems almost like the Joe Biden of candidates for next Cubs manager. I would've been happy with him taking over like 10-15 years ago, but times have changed and more progressive choices are available.

https://theathletic.com/1256314/2019/09/30/we-want-to-get-to-the-mountaintop-10-things-we-learned-from-bulls-media-day/

[tweet] [/tweet][bbvideo=853,480] [/bbvideo] Pretty entertaining video from Jordan and Jake from the NL wildcard game. The energy in the park after Juan Soto's clutch hit reminded me of the Cubs-Cards series back in 2015. Good stuff.

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Yeah, same thing happened with Rany Jazayerli. The Cubs offered to hire him as a member of their FO (back in like 2012 or 2013 I believe). The problem was he would've had to quit his medical practice and commit full-time. It was an excruciating choice for him... I'm glad we at least got to read some excellent articles from him on the defunct Grantland and occasionally now on The Ringer.

I like Ibanez, but I know the least about him in terms of managing philosophy. Is he a players' coach or more of a disciplinarian? I know he has a good reputation inside baseball. Mark DeRosa was well liked by teammates and is regarded as pretty smart (probably just because of the school he went to). Idk... what I've seen of him on MLB network doesn't give me a lot of faith in being that smart. Intelligence is an overrated trait in managers so it's not that important, as long as you're not like Mike Matheny levels of stupid. I always felt Carlos Beltran would make a really good hitting coach and should be hired for that role first. Also, maybe as a baserunning/basestealing instructor. I mean he was just great in baseball fundamentals overall. We definitely need a manager who can preach that and teach that to our players.

Literally, Theo said "the best version of Willson Contreras is an MVP candidate, difference-making catcher who also makes your pitching staff better" and I don't think he was spouting BS. So yes, if Theo thinks his upside is an MVP candidate then his upside is right there with Bryant and Baez. You can question if he'll reach that upside, but no one questions how high it is with his tools and athleticism and batspeed. Scouts all recognize how special he is or could be, but wonder if he'll ever reach it.

Yeah, I don't know what people here are talking about? We've listened long enough to Theo interviews to know what he means, and how transparent and honest he is. He doesn't talk up a player to try to build up trade value... He genuinely regards Contreras as legit one of the most talented catchers in MLB. I've thought this for a while too that Contreras is one of the most tooled-up, athletic catchers with an MVP upside if he puts it all together and improves his receiving/framing. I'm not saying he couldn't be traded this offseason if the right deal comes along, but it really sounds like Theo wants to keep him and hopes he keeps improving. It should be noted Theo and this FO tried to sign him to an extension and failed. They want to keep him and I'm pretty sure they still want to extend him. I think it would be a mistake trading him. Here's my thesis, which is a combination of taking what Theo said at face value and reading between the lines: They know they aren't on the cutting edge when it comes to developing pitchers, and they know that Willson in particular is not very good at framing or particularly gifted at calling a game. Partially related: he's also had consistent trouble staying healthy. They've seen how their stuff like the pitch lab has paid some small dividends already(e.g. Wick, Ryan) and hiring a director of pitching should lead to more of that in the future. They admit that they've had a winner's curse of seeing the best in their positional core, and relied on youth taking a step forward that hasn't happened. I would hope that all of this can be universally agreed upon. My interpretation of those facts is that they see a huge potential for improvement across the pitching staff by improving catcher defense, and Contreras, who is likely to never be better defensively than he is now, has nagging injury concerns, and is easier to replace with a strong framer/game caller than trading a different asset, makes for a logical player to trade. He also makes sense in the fact that he should still have substantial trade value, and since the team doesn't have buckets of money to spend he offers the ability to get significant talent that is cost controlled in return. I don't think they're planning a one way offseason that involves Contreras being dealt, but I'm increasingly convinced that it's Plan A. That's fine and reasonable in logic, but just listening to Theo I don't think he was talking about trading him. He legitimately thinks highly of Contreras and was effusive in his praise. I think he believes Contreras can improve his framing/presentation with a better setup behind the plate that he is more comfortable with like he was saying. The injury concerns are true, and I worry about the hamstring issues he's had too. Still, he's really talented and his upside is right there with Bryant and Baez. Will he ever reach that considerable upside is debatable for sure. I think it'd be a mistake to trade him unless we got a really crazy package back (and modern FOs are very risk averse so those are becoming more rare). Honestly, I think it's more likely that Caratini gets traded this offseason.

Really? That sounded like a sales pitch to the 29 other teams, to me. He’s gone, imo. "Shame on us if we can't develop a player like that at the major league level." That sounded like he's staying to me. Yeah, I don't know what people here are talking about? We've listened long enough to Theo interviews to know what he means, and how transparent and honest he is. He doesn't talk up a player to try to build up trade value... He genuinely regards Contreras as legit one of the most talented catchers in MLB. I've thought this for a while too that Contreras is one of the most tooled-up, athletic catchers with an MVP upside if he puts it all together and improves his receiving/framing. I'm not saying he couldn't be traded this offseason if the right deal comes along, but it really sounds like Theo wants to keep him and hopes he keeps improving. It should be noted Theo and this FO tried to sign him to an extension and failed. They want to keep him and I'm pretty sure they still want to extend him. I think it would be a mistake trading him.

He still hasn't been cleared to sign yet and it's going to be more complicated under Trump to sign Cuban players. I think he'll end up signing with some team next signing period. The international amateur draft is another factor... I believe it'll happen during the next CBA after the 2021 season (which is great news for the Cubs).

Log off, Grandfather. Sportsmen? Lol. My Dad to this day says "many happy returns" on my birthday like he's freaking Michael Caine lol. Yes, he's really old. It's kind of refreshing and nice to hear these old terms and expressions (sans the racism and outdated worldviews)...

[tweet] [/tweet]One last good memory of Zobrist. It was a good pitch too.

No harm in interviewing other candidates and looking at every option. I think the Cubs are going to interview a few people in the next couple weeks. I mean David Ross isn't some hot commodity that might sign somewhere else -- he's either going to be the next Cubs manager or continue his work for ESPN/being a special assistant for the Cubs.

[tweet] [/tweet] [tweet] [/tweet] It's a real shame he didn't get to experience the postseason with the Cubs. He was one of the best parts of this miserable season and I'm still glad we traded for him (I doubt the prospects we traded away amount to much). I said a few posts ago that Castellanos really desperately wants to come back -- he loves being here in Chicago and being a Cubs player. I don't think the Cubs are that interested in re-signing him. We need to extend our best players and fix the bullpen. I think I'd rather spend on Rendon or Donaldson (on a short term contract) and just move KB to RF. I do like Castellanos and I don't think the defense is as bad as advertised before we traded for him. I think he can be average in an OF corner and certainly looked more invested and was trying harder with the Cubs. We'll see what happens, but I could see Castellanos replacing J.D Martinez in Boston if he opts-out or maybe signing with the White Sox. I think the chances of the Cubs re-signing him are like ~10% right now. Nick seems like a great teammate and a good guy. Super passionate about the game. I wish nothing but the best for him and it really sucks he joined the team during this shitty season.

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[tweet] [/tweet][tweet] [/tweet][tweet] [/tweet]WTH? Who puts their smartphone in a ziplock bag lol? Yeah, this is the team I'll be pulling for this postseason. Also, Jose Berrios is Javy's brother-in-law so you know Javy will be rooting for them.

I'm not going to expand on this, but Mickey Callaway is an idiot and I want nothing to do with him. He almost got into a fight with a reporter earlier this season and was heard yelling expletives at him. He also sounds dumb in interviews and I seriously doubt a top MLB organization will ever hire him (maybe the Marlins because they're the Marlins)... [tweet] [/tweet][tweet] [/tweet][tweet]https://twitter.com/keithlaw/status/1171514456917954564[/tweet] The focus of this thread should be on Maddon and his potential replacements; we don't need to talk about shitty worse managers that get into fights with the media.