The Cubs had a rollercoaster season in 2023. The club entered the campaign with a projected win total of just 76.5 according to Fangraphs and fell to ten games below .500 by early June, prompting speculation that the club would deal Marcus Stroman in Cody Bellinger in what seemed sure to go down as the third straight rebuilding year for Chicago. The team turned things around, however, rattling off a 27-17 record from mid June to the end of July and prompting the club to add Jeimer Candelario rather than execute the anticipated sell-off. The club entered early September with their playoff odds soaring to over 90% but collapsed down the stretch, ultimately losing 15 of their last 22 to miss the playoff by just one game.
Given the club’s peculiar season, it’s hardly a surprise that manager David Ross emerged as a polarizing figure among Cubs fans. That being said, club officials remained steadfast in their support of the manager, with both chairman Tom Ricketts and president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer backing Ross as the club’s manager headed into 2024. With that being said, The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney indicate that Ross’s spot as manager is less certain in the long term, saying that “The bottom line is that the 2024 team has to win or else Hoyer may be forced to look in another direction” for the club’s manager.
The 2023 campaign was Ross’s fourth season as manager, and his second with a winning record. He managed a third place finish in NL Manager of the Year voting when the Cubs made the postseason under his guidance during the shortened 2020 campaign, though the club was swept by the Marlins in the Wild Card Series. The club then began rebuilding in 2021 and 2022 with consecutive deadline sell-offs that saw the departure of established regulars like Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez and Kris Bryant. Overall, Ross sports a 262-284 record as Chicago’s manager.
More notes regarding managerial situations around the league…
- After being fired as Mets manager last week, veteran skipper Buck Showalter is reportedly hoping to return to the dugout, with the vacancy in Anaheim drawing his particular interest. According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Angels are reciprocating Showalter’s interest, with Nightengale noting that Showalter was the first choice of ex-Angels GM Billy Eppler to lead the club following the 2019 season before the club ultimately decided on Joe Maddon. Eppler has since been replaced as the club’s GM by Perry Minasian, though Nightengale notes that he and Showalter worked together when Showalter was manager of the Rangers from 2003-06.
- Nightengale also discusses other potential managerial candidates around the league, describing Rangers associate manager Will Venable as “the favorite” to take over for retiring Guardians manager Terry Francona in Cleveland. 2023 was Venable’s first season as associate manager in Texas. Prior to joining the Rangers, he acted as bench coach of the Red Sox under Alex Cora and as a base coach for the Cubs. Venable has been a frequent subject of interest during a variety of managerial searches in recent years, interviewing for the position with the Cubs, Giants, Astros, Tigers and A’s in the past. Nightengale also mentions Marlins first base coach Jon Jay as a “potential candidate” for managerial openings around the league, though he does not specify which clubs may have interest in Jay, who just wrapped up his first season in the big league dugout.
I’d love to see Buck in Angels red.
They went the seasoned manager route with Maddon. Not sure why it would work with Showalter, now likely minus Ohtani, as long as Arte is still in charge.
Right 99…and Maddon should have never been fired. Nevin’s performance as manager was so much worse than a temporary losing streak that Maddon was blamed for and Nevin kept his job for a season and a half. My preference is actually to re-hire Maddon but that won’t happen so Buck is the answer.
The problem is Moreno wants a yes-man and Buck will want to actually manage his team without being micro-managed.
As the third base coach for the Yankees, Nevin made some egregious player baserunning decisions which costed them games. I never thought he would be a good manager if he doesn’t even have evaluation of fundamentals down.
Maddon was fraud.
The third-base coach has been a problem for the Yankees for a while, although Nevin’s tenure was one of the worst over there. I do think the team has an issue with fundamentals and base running. Not just Stanton’s 3/4 speed, but Gleyber regularly screws up. One of Boone’s best quotes is Gleyber sometimes forgets he’s not invisible out there.
Minasian is the opposite of a micromanager. He handed the reins to an unproven Nevin and allowed him to sink or swim. Of course, Nevin was Moreno’s choice, not Minasian’s.
Wrong web. Minasian called the dugout telling Maddon who to bring out of the bullpen. And he tried to interfere with Nevin’s bullpen use and Moreno told Moreno to stay in his lane.
This is all pretty well known.
He had to. Joe has no idea when to pull a pitcher and who to bring in.
RJ, I’m not disagreeing with you. MInasian was very hands on, that was my point.
It wasn’t Moreno, but Minasian. Go back and read some of Joe M.’s comments (cutting through his anger) and you’ll get a glimpse of a meddling GM, who intruded in the clubhouse, undermining Joe.
Never saw a single article or listened to a single interview where Maddon said Minasian ever interfered with game day decisions. Not one.
I have read several articles that pointed out that Moreno, not Minasian, fired Maddon.
“For months, evaluators around the league had been reporting unhappiness over Maddon’s day-to-day decisions, a sentiment leaking more and more frequently out of the Angels organization.”
espn.com/mlb/insider/insider/story/_/id/34053973/i…
Did you feel Angels GM Perry Minasian wasn’t with you?
“I can’t say that. I thought he and I were working really well together.”
~ Ken Rosenthal interview.
Maddon has not even been interviewed for another job. From published comments by other executives, the feeling around the industry seems to be that he was the issue in Anaheim. That he felt that he should have been the one that made all the decisions for the Angels without input from the FO but that is not how baseball works anymore. Managing by your gut with no input from analytics leads to losing as it did for the Angels. That conclusion is backed up by him not having had one offer to manage.
I could be wrong. Do you have links to where Maddon supposedly said those things?
His record says otherwise, Halo.
I would like to read those articles as well.
You guys can’t do a web search on Minasian calls Maddon in the dugout?
They are pretty easy to find.
I agree with them. If someone makes a statement that there are articles, they should be able to provide the articles to back it up. Tht’s called cloing the loop on your argument. When they don’t it’s always suspect.
Unfortunately do not have links, but Joe spoke about a call he got during a game from Minasian about removing a relief pitcher, and how reps from the GM’s office were always in the clubhouse, even on the road (meddling, my word not Joe’s).
It may have been unique to the relationship between Minasian and Joe, but I don’t think it was (or will be). Interesting to note that Nevin didn’t even know that the pickups at the trade deadline were later put on the waiver wire (learned as the players did).
Here’s one, from Joe’s book:
The divide between old and new, manager and front office, data and art, Maddon and Minasian, reached a boiling point on May 9. The Angels had just scored five runs in the seventh inning against the Rays to turn a 6–3 lead into an 11–3 blowout. Ohtani hit a grand slam. The dugout was lively. Suddenly, head athletic trainer Mike Frostad walked up to Maddon at his usual perch on the top step of the dugout and said, “Perry just called down. He said get Trout out of the game.”
Earlier in the day Trout had complained about a bit of soreness in his groin. But later he told Maddon that the soreness dissipated, and he was fine.
To Maddon, Minasian broke a sacred code. The GM had called the dugout during a game to dictate strategy to the manager—a proven, veteran manager at that. To Minasian, he simply was deploying the power given to this generation of executives. Nothing was sacred. Nothing was out of bounds.
The next day Maddon blew up at Minasian in Maddon’s office. “Listen, don’t you ever f—— call down to the dugout again!” Maddon said.
It’s the internet. Anyway, I’m very slow to go to links, so I always encourage people to search. If people don’t want to spend a few seconds searching, then they can’t be to interested.
Well, he said the opposite to the media when he spoke with them and then to sell his book said inflammatory stuff. Says a lot about him.
The Angels are one of the teams with the smallest analytics departments. They were not interfering with Maddon’s decision making during games.
If the GM felt so strongly that Trout needed to be taken out of a blowout game to call down to the dugout, what does that tell you about Maddon and how questionable his decisions had been to that point?
Guess what? His attitude during his tenure cost him his job and his inflammatory talk after leaving has resulted in him not having an offer since.
Last good third base coach for the Yankees was Larry Bowa.
I don’t understand why Buck would want to taint himself by associating with Arte Moreno. Buck will just end up getting embarrassed , jilted, and debased by Arte’s cheapness & manipulations. Unless Buck believes he can be some kind of Arte-Whisperer and talk some sense into him.
Because he has a great relationship with Minasian.
You can’t imagine wanted to work with a friend.? If you can’t, that’s on you.
I won’t speak for ISOAB, but I can imagine working with a friend if said friend’s workplace isn’t a dumpster fire. Unfortunately, Anaheim is a dumpster fire. So I agree with ISOAB, no idea why he would want to go there instead of waiting out 2024 and seeing if something better opens up.
You think these people don’t have an ego and believe they can fix it?
Buck has fixed things plenty of times, but he also seems smart enough to know manager impact is limited.
He turns 68 next season. How many more years does he want to manage? Surely he realizes Anaheim would be a long-term project. The Angels can patch things with money, but if he doesn’t recognize they are at least 3 years away from seriously competing, I question his evaluation of the situation.
Probably for around 2 million a year….
Hire Buck. Get it over with. Give him enough time to build a staff and have input on player decisions.
Arte doesn’t care about Bucks input. Or anyone else’s for that matter
Or a competitive pitching staff. They’ll probably sign Cody Bellinger.
Why do you say that? He’s left Minasian alone. He hasn’t signed. Big ticket item since Rendon.
There are plenty of infrastructure things to blame him about, but blaming him about the horrible decisions by Minasian is ridiculous.
I’m here to eat my words Halo. I didn’t think Buck would be interested in the Angels. Apparently I was wrong. Good call on your part.
I’m surprised he’s interested. But he and Perry get along, which is the only reason I thought he might be.
There is zero chance any manager being hired is getting input into player decisions.
The front offices job is to build the roster. The managers job is to manage accounting to the plan. Any manager trying to have roster building input is going to be out of a job for a long long time
Dusty Baker sees the humor of that statement.
A good manager should have some input on roster construction.
I think you’re wrong. Minasian and Buck go way back. Minasian credits his career to Buck. To think Buck won’t have influence on his coaching staff and personnel decisions is absurd.
Nevin didn’t, Buck will.
My first choice to manage the Angels would be Erstad with Lackey the pitching coach. Ron Washington should be given another chance.
Living in the past Winslow. These choices would make no sense, other than pleasing some Angels fans wanting to relive the past. Lackey was a good pitcher, and he helped my squad get a ring in 16, but he’s never appeared to be a guy who would be a good teacher, nor would he liked to be micromanaged by Arte, Perry, or whoever else is running that clown show there.
It has nothing to do with living in the past.. Erstad and Lackey have that mentality that’s lacking in some of these players. These 2 are fierce compeiitors. What player has shown to be a good teacher until given the chance? Lackey didn’t want to come out of a game he started. Reminds me of pitchers like Drysdale and Gibson. The guy started game 7 of a WS game as a rookie. Scioscia thought he could handle the pressure. And he did very well.I’m tired of retreads like Buck and others .
I’m not a big fan of hiring people who have little or nothing to do with Major League Baseball.
Have either of them even coached in the big leagues?
I’m surprised as a Angel fan you don’t know the answer to that
Who are they coaching with?
So Erstat coached a college team? Wow? How’d that work out for Bobby Winkles?
Winkles lost complete control of the clubhouse?
Whoa, now all you need is Garrett Anderson as hitting coach, Tim Salmon 1B coach and Troy Glaus at 3B and you’re set!
You should stick to blowing . Comedy is not your forte
Except for personal attacks, You’re not really amplifying or defending your position.
I would LOVE to have Buck in our dugout! Clean house with the coaching staff and give hime a few years to turn this ****show around
Good to know. Thank you. Lol
Bigthin- Don’t bring up Black Roy says your living in the past
The big question is would he be able to force Moreno out. Otherwise the Angels will continue to be a circus.
If the Angels hire Showalter he’s gonna be sniffing albino gorilla fingers during games like the 86 Mets by July
Who wouldn’t need a couple nose beers dealing with that LAA disaster.
BOLIVIAN MARCHING POWDER 🙂
I don’t know if Bengie Gil is interested in the job but if he is he deserves consideration too. It’s pretty sneaky of Buck and Minasian to get out ahead of other candidates the day Nevin was fired. Probably before. I wonder if he had any role in tipping off Epoler to MLB.
It’s not sneaky, it’s taking advantage of an opportunity.
Would LOVE to see Gil get the CLE gig. If not he needs to be given the chance by one of the other 3 teams.
Surprised no one has thrown DeRosa’s name around. He loves the spotlight, so maybe ANA is a logical fit.
Based on Crane’s behavior the past 2 years I would be surprised if he fired Baker between the ALDS and ALCS.
The talk here In Chi-Town Is that the way David Ross gets fired Is that Jed Hoyer gets can also.
Jed & Ross are package deal.
A number of Cubs fan have been calling for the Cubs to drop D R and hire Buck S but I think that Jed Hoyer knows that Buck will not be a yes man for Jed and Dollar Tommy Rickets
Hoyer loves Ross because he does his bidding. Ross is not a good manager. He bunts too much, and his lineups defied logic – always batting Bellinger 4th made no sense when you want him to get the extra at-bat. But when Hoyer needs a scapegoat after they once again fail to make the playoffs next year, then Jed may turn on him. But Jed and Ricketts love him.
Ross is a decent game planner but horrible at in game management.
He’s horrible at both.
True and Mark Grace is a drunk. Both of these things can be true
Ross is a decent party planner, really solid at crafts – those doily’s are quite exquisite but sometimes exhausts the patience of his guests with all his stories. “Make me a bicycle, clown!” one young reveler was heard to bellow.
Ross should get done manager of the year votes. That club played way over their head!
That’s a terrible take. If he gets credit for the time that they played well, then shouldn’t he get the blame for the choke job in September? This team had a wild card spot but collapsed. This was a 200M payroll.
@themed you’re still an ignorant troll
Boy wonder if they can get something for Cody or Marcus. Oh wait, playoff team that’s right
“prompting speculation that the club would deal Marcus Stroman in Cody Bellinger…”
I am curious will Dusty remain in Houston. I know they still going in playoffs. Depending on ALCS if Houston makes it there. And if go to WS again or not and win. Will Dusty remain or be offered another year only deal. Could Washington take Houston or does Houston let Espada have a shot. I know a lot have wanted Dusty gone but top brass Crane does not feel like one to change. Dana just coming in as well. Just thinking. Not sure who else could go or who will be where
His team is still winning, but how old is Dusty? It’d be nice to see him go out on top with a bit of class when his contract is done. Promote from within for the replacement.
Angels can have Showalter
He can wear his jacket in 100 degree weather
He can have his little black book
He won’t radiate anything
He will also NOT win
I will base my opinion on Buck’s record rather than some anonymous MLBTR poster who criticizes Buck’s personal attributes rather than opining on his baseball knowledge and winning record.
I feel like he was paraphrasing a Cake song more than offering criticism.
Nah, he was criticizing him…see below.
Let them eat cake song!
Hey you can have your cake song and eat it too
He sucks and you deserve him
I just want a manager to intelligently explain his moves without me palming my forehead in bewilderment. Nevin’s and Maddon’s explanations of their imbecilic moves were beyond reason.
I may disagree with Buck, but he’s got a brain.
It is a small one and he is not FSN friendly at all
Call Willie Randolph instead
It’s bigger than mine. I’ve been impressed with his analysis. I don’t always agree with it, but he has his reasons.
I thought Nevin and Maddon were clueless. There was no reason to some of the things they did.
Small palms or small forehead?
Its interesting that the teams Buck manages always win it all after he leaves.
When Bill DeWitt finally gets tired of the Mozeliak/Marmol circus, Jon Jay would be a great managerial hire for the Cardinals.
How is Marmol still there?
Marmol is the perfect puppet for the stat boys in the front office. He does whatever he is told and sits on Mo’s lap during meetings. He’s got job security in spades.
its_happening: do you really have to ask? Fire him and the discrimination lawsuit follows within an hour.
You’re kidding right?
Jay will probably be good, but needs a year or two in the minors first.
I don’t get the dissatisfaction with Ross. Even with the late season collapse, that team exceeded everyone’s expectations.
Do you watch Cubs games? No? Then save your breath. If you did, you’d already know his lineups are atrocious, he rides with veterans too long (see Hosmer and Mancini), he wore his bullpen out, he bunts waaay too much, doesn’t bat his best hitters 1-3…. he’s a goon. There’s a lot of reasons. They should have won the NL Central if not for collapses in late June and Sept.
Are you suggesting the major leagues love affair with promoting former catchers into managerial positions isn’t a straight line towards success…..
You shouldn’t bat your best hitters in the 3rd spot. He comes up far too often with two outs and no one on. That’s just math.
@ Halo The third hitter has a better chance to come up with runners on in the first than the 1st or 2nd hitters do. That is also math. The two outs no runner thing in the first happens about 1/3 of the time. Math too.
So. The fourth hitter has a much better chance of coming up to lead off an inning or with runners on base than the 3rd hitter.
You really want your best hitters to hit 2nd and 4th. The data does not support having your best hitter bat 3rd.
He got more out of the faceless journeymen types then most others would. Mancini, Hosmer were front office decisions- forced to play with the hand he was dealt with. Only the delusional or inattentive would think the Cubs went into 23 as a serious contender- and they missed their opportunity to flip some assets in a sellers market for a remote chance at the wildcard round. Scourge of the expanded playoffs – middling teams thinking they have a legitimate shot.
I think Lefty Orioles was humming “Life During War Times” when he wrote his response.
I only come here for the “Talking Heads” references. Admittedly, there are few.
Especially when he called for Burning Down the House and starting all over
Watching Venable “manage” the Sox when Cora was out with Covid and on a few other occasion was terrible. Not sure what everyone seems to see in him (at least until they interview him) but i feel Cleveland could do better. I wonder if Jason Giambi is interested. Francona used to rave about Giambi’s leadership when he managed him in ’12-’13 and at one point there were stories of the Rockies being interested in hiring him as a player/manager around the time he went to Cleveland.
Showalter wants the Angels job and Minasian seems like he wants him there too. Just be careful what you wish for Buck
Venable was a college teammate of their GM and he’s a younger guy that’s more analytically driven. I can’t speak for how he looked running the Red Sox in place of Cora, but the connection at least makes some sense.
I don’t know about Giambi, but by your logic Mike Napoli would make sense too and he has some experience on a coaching staff. I’m not sure if either of them would be fits or not, but it’s definitely possible.
Francona has already told the front office to hire Kevin cash. Cash is still under control to the rays. A buy out or a trade with rays in order to get cash managing the guardians in 2024.
Venable sounds both right for the job and a reputable man worthy of respect as a managerial candidate. That rare two-fer who’s both veritable and venerable.
Venable is an obvious fit for the Guardians with his connections to the front office. I also wouldn’t rule out Tony Mansolino as an outside the box option given his past experience in their organization and the experience he’s gotten in Baltimore.
I love when commenters get bent out of shape on here. Look, I watch baseball in general, so I have seen Cubs games. Probably not as many as you, but it is easy to see that they played way beyond the talent level and depth that exists on their roster. Their rotation and bullpen was thin (thus the issues they had once Stroman and Alzolay went down), and their lineup was top heavy with a lot of feast-or-famine hitters. He also created an environment that allowed Bellinger to thrive, something the Dodgers haven’t been able to figure out the last few years. Considering what he had to work with, he, as I stated, definitely exceeded expectations.
They’re just irritated because all Chicago sports are booty juice this year. Besides the front office would just replace Ross with another yes man if let go.
Booty juice: sounds like a straight to cable buddy comedy with Michael Keaton and Chris Tucker all full of awkward facial tics and screaming and mugging at the camera.
I’m thinking Jamie Foxx can be in it as well as a sequel to Booty Call. Chris Tucker is the new reverend in their since the late great Bernie Mac is gone, and Michael Keaton replaces Tommy Davidson as Jamie’s new friend since Davidson’s career in popular films might be gone.
Funny they just played Jamie Foxx at music bingo tonight, the animal themed category. “Blame it on the Al-co-hol-hol-hol”
You’re not missing much GOAT- probably much better informed from your casual intake of Cubs games than many of the regulars fed a steady diet of Cubbie Pravda on the team controller Marquee shill network. Or the casual fans who show up for the 7th inning guest singer than promptly leave. Ross is just the man for a team that should be into rebuilding around the likes of PCA and not harboring delusions of maybe chasing the 6th playoff spot. They faded badly- playing to their true potential as a meh middle of the road club. Rossie deserves a cookie and compliments
Buck does turn teams around quickly, so it seems reasonable that he’ll pick up a job right away. But at the same time, the Angels and the Mets underperformed this season. Seems like a lateral move to bring him to LA. The Cubs benefitted from a weak division this year, but exceeded outside expectations anyway. I think Ross should come back. I don’t like the Cubs so maybe that’s making my opinion biased.
I’m sure Stearns wants to bring in his own people.
I’m sure he does. That explains why Buck is out of New York. I’m not an Angels fan. Your name suggests you are. I’m just wondering why the Angels want a manager who’s last team underperformed? I’m reading that this wasn’t his typical season, but it’s still very risky.