The Cubs parted with manager Joe Maddon last weekend, but it’s possible they’ll turn to one of his former underlings to steer the ship in 2020. Bench coach Mark Loretta and first base coach Will Venable are officially candidates to become the team’s next manager, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. They join the previously confirmed David Ross as in-house possibilities to succeed Maddon.
President of baseball operations Theo Epstein suggested Monday that hiring someone with previous managerial experience would be a plus. However, nobody from the Loretta-Venable-Ross trio has managed in either the majors or minors up to now.
The 48-year-old Loretta, a two-time All-Star during his tenure as a major league infielder, is coming off his first season on Chicago’s coaching staff. Loretta previously worked as a special assistant with the Padres, who hired him upon his retirement in 2010.
Still just 36, Venable isn’t far removed from a respectable run as a major league outfielder with the Padres, Rangers and Dodgers. Venable retired to join the Chicago front office in September 2017, though the team changed his role to that of a coach a couple months later.
Loretta, Venable and Ross are among a seemingly large group of candidates to take over as the Cubs’ next manager. Epstein said Monday he and his front office cohorts are assembling a “broad list” of names as they work to recover from an awful finish to the 2019 season.
Probably none of the guys mentioned will be the Cubs manager in 2020.
Then who???
Girardi I hope
Why Girardi? Just wondering
OMG…. I hope NOT….. managed in NY for 10 years with almost all resources available and only 1 W.S.?? No thanks.
Did you see how bad the teams from 13-16 were? It’s a miracle that they stayed in the hunt into late September with those teams (and wild card in 15). That was Girardi’s doing
Still better than the no rings a lot of teams had in that span…
Venable is very smart… Princeton smart.
Mark Loretta is no dummy as a Northwestern alum, same as Joe Girardi. Mark DeRosa has also been mentioned as a potential candidate for the Cubs manager position. He shares an Ivy League background like Will Venable and Theo Epstein.
lol
Princeton smart and smart are actually two very different things.
I think you don’t understand how smart he actually is. He also went to Princeton and graduated. The same with Chris Young (pitcher).
Princeton smart, smart and baseball smart are all three different!
There’s a difference between education and intellect.
In spite of the rampant cheating that goes on in most colleges and universities, obtaining a degree from a top tier school is still laudable.
MLB Trade Rumors just posted an article stating Raul Ibanez was being considered, as well. Surprised he’s left out of this piece.
Because this piece is about the official candidates. Ibanez hasn’t agreed to any interviews yet.
How about Joe Girardi…or Ryno?
Yeah, no.
Ryno would be worse than Larry Rothschild as pitching coach
you are a Crew or Cards fan if you think they should hire Ryno.
Raul Ibanez has been mentioned as a candidate for the Cubs managerial position by other sources as well. Aside from being a former player like the other known candidates, Ibanez also has front office experience as an assistant to Dodgers president Andrew Friedman. His biggest advantage over the others would be his exceptional skills at communicating in both English and Spanish, a trait that helped Rick Renteria secure the Cubs manager’s role before Joe Maddon replaced him. Of course, Ibanez would also satisfy the MLB mandate that “‘encourages’ teams to interview minority candidates for all their management positions.
I see David ross of internal
Isn’t going to matter at all who gets the managerial position if Theo doesn’t fix the roster.
There are several holes that need to be filled in order for the Cubs to become legitimate contenders again.
2nd baseman, a starter, CF (one that can hopefully hit as a leadoff man), as well as a few bullpen arms. All of these moves are necessary and not luxuries. Additionally, no one really knows how much $ Ricketts is gonna be willing to spend. Given Theo’s past FA flops, it is entirely possible Ricketts scales back spending in a very big way making the required moves all the more difficult to pull off.
I wouldn’t be getting my hopes up for anyone named Cole, Rendon, or Castellanos. Sure, Theo has had success bringing in big name FAs in the past but the Cubs being legitimate contenders probably played a big role in those players making that decision as well as the $ involved. Seeing as the team is now in a retool/rebuild mode, those players are gonna’ be more difficult to entice.
Gonna’ be a long winter my fellow Cub fans. Don’t hold your breath for any miracles.
You had me until the last paragraph. The cubs’ willingness to spend on re-tooling the roster will be the deciding factor on whether they attract top free agents. If they’re not willing to spend on impactful players, they may as well blow it up and rebuild. Too many holes to fill in a short period of time.
Definitely agree on no Cole or Rendon, think they may try to keep Castellanous. Whether they succeed is another story.
Rebuild? Please—they have assets to retool. They are not rebuilding in the sense of that word. They collapsed in September again, not all year. They need to get a genuine young ace to move Lester back. He gives up too many first inning runs and he’s lost his stuff more each year, which is human. Kimbrel signing can look better with a full offseason and spring training.
I stated it as a “retool/rebuild” because a rebuild may be what they NEED but not necessarily what they do.
I chat with Cub fans all the time and many are convinced that the team has this uber talented team that somehow managed to just fall short this year. Well, I’m sorry, but, while the Cubs do have “talented” players they are not a team that that brimming with talent. A very large portion of the team are just replacement level and nothing more.
Cubs still have a better roster than either the Brewers or Cards and they’ll be losing less in FA with more $ to spend. Sure, they are not a top tier team, like Houston, but with a new TV deal coming this offseason and the Wrigley renovations done they should have plenty of $$$ to blow past the luxury tax. It’ll be interesting to see what they do.
Sorry, but gonna’ have to disagree that the Cubs have a better roster than the Cards.
Cubs probably have a couple players that are better than what the Cards have but not very many.
Ok, I can see with this comment that you’re trolling have a nice day
The cubs do not have a better roster than Cardinals or Brewers. That is a myth.
Jade says the Cubs will have enough money to “blow past the luxury tax.” He seems more than willing to spend someone else’s money, and he apparently is persuaded that just spending money wins championships. Why not wait to see what opportunities present themselves to the Cubs before deciding just to “blow past the luxury tax?” These outsized contracts covering years upon years do not seem to work out in fact as they do in the fantasies of fans. Is there anybody in Chicago who still regrets that Machado signed with the Padres rather than the Sox?
Regardless of income, I’ll be very surprised if Ricketts gives Theo the “ok” to just “blow past the luxury threshold”.
In fact, I think the exact opposite is gonna’ happen. Even with roughly 60 million coming off the books, I can see Ricketts telling Theo that he needs to figure out a way to make the team competitive without exceeding even the lowest tier of the threshold.
You can only make so many poor FA signings before it cripples your team beyond repair for the immediate future and the Cubs are right there.
Source close to the team said Mike Matheny is the favorite
Another source close to the team said Ozzie Guillen is the front runner. We’ll just wait and see what Theo decides.
Ozzie would absolutely light a fire to that roster. The “storming” phase would be epic, though. He’d get fired long before anyone bought in to his style of leadership.
Absolutely. Being serious here. Ozzie is a very good baseball man. Surprised he hasn’t landed somewhere as a coach. The guy played with his feelings on his sleeve, knows the game and played the game the right way. Ozzie is unlikely here or anywhere else .But my point is a manager like Ozzie would certainly change the ”Joe Cool’ hey man, everything is going to be fine man, country club environment that exists with this Cubs team.
Hey may have played the game the right way, but he didn’t manage the game the right way. I love Ozzie, but he’s a hothead and he puts his proverbial foot in his mouth all too often. Dude has no filter, and you can’t do that as the figurehead of a billion dollar corporation, no matter what business you’re in.
holycowdude, not disagreeing with you. However, things like this have been said verbatim about some of the greatest thinkers and leaders in history.
Not matheny – Franconia is the guy for Theo- he hoping for a change in Cleveland
I really believe Dave Ross would do a great job. Girardi couldn’t win with the yanks when they were healthy. We need a manager that lets starting pitchers pitch rather than using the bull pen until you find someone having an off day. Notice it didn’t work for Craig Counsil last night either. Hire Dave Ross.
So you want a manager who doesn’t use the bullpen? Good luck w/that.
Right, idiot! How many complete games did the Cubs have last year. Billy Martin won everywhere he went and the media criticized him constantly for over using his starters but no TJ surgeries were required. His pitchers won and became hall of famers. Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, Rollie Fingers. I’m saying let the starters go further…. thats all.
Do you watch cubs games?
For starters, the Cubs do not have a single Fingers, Hunter, or Blue in their rotation. Not even close.
Second, to compare pitchers from a dead ball era to now is worse than comparing apples and oranges. Its probably more along the lines of strawberries and asparagus.
Third, why do you believe that David Ross, a man with zero coaching or managerial experience is the person to get the Cubs back on track?
Billy Martin did not have those pitchers with the A’s. He had Mike Norris, Rick Langford, Matt keough etc….and ran them into the ground.
So David Ross is not going to use the bullpen
Cubs don’t need a rookie manager. Girardi looks good!
Joe Girardi gets my vote. I know this is just BS and fun and games but saw something on FaceBook that Theo is going to hold dual roles as field manager and President of Baseball Ops.
Theo is not going to be the manager. Period.
Ozzie Guillen is tanned rested and ready – and the only living being other than Maddon to manage a World Series Champ in Chicago
If the Cubs hire Girardi several current players will NOT re-sign when their contract is up. If Theo values his core (and his job) it will not be Girardi. Hire David Ross and everybody wins including the Cubs.
You still haven’t answered as to why you think David Ross is the choice.
How do the Cubs win by hiring David Ross? What is in it for them?
Ok, I can see with this comment that you’re trolling have a nice day