Chicago Cubs: How can anyone think Joe Girardi is the right guy?

The book is closed on Joe Maddon’s tenure as the manager of the Chicago Cubs. What comes next? That’s the question Theo Epstein must now answer.

The final weekend of the regular season for the Chicago Cubs confirmed what many fans already knew: Joe Maddon would not return as manager for the 2020 season. Since the announcement, names have been flying around, and one of them is a bit peculiar.

Internally, Epstein has his eye on a few different familiar faces. David Ross, Will Venable, and Mark Loretta will all interview for the role, according to team officials.

One notable omission is pitching coach Tommy Hottovy. Hottovy moved from the front office to the dugout in 2019 – bringing his analytical skills to Maddon’s coaching staff. But that’s not the weirdest one in all this, especially given how Maddon’s tenure came to a close.

The outlier I mentioned? Joe Girardi. Epstein was asked about Girardi at the end of year press conference, and he sort of avoided the question. Girardi has confirmed his interest in the Cubs’ job and made it very clear that he would listen if called.

Chicago Cubs: Ross the front-runner; how does Girardi fit in?

Multiple industry experts, according to Jon Heyman, believe that the manager position belongs to Ross if he wants it.

The big question is whether the former backstop wants wants the job. He’s a family man with young children and has a cushy job calling games for ESPN, as well as a front office gig with the Cubs.

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Ross may be the best fit since he actually played with several key players on the Cubs roster currently and many of them looked up to him as sort of a father figure in the clubhouse. He was never afraid to jump on a teammate if something needed to be fixed and that was one of Maddon’s biggest problems – he seemed complacent at times.

Back to Girardi; he was let go from the Yankees citing a disconnect between him and the young players on the roster. Perhaps even a bigger issue, many rumors circulated saying he didn’t listen to front office suggestions on how to manage the team. As we all know, the Cubs front office can be pretty hands-on with their suggestions, so there’s a question of how well Girardi would mesh.

One thing the Cubs have going for them is the fact that the roster isn’t really “young” anymore. It’s not old in terms of age, but all the players are now in their fourth or fifth season in the majors. They know their way at this point, so they wouldn’t have to worry about Girardi “disconnecting.” Nico Hoerner is the only one there would be concerns about, but the other guys can really take him under his wing there.