We’ve heard about the various internal options, plus Raúl Ibañez and Joe Girardi, But Theo Epstein said Monday that the Cubs have also identified a candidate from a current playoff team. He could have been referring to Ibañez, who is with the Dodgers in a front-office capacity, but it’s more like Epstein was referring to someone on a coaching staff.
And that could be Astros bench coach Joe Espada, a man whose profile has been getting a serious bump lately. That tends to happen when you’re serving as the right hand AJ Hinch, the manager who has led one of baseball’s most powerful forces over the last few years.