Nationals manager Dave Martinez won’t come right out and say that the Cubs are making a big mistake if they fire manager Joe Maddon after the season.
“I mean, I don’t make those decisions,” he said.
But Maddon’s longtime bench coach, who left the Cubs’ staff after 2017 to take his first managing job, also sounds like he stands firmly in the be-careful-what-you-wish-for camp when it comes to anyone who would blame Maddon for the Cubs’ issues – never mind anyone who would fire a guy with the franchise’s only championship in the last 110 seasons, its only four-year streak of postseason appearances and a 97-win average those four regular seasons.