While we await word on Joe Girardi’s Yankees decision …
Bruce Levine wants you to have a fun Friday night discussing things on the Internet.
That can be the only explanation for tossing out the following tweet just a few moments ago:
Greg Maddux a possible choice for Cub job . Maybe brothers interviewing for same gig. Source said either brother can be impact manager.
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) October 4, 2013
I kid, of course, because the other possible explanation is that Maddux (Greg, in addition to Mike, I suppose) really is under consideration for the managerial gig. No one would question Greg’s baseball knowledge and ability to translate that knowledge into productivity on the field. Indeed, I suspect he’d be a very effective in-game manager. What we don’t know is how he’d succeed as a player developer and a coach.
Maddux does have experience in both roles, however, having been a roving instructor in the minor leagues with the Cubs for a number of years, and a special assistant with the Rangers. It’s not the traditional coaching background you’d look for, but if Maddux wants to talk about managing, you’d at least give him a listen. Indeed, upon ending his playing career, many thought Maddux was destined for the bench, but the rigors of a full season (and offseason) of managing can be taxing.
We’ll see if there’s anything real to this rumor. Bruce Levine certainly has his sources, and he’s got to know that tossing out Greg Maddux’s name in the Cubs’ managerial search is the kind of thing that everyone is going to want to discuss. I doubt he’d be so cavalier about it if he didn’t have something solid.