Cubs Coaching Staff Should All Return Next Year and Other Bullets

joe-maddonMy long take on the Cubs’ championship season will come at some point in the near future, I hope. I’m working on it constantly – I suppose I’ve been writing it for 25 years, give or take – but it’s a slow process to get it just right. I know I’m just a dude pecking away on a blog, but it means a lot to me that the post is something I can keep with me forever. Because obviously. Hopefully it is worth the wait, and necessarily less somber than last year’s edition (of which I’m still very proud, though).

  • It looks like it’ll be Bud Black as the new manager for the Colorado Rockies, and not Cubs bench coach Dave Martinez, who was a rumored candidate. Barring a surprise offseason firing, there will be no more managerial vacancies until sometime next year. The expectation, then, should be that Martinez will return as Joe Maddon’s lieutenant next year. As for the rest of the coaching staff, Maddon has already said he expects the full group back next year (ESPN). Given how successful they’ve been, I’d call that a good thing.
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  • He did it again – Jake Arrieta shaved his beard, rendering him nearly unrecognizable:
  • It is in these moments that I am amazed by his near superhuman facial-hair-growing ability. Imagine if he never shaved. Within two years, all you’d hear is, “Oh, boy, and that’s another balk for Arrieta, as his wrist gets caught in his beard again.”
  • Javy Baez is popular:
  • Because you will never get tired of seeing well-constructed Cubs highlight packages:
  • https://twitter.com/ashleyxlazer/status/794944413231419393

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  • Congrats to the Pelicans:
  • You can still get an official World Series program for $15, if you want it as a keepsake (especially now that you know how it turned out).
  • If you missed anything from this very busy post-victory weekend, catch yourself up here.
  • Thankfully this did not come to pass:
  • Well this is kind of different – cards made out of wood. As in, if you want to send someone a card, but want it to be REALLY different than what they’re used to receiving, you can send them a card made out of wood.
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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