This is fine
The Cubs are just good enough for us to want them to fire the manager, but they don't care enough to do it


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The Athletic ran a column yesterday where my former intern at that site, Ken Rosenthal, wrote about which managers are on the proverbial hot seat less than 60 games into the 2023 season.
In Ken’s estimation, the managers who are in danger of getting whacked are all currently just guys who would pay the price either late in the season or in the offseason if their teams missed the playoffs.

And those managers are Dusty Baker (whose Astros are going to make the playoffs, and he might retire anyway), Phil Nevin (I can’t believe he’s a manager), Buck Showalter (the Mets will also end up in the playoffs), and David Ross.
Hah, just kidding. Ross isn’t on the list. Ken knows the Garbage Family That Owns The Cubs™ well enough to understand the actual dynamics at play.
David Ross, Cubs: This is Ross’ fourth season, and the Cubs expected improvement, if not quite contention, as they climbed out of their rebuild. Their 11-6 start built optimism, but they since have gone 9-20, playing a number of close games that have magnified Ross’ in-game decision-making.
Which isn’t to say that Ross, 46, is in trouble, not when he is signed through 2024 with an option for 2025 and continues to receive public support from president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer. As The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma wrote in a recent mailbag, “I don’t think Hoyer views Ross as a placeholder and I don’t think he’s anywhere near being on the hot seat.”
Ross has a couple of things going for him, even as he routinely displays his ineptitude. 1) The Ricketts’ really like him, believe the fairy tale that he was an integral part of the 2016 world championship team and think of him like another idiot brother. He’s basically Todd without the expensive bike fetish or hair. 2) They already gave him a contract extension through 2025, even though he did absolutely nothing to earn it, and they aren’t paying two managers again. They did it twice under Theo. The year Rick(y) Renteria was managing and they were still paying Dale Sveum, and the first year of Joe Maddon when they were still paying Rick(y).