5 potential replacements for Joe Maddon as Chicago Cubs manager

2. Don Mattingly

As CBS Sports noted, Don Mattingly recently became the first man to manage 600 games in Marlins’ franchise history. But with the team at 44-73 entering Monday, and set to push toward 95-100 losses for the second straight season, Mattingly might be fired right after the regular season finale as the Derek Jeter-faced ownership group moves to bring in their own manager.

It now looks like a minor miracle that Mattingly led the Marlins to within striking distance of .500 in each of his first two seasons as manager (79-82 in 2016, 77-85 in 2017). The roster has been gutted of some top talent since then, and the results have shown it.

Let’s not forget what Mattingly did when he had a talent-rich roster, winning three straight division titles with at least 92 wins as the Los Angeles Dodgers’ manager from 2013-2015.  A lackluster postseason record (8-11 overall with one series win) easily put him on hot-seat lists heading toward 2016, and the two sides decided to part ways when Mattingly had one year left on his contract.

Mattingly will almost certainly be available, and it’s safe to say he’ll be hired fairly quickly somewhere. If they embark on a managerial search, the Cubs should have “Donnie Baseball” on their list.