Late Saturday evening, an hour or so after a rain-delayed game resulted in a Cardinals loss to the Reds, the Cubs’ biggest rival made a surprising announcement:
The timing of this firing is... odd. If you’re going to fire a manager mid-season, just before the All-Star break, why not just wait the one more day and then make a clean start right after the break?
Matheny’s recent issues were well-documented. This article from The Athletic last week suggested that he and former Cub Dexter Fowler barely spoke, and another recent Athletic article had Matheny defending the old-school hazing reliever Bud Norris was giving rookie Jordan Hicks:
The 33-year-old Norris has been mercilessly riding 21-year old rookie Jordan Hicks since spring training, reminding him to be at meetings on time and publicly calling him out when he is lagging in any of the details a visitor might not notice, but other players do.