Sometimes job performance is a secondary factor in why a head coach or a manager loses his job.
Sometimes the factor that matters most is the need for change.
Unless the Cubs turn things around soon, we might be getting to that point with Joe Maddon.
Would it be fair? Warranted? Honorable? No, all the way around.
Does the blame for the Cubs’ mediocre first half fall more on the players and the front office? Yes, it does.
But remember when an irate Maddon bolted out of the Cubs’ dugout last week to protest what he considered dangerously inside pitches by the Pirates?