The St. Louis Cardinals hired Mike Maddux on Thursday to be their pitching coach. His new contract in St. Louis assured another veteran voice from the Washington Nationals coaching staff of the last two seasons is out.
Maddux was a longshot to return. He signed a two-year contract in in 2016, meticulously guided the Nationals staff to a 3.70 ERA during the next two seasons, third-best in the National League, then had his contract expire, like the rest of the staff. When it was announced that former manager Dusty Baker would not return, Maddux became lumped in with the list of possibilities to replace him.