Former manager Joe Maddon thinks the manager position is heading for a drastic change with analytics and front offices: "Headphones on coaches"

Joe Maddon was one of the best and most beloved managers in the game of baseball for a long time. Recent changes to the way the game is looked at have changed how managers function. Analytics and front office mindsets have put managers, who were once the be all end all for an MLB team, in a very different light.

They still make in-game decisions, but a lot of the thought process and other things come from the analytics teams every single front office has.

Maddon, who was never as involved with that side of baseball as others, isn't sure that the future of the manager's position will resemble its past. In fact, he believes it could emulate other sports, he revealed in a Deadspin interview:

"I could become a head coach. Potentially looking at a head coach, you're almost looking at a football scenario where I could even see potentially a push to be made for headphones on coaches in dugouts so that the game could be orchestrated more from upstairs."

Managers have a much different job today than they used to, so Maddon isn't altogether wrong. What he's describing may seem far-fetched, but it might not be.

Analytics has changed the game and is pushing the game even further, so a head coach isn't out of the question. Joe Maddon last managed for the Los Angeles Angels, but was fired midseason.

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Are analytics bad for baseball like Joe Maddon and others may think?

Joe Maddon made it clear that he didn't use much analytics when managing. With the Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago Cubs and Angels, he never got into that, despite the Rays being the most analytical team in baseball now.

Even with the Cubs, Joe Maddon didn't use analytics

Many fans and even some inside the game don't like analytics, but are they bad for baseball? Some see analytics as "strike out or home run" and "high batting average is bad" but neither is exactly accurate.

Analytics offers a statistical look at the game, but it's a more refined one than traditional metrics offer. A player like Anthony Rizzo last year would have been booted from baseball in the old days.

He hit .224, which is a far cry from the elite level that many assume to be .300. However, analytics says he recorded a 133 wRC+, which means he was 33% better than the average hitter.

Analytics doesn't mean bad hitters get more playing time, it just means that these "bad" hitters aren't actually bad.