Only five days after opting out of his contract with Tampa Bay, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports is reporting that Joe Maddon will become the new manager of the Chicago Cubs.
The Cubs and agent Alan Nero denied that a deal is done, but people familiar with the dealings say that it is certain to be completed in coming days, and that Maddon would indeed be the next Cubs manager.
Maddon will replace Rick Renteria, who had been serving as manager and had two years remaining on the three-year pact he signed with Chicago last offseason.
The Cubs get themselves one of the most respected managers in Major League Baseball and at a time when they are at the brink of contention as they’ve constructed a core of such young stars as Anthony Rizzo, Starlin Castro, Jorge Soler, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez and Jake Arrieta among others.
President of baseball operations Theo Epstein is also reportedly ready to back up that core with the money and resources necessary to pursue Jon Lester or Max Scherzer to headline their rotation next season.
October 26
After opting out from his contract with the Tampa Bay Rays, we now know that Joe Maddon is the hottest commodity on the baseball market, with as many as 5-6 organizations expressing serious interest in the highly regarded manager. Not surprising.
But what I did find very surprising was how quick the Mets were to say they had no interest in Maddon who is considered by most as one of the most brilliant managers in the game.
Within minutes of the announcement, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon and general manager Sandy Alderson both shot down any interest in Maddon.
“No — we are not changing managers,” Jeff Wilpon emphatically exclaimed.
And Sandy Alderson quickly followed that up, “Terry Collins is our manager. Period.”
If the Mets’ priority is truly about adding the best people available to their ranks as they always boldly tout, you would think a supreme baseball man like Maddon would give them some pause – even if it was only for appearance’s sake.
I understand the whole undying loyalty to Terry Collins POV – even if it is dreadfully misplaced. But here’s a manager that could easily add 6-8 games to your win column and you don’t even deliberate it for 15 minutes? It’s not like Collins couldn’t be reassigned to another useful role.
Very peculiar and telling at just how fast they reacted on this. They’ve never made a decision this quickly in their four-plus years into this plan.
