{"id":187,"date":"2019-09-24T11:53:26","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T16:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/?p=187"},"modified":"2019-09-24T11:54:06","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T16:54:06","slug":"will-maddon-stay-or-will-ross-step-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/?p=187","title":{"rendered":"Will Maddon stay or will Ross step in?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sept. 24, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

By Gordon Wittenmeyer – Chicago Sun-Times<\/p>\n

Cubs manager Joe Maddon said again recently what he has said for months: He expects to be back managing the team next season.<\/p>\n

Granted, this is the same perpetual optimist who kept saying he expected good results this season, even as each wrecking-ball blow by the Cardinals destroyed what was left of the Cubs\u2019 season during a four-game sweep at Wrigley Field.<\/p>\n

By Monday, social media, local sports airwaves and national pundits were abuzz with varying degrees of venom and certainty that Maddon will be let go 11 months after team president Theo Epstein lobbed the first shot across his bow by announcing Maddon would enter the final season of his contract without an extension.<\/p>\n

But with Epstein\u2019s \u2018\u2018year of reckoning\u2019\u2019 sputtering to an ignominious finish this week, the front office faces a classic be-careful-what-you-wish-for proposition, no matter how it spins a Maddon departure \u2014 and no matter whom it hires in his place.<\/p>\n

As the Sun-Times said this summer: Whoever fires Joe Maddon as part of the solution for this team needs to look in the mirror and fire that guy,<\/a> too.<\/p>\n

The Cubs\u2019 decline since their 2016 World Series championship has less to do with any change in Maddon\u2019s effectiveness or shortcomings in game management than it does poor free agent spending, worse player-development results and ownership\u2019s questionable \u201ccommitment\u201d to setting baseball budgets<\/a> according to actual revenue.<\/p>\n

The fact that the youngest champion in World Series history didn\u2019t come close to living up to all of the \u2018\u2018dynasty\u2019\u2019 talk back then represents a multilayered, organization-wide failure Epstein acknowledges.<\/p>\n

But if he fires the most successful manager in franchise history without bigger fish frying, as well, it can\u2019t be reasonably read as anything but finger-pointing, if not scapegoating, by non-sycophants, no matter what kind of spin or celebration of a great run the Cubs apply.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018Reckonings\u2019\u2019 need fall guys when things go wrong. In this case, that might be the manager who finally achieved the right balance and tone to cut through the psychological mystique of an October pressure-cooker a century in the making.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018Joe\u2019s done a great job, as always,\u2019\u2019 Epstein said a few days ago. \u2018\u2018Since he\u2019s been here, he\u2019s been a terrific partner. And he\u2019s had a lot of moving parts thrown at him this year. That\u2019s not the type of thing that usually bothers him. He takes such an even-keeled approach to managing the club.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018He looks for solutions, collaborates. With him, you wouldn\u2019t know if he has a totally healthy roster of if we\u2019re leading the league in injuries. He\u2019s just unflappable that way.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

In 2008, with the best record in the National League, the Cubs folded under the pressure in a first-round playoff loss to the Dodgers. Manager Lou Piniella exacerbated the problem by getting irked by Mark DeRosa\u2019s suggestion that Game 2 was a \u2018\u2018must-win\u2019\u2019 proposition.<\/p>\n

The Cubs\u2019 infield then responded with errors around the horn in a Game 2 loss.<\/p>\n

If anything, the laid-back, embrace-the-target, stay-present demeanor that made Maddon the perfect fit for a fledgling core of potential playoff performers can come off as bad optics when things go awry.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018If it wasn\u2019t for him, we wouldn\u2019t have this winning culture, this winning attitude, these expectations of winning here,\u2019\u2019 2016 NL MVP Kris Bryant said. \u2018\u2018Because when he first got here is when we really started to win, and it\u2019s no coincidence.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

What else are the players in the clubhouse going to say? Sure. But it\u2019s also hard to make the case that players aren\u2019t responding well enough to Maddon after seeing this flawed roster with a pedestrian bullpen get this far into the season in playoff contention and after watching Anthony Rizzo return four days after what looked like a season-ending ankle injury.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018He\u2019s done a good job of managing the personnel that we\u2019ve had this year,\u2019\u2019 said veteran left-hander Jon Lester, who has been disgruntled at times with Maddon. \u2018\u2018We\u2019ve had a lot of things that have come up and we\u2019ve had to deal with, and he\u2019s done a great job of doing that.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Bullpen problems, lack of mix-and-match leadoff options a year after the process worked, breakdowns in an aging rotation and injuries conspired to create a host of challenges in an improved NL. And that doesn\u2019t even include off-field distractions related to Addison Russell\u2019s domestic-violence suspension, Ben Zobrist\u2019s four-month personal leave over marital problems and Maddon\u2019s own lame-duck contract status.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018Obviously, I don\u2019t ever like being taken out of a game, and we talk about it,\u2019\u2019 Lester said. \u2018\u2018We talk about it in the dugout, and then there\u2019s been times he\u2019s pulled me aside and talked to me in the clubhouse about it, and he always has an educated answer.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Maybe David Ross \u2014 if he even would take the job \u2014 can step right in as a first-time manager and be a star. Maybe bench coach Mark Loretta would make a fine manager.<\/p>\n

And Maddon is all but assured of managing somewhere next season, whether Philadelphia, San Diego, New York or somewhere else.<\/p>\n

But if the Cubs\u2019 plan is to extend their competitive window, is anyone sure those are better answers? And if their plan is about roster turnover that means fresh faces and maybe some younger players to initiate, that has been the strength of Maddon\u2019s style and track record.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018The best thing I like about Joe is that he allows the players to dictate how the clubhouse is, and then I think the genuine personalities of each individual can come out, which I think is important to get the best out of people,\u2019\u2019 newcomer Nick Castellanos said of his seven-week first impression.<\/p>\n

For example, Maddon is a manager built for Rizzo, who thrives on the loose clubhouse and pregame schedule but brings as much focus and effort to game time as anyone else.<\/p>\n

And Javy Baez, a two-time All-Star and the NL MVP runner-up last season, might not even be in the organization without Maddon. He immediately fell in love with the wild-swinging, undisciplined Baez\u2019s skills at first glance in the winter of 2014-15.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to imagine another manager in the game who would have had the patience to allow Javy to be Javy enough to get the payback the Cubs have seen the last four seasons.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018He\u2019s a very good judge of personality,\u2019\u2019 said Castellanos, who has played for four managers. \u2018\u2018I think he knows his players really well, who needs a kick in the ass, who needs a pat on the back.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Kick in the ass?<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018He had a meeting with us in New York [after getting swept at home by the Nationals],\u2019\u2019 Castellanos said. \u2018\u2018Just a stern meeting about wanting to be cleaned up a little bit more around the strike zone and having better discipline or a better plan.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The Cubs went on to beat Marcus Stroman, Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom to sweep that series.<\/p>\n

As pitcher Kyle Hendricks once said: \u201cBehind the scenes he\u2019s a very intense, competitive dude, trust me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three rival evaluators in the last two weeks offered unsolicited praise for what Maddon has done this season to get the Cubs even this far. One said he didn\u2019t see one area of the game in which the Cubs stood out compared to the rest of the league.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018He\u2019s doing the best with everything he\u2019s been dealt,\u2019\u2019 Bryant said. \u2018\u2018He\u2019s handled the criticism, the questioning, everything great.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018I would love to see him back.\u2019\u2019<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sept. 24, 2019 By Gordon Wittenmeyer – Chicago Sun-Times Cubs manager Joe Maddon said again recently what he has said for months: He expects to be back managing the team next season. Granted, this is the same perpetual optimist who kept saying he expected good results this season, even as each wrecking-ball blow by the … Continue reading Will Maddon stay or will Ross step in?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions\/200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}