It became official on Monday that Joe Maddon was introduced as the new manager of the Chicago Cubs. There was lots of praise for this but also lots of hate or uneasiness as the Cubs already had a manager who was already under contract, Rick Renteria.
Maddon is clearly the best manager to never win a World Series after he turned around the Tampa Bay Rays who were one of the worst teams in baseball ever since their creation in the 90s.
The Cubs have hired other big name managers before like Dusty Baker or Lou Piniella but will he really do better, we don’t know.
“Maddon will not fare any better with the Cubs than his predecessors, you need to have talent on the field,” said Rich Stine. “The manager cannot hit, pitch, or field for the players. All a manager can do is try to manage all the individual talent he has on his ball club, however, if his team lacks that talent then there is only so much he can do to make them competitive.”
But also the good: “I’d like to think Maddon will succeed where Baylor and Lou did not”, said Shane Rioran. In this day and age, it’s all about adaptability and willingness to listen to schools of thought not as traditional as “see ball, hit ball”.”
There is also the way the deal went down as soon as Maddon officially became a free agent and then signed with the Cubs over the weekend.
“It showed no ethics in the handling of the Renteria situation. They already had a manager under contract that they seemed to be happy with”, said Stine. “In baseball you just don’t throw your current manager under the bus in order to go after another manager that is all of a sudden available. That shows absolutely no class, and it is not justified simply because the new manager is considered to be a ‘great’ manager who will lead the Cubs to the Promised Land. It also shows lack of class by the new manager Maddon for accepting a position at the expense of another manager; it just isn’t done in baseball.”
But also some were ok with it: “I don’t care about Rick Renteria’s feelings. A better opportunity came along, so Theo & co. jumped on it,” said, Riordan
Lots of people are excited with the hiring and thinking he can take them all the way because they are essentially the Tampa Bay Rays but with money because both teams have talented minor leagues.
“Being in a larger market budget for the Cubs will help Maddon unlike the Rays who didn’t have the money to compete”, said Stine. “However, the Rays were always competitive even with their low budget, each and every year, while the Cubs with more money available have always been terrible and you have to factor in injuries especially with older players you bring in to your club. You also need good character clubhouse guys not just talent.”
But you can look at the Yankees and all they do is spend money and it doesn’t always work out and after seeing this World Series where both teams had the worst records of the playoff teams you don’t necessarily need talent you just need luck. If you look at who was managing the Kansas City Royals it wasn’t the best manager in baseball it was Ned Yost so you don’t need to have the best manager to win a World Series see the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks with Bob Brenly.
“It’s not just about the money but whether you spend it wisely on a good farm system, scouting, and the right free agents”, said Stine. “If you know how to spend it and put in a good manager such as Maddon you then have a recipe for success.