Tipsheet: Maddon Becomes Lame Duck Manager For Cubs - Jeff Gordon - PDF

10/4/2018 Tipsheet: Maddon becomes lame duck manager for Cubs | Jeff Gordon | stltoday.
com
Tipsheet: Maddon becomes lame duck manager

for Cubs
By Jeff Gordon St. Louis Post-Dispatch 1 hr ago (…)
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10/4/2018 Tipsheet: Maddon becomes lame duck manager for Cubs | Jeff Gordon | stltoday.com
Chicago Cubs' Joe Maddon, right, points to an umpire after being ejected from the game during the eighth
inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Monday, Sept. 3, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP
Photo/Aaron Gash)
It appears Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon could

become a free agent after the 2019 season.
Isn't that interesting?
Maddon sought a contract extension but didn't get one.

Now, coming off a quick exit from the playoffs,
industry experts believe he will simply serve out the
final season of his five-year, $28 million contract
while undergoing further evaluation from team
management.
"Joe's status remains unchanged," Cubs president Theo

Epstein told reporters in Chicago Wednesday. "He's
the manager of the team. I'm very happy about that."
Epstein dismissed reports of friction between him and

Maddon.
"We have a terrific working relationship," Epstein

said. "We don't agree all the time about baseball issues
and that's the way it should be. I don't want a 'yes man'
as the manager and I don't want a 'yes man'
relationship the other way, either.
"I think there should be discord and debate and

healthy, trusting relationships where you can work
together to make the organization better, and that's the
way it is."
Naturally, Cubs players have Maddon's back.
“I just don’t see where he’s going to get heat from,”

Cubs slugger Anthony Rizzo told USA Today. “I think
he’s managed his (backside) off this year. That’s all
credit to him. Without his leadership here, guys aren’t
playing the way they play.’
This is not a great time for baseball's star

managers. Mike Scioscia moved on from Anaheim
and Buck Showalter departed Baltimore after lengthy
stints. And Bruce Bochy faces some uncertainty in
San Francisco as the Giants ownership ponders
sweeping changes.
USA Today columnist Bob Nightengale offered this

take on Maddon:
The Cubs will be feeling even more pressure next year

with the heat on Maddon to presumably perform at an
even higher level.
Since Joe Maddon arrived in 2015, he took the Cubs to

playoffs last four years, won two NL Central Division
titles and the World Series in 2016 — the club's first
since 1908.
But they stumbled down the stretch this season after

leading their division for months. The rival Milwaukee
Brewers forced a Game 163 at Wrigley Field on
Monday -- and beat the Cubs for the fifth time in their
last seven meetings -- to snatch the division title at the
last moment. That left the Cubs in the position of
having to win a wild-card game the next night against
the Colorado Rockies - who came to town on a hot
streak. They lost 2-1 in 13 innings . . .
Certainly, you can argue that this might have been

Maddon’s finest season considering their struggling
players, free-agent busts in starters Yu
Darvish and Tyler Chatwood, and injuries to the likes
of former MVP Kris Bryant and closers Brandon

Morrow and Pedro Strop. Yet, the Cubs offense went
AWOL at the most crucial of times, scoring just two
runs in their final 22 innings, and appeared to be
pressing instead of relaxed.
"You're not going to hear me make excuses -- and this

is not an excuse -- but we have had a lot of things go
awry this year and in spite of that, have still tied for
the most wins in the National League in a 162-game
season," Maddon said. "That speaks to the quality of
the player in the room. Even though maybe the
numbers offensively didn't match up, these guys put
up 95 wins. That speaks to the heart of the player, that
speaks to the attitude of the group."
TALKIN' BASEBALL
Here is what folks are writing about Our National

Pastime:
Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports: "Their season over, their

dream of another championship dead, the Chicago
Cubs didn’t lament the Colorado Rockies’ 2-1 victory
in 13 innings so much as they tried to answer a
question familiar to anyone who has engaged in self-
reflection: Who, exactly, are we? There were no clear

answers, not yet, which made the question that much
more perplexing. Because the Cubs, two years
removed from their first World Series victory in more
than a century, a year separated from another NL
Championship Series appearance, find themselves in
baseball purgatory, believing everything’s going to be
all right without knowing. Their manager is going to
be a lame duck, and their farm system seems unlikely
to provide a jolt of major league-ready talent, and their
core – the same core that teemed with dynastic
aspirations in 2016 – had just exited the 2018
postseason in spectacular fashion. In a little more than
24 hours, the Cubs went from playing for home-field
advantage throughout the NL playoffs to packing up
for the winter. It was a dizzying turn characterized by
a showing of offensive impotence that bled from
September into October. It was a fitting microcosm of
the season, actually: handed opportunity after
opportunity, the Cubs simply couldn’t muster the
finishing kick that defined them two years ago when
they secured their oversized gold-and-diamond rings
in extra innings."
Dayn Perry, CBSSports.com: "There's nothing the

Cardinals can do about one prevailing reality, and
that's the strength of the NL Central. Maybe, though,

the Cubs will step back a bit from their 95-win pace,
and perhaps the rotation questions and the possible
regression of Christian Yelich (he's almost certainly
not going to homer on 35 percent of his fly balls
again) brings Milwaukee back a step or two. With a
handful of targeted moves, the Cardinals can 'ceiling'
with a win total in low 90s in 2019, and most years
that's enough for at least a spot in the knockout game."
David Schoenfield, ESPN.com: "Get ready, America,

whether you wanted it or not. Call it Red Sox-Yankees
III if so desired, the long-awaited follow-up to the epic
American League Championship Series battles of 2003
and 2004. Or maybe that's going too far. After all, that
was a generation ago in baseball years, and the bad
blood of that time has long since receded for the most
part. The Red Sox ended the curse, added two more
titles, and Jason Varitek and Alex Rodriguez moved
on to other phases of their lives. Still, it's the Boston
Red Sox versus New York Yankees in the postseason
for just the fourth time ever -- and the first time when
both are 100-win teams . . . The Yankees advanced to
the division series before a loud and enthusiastic
Yankee Stadium crowd that was on its feet three
pitches into the game. Aaron Judge provided the early
lead with a first-inning, two-run screamer of a home

run to left field. Luis Severino and
(Dellin) Betances shut down the Oakland offense with
10 strikeouts and two hits through the first six innings.
A four-run sixth inning that Judge started with a little
bouncer over first base for a double put it away,
and Giancarlo Stanton iced the team's second straight
wild-card win with a towering, 443-foot moon shot
just inside the left-field foul pole. How ready are the
Yankees for the Red Sox? The blasts from Judge
(116.1 mph) and Stanton (117.4 mph) were the two
hardest-hit home runs in the postseason since Statcast
began tracking them in 2015."
Stephanie Apstein, SI.com: "After so many years of

being a rivalry in the way that a Chihuahua and a lion
might be rivals for the same piece of meat, the teams
are on equal footing. The Red Sox won 107 games.
The Yankees won 100. They were the two best teams
in baseball from May on. But any animosity that
lingers from the days when they faced off in every
ALCS lives mostly in the hearts of fans. These teams
tried to inject the rivalry with a little venom this April,
when Yankees DH Tyler Austin spiked Red Sox
shortstop Brock Holt on a hard slide into second.
Reliever Joe Kelly drilled Austin between the
shoulder blades and the benches cleared. Even (Red

Sox manager Alex) Cora and Yankees third base
coach Phil Nevin got into it, gesturing at each other
from across the field. (Austin was suspended six
games, Kelly four. Both coaches were fined.) But
Austin was traded to the Twins at the deadline, and
Kelly is no lock to make the ALDS roster after a
September in which he had an 8.31 ERA. Jason
Varitek–Alex Rodriguez this is not."
MEGAPHONE
"We lost some tough games in the postseason, in this

postseason right now, or getting to the postseason, but
I think 'grit' is a wonderful word that describes this
group, and I've also talked about the heart. A couple
years ago, when we won the World Series, I said,
'Don't forget the heartbeat.' I think the heartbeat within
this group is very prominent and as a manager, that's
probably the thing I'm most proud of."
• Joe Maddon, on his team's demise.

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10/4/2018 Tipsheet: Maddon becomes lame duck manager for Cubs | Jeff Gordon | stltoday.

Tipsheet: Maddon becomes lame duck manager

SUBSCRIBE FOR 99 CENTS

It appears Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon could

Isn't that interesting?

Maddon sought a contract extension but didn't get one.

"Joe's status remains unchanged," Cubs president Theo

Epstein dismissed reports of friction between him and

"We have a terrific working relationship," Epstein

"I think there should be discord and debate and

Naturally, Cubs players have Maddon's back.

“I just don’t see where he’s going to get heat from,”

This is not a great time for baseball's star

USA Today columnist Bob Nightengale offered this

The Cubs will be feeling even more pressure next year

Since Joe Maddon arrived in 2015, he took the Cubs to

But they stumbled down the stretch this season after

Certainly, you can argue that this might have been

of former MVP Kris Bryant and closers Brandon

"You're not going to hear me make excuses -- and this

Here is what folks are writing about Our National

Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports: "Their season over, their

reflection: Who, exactly, are we? There were no clear

Dayn Perry, CBSSports.com: "There's nothing the

that's the strength of the NL Central. Maybe, though,

David Schoenfield, ESPN.com: "Get ready, America,

lead with a first-inning, two-run screamer of a home

Stephanie Apstein, SI.com: "After so many years of

shoulder blades and the benches cleared. Even (Red

"We lost some tough games in the postseason, in this

• Joe Maddon, on his team's demise.

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