Oh shit. Well played. The pieces are coming into place.Lowrielicious said:Has this been discussed yet?
Or how about one named Jack Shit. Since that's what the Sox got from the Cubs in their dealings last year.Dan to Theo to Ben said:Probably receive a PTBNL
Guessing first name Not, last name One, middle name That
One Red Seat said:So Joe Maddon....who along with Buck Doubleday invented baseball's unwritten rules & are the smartest 2 people ever involved in the game or perhaps in all the world....negotiated for a job with a team that already had a manager under contract? I thought that was big no no for such a superior and classy guy.
soxhop411 said:I have no doubts that the rays will press tampering charges against the Cubs... Wonder what the punishment will be
YTF said:Rays would have to prove that the Cubs and Maddon were in discussions about this hiring while he was still employed by Tampa.
"Today we made the difficult decision to replace Rick Renteria as manager of the Chicago Cubs. On behalf of Tom Ricketts and Jed Hoyer, I thank Rick for his dedication and commitment, and for making the Cubs a better organization.
"Rick's sterling reputation should only be enhanced by his season as Cubs manager. We challenged Rick to create an environment in which our young players could develop and thrive at the big league level, and he succeeded. Working with the youngest team in the league and an imperfect roster, Rick had the club playing hard and improving throughout the season. His passion, character, optimism and work ethic showed up every single day.
"Rick deserved to come back for another season as Cubs manager, and we said as much when we announced that he would be returning in 2015. We met with Rick two weeks ago for a long end-of-season evaluation and discussed plans for next season. We praised Rick to the media and to our season-ticket holders. These actions were made in good faith.
"Last Thursday, we learned that Joe Maddon -- who may be as well suited as anyone in the industry to manage the challenges that lie ahead of us -- had become a free agent. We confirmed the news with Major League Baseball, and it became public knowledge the next day. We saw it as a unique opportunity and faced a clear dilemma: be loyal to Rick or be loyal to the organization. In this business of trying to win a world championship for the first time in 107 years, the organization has priority over any one individual. We decided to pursue Joe.
"While there was no clear playbook for how to handle this type of situation, we knew we had to be transparent with Rick before engaging with Joe. Jed flew to San Diego last Friday and told Rick in person of our intention to talk to Joe about the managerial job. Subsequently, Jed and I provided updates to Rick via telephone and today informed him that we will indeed make a change.
"We offered Rick a choice of other positions with the Cubs, but he is of course free to leave the organization and pursue opportunities elsewhere. Armed with the experience of a successful season and all the qualities that made him our choice a year ago, Rick will no doubt make an excellent Major League manager when given his next chance.
"Rick often said he was the beneficiary of the hard work of others who came before him. Now, in the young players he helped, we reap the benefits of his hard work as we move forward. He deserved better and we wish him nothing but the best.
JohntheBaptist said:edit--someone else mentioned it earlier, but how do they get around not interviewing a minority candidate here? I'm sure they have a loophole they jumped through, just curious if anyone could shed light on that...
Dewy4PrezII said:Theo had proven his douchebaggery numerous times. The Gorilla suit fiasco. The jumping ship to the Cubs while still under contract with Boston and now firing a guy after just one year in order to hire "the smartest manager in baseball history" (TM)
derekson said:I fail to see how replacing a manager under contract with a better option that became available makes Theo a douchebag. Would you be saying the same thing about a GM who signs a better first baseman and then trades away the incumbent who was under contract? Theo's obligation to his organization is to put the best team together he can, whether that comes from upgrading coaches or players. It was an awkward situation due to the timing of Maddon becoming available, but it seems like Theo (and Hoyer) handled it about as well as possible.
JohntheBaptist said:I don't think that was a solid statement, I think that reads like what it was--a crappy thing to do. Kind of solidified my feeling that they treated Renteria a bit less-than-professionally. They did keep him updated, at least.
Plus, why couldn't Renteria be the next Joe Maddon? Especially if he was so great and "didn't deserve" to be fired? I thought Theo was the guy who found the next Joe Maddons, not the guy who just throws money at the shiney toys coming down the pike.
JohntheBaptist said:I don't think that was a solid statement, I think that reads like what it was--a crappy thing to do. Kind of solidified my feeling that they treated Renteria a bit less-than-professionally. They did keep him updated, at least.
Plus, why couldn't Renteria be the next Joe Maddon? Especially if he was so great and "didn't deserve" to be fired? I thought Theo was the guy who found the next Joe Maddons, not the guy who just throws money at the shiney toys coming down the pike.
edit--someone else mentioned it earlier, but how do they get around not interviewing a minority candidate here? I'm sure they have a loophole they jumped through, just curious if anyone could shed light on that...
JimD said:I get why Theo did this - he's going to spend a ton of money on big-name free agents, and with that I'm sure there's an expectation from Ricketts to be competitive as soon as possible. If I was a Cubs fan, I'd probably be thrilled with this move. That being said, though, he probably kneecapped Renteria's chances of ever managing again in the majors. These jobs are hard enough to get for a baseball lifer like Renteria, and now he's probably going to be considered damaged goods no matter what spin Theo and Jed throw out there. I hope they give him a nice severance check on the way out the door.
Dewy4PrezII said:Theo had proven his douchebaggery numerous times. The Gorilla suit fiasco. The jumping ship to the Cubs while still under contract with Boston and now firing a guy after just one year in order to hire "the smartest manager in baseball history" (TM)
TomRicardo said:
Renteria could be the next Joe Maddon in the future but he is not Joe Madden now. Joe Madden turned around Tampa Bay in two years and Tampa Bay was in a lot worse shape than the Cubs are now. Madden is the kind of manager you want if you are looking to make a run. Renteria simply is an unknown.
This would be like people getting upset that the Red Sox were able to trade Mookie Bettes for Mike Trout.
You have to go for what is going to give you the best chance to win. Renteria was given a bad situation and didn't do much with it.
Edit - The pitching on the Cubs was atrocious last year.
.CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs will announce the hiring of former Tampa Bay Rays skipper Joe Maddon as the 54th manager in franchise history on Monday, the team announced in a release
JohntheBaptist said:
I don't think its like Betts/ Trout because that is a clearly quantifiable situation. There's no way to know if Renteria is "Joe Maddon now" just like there was no way to know if Joe Maddon was Joe Maddon when TB hired him, or if he'll be the Joe Maddon we saw in TB in Chicago. Those are all unknowns, moreso than I think you're allowing. It feels like following hype because the new guy seems like he'd be better even though the guy you have was The Guy this time last year.
I get the impulse and I don't have a problem if they're sure he's their guy--I think teams shouldn't worry about hurting feelings in getting their guy. That being said, chasing hype that desperately isn't exactly a sound strategy either. I think you're overrating Maddon's achievements, how clearly transferrable they are to the new situation with new management, and the value of giving someone like Renteria the opportunity to be the guy you hired him to be.
cannonball 1729 said:
It's not like Theo's chasing Maddon because he's the flavor of the month, though. As the Sox ownership reminded us repeatedly during the 2011 managerial search, Maddon was the runner-up in the search that netted Tito, so Maddon's been on Theo's radar for a decade or more.
gryoung said:
I now hope the Cubs go another 100 years without a championship.
Blundatola said:
And I now hope you get the clap.
gryoung said:
OK - my response was a little harsh -- I'll reduce it to 5 years.
And I'll up it to 100 again. Between how they tampered with Theo, probably tampered with Maddon, and a few of the biggest douche bags I know being hardcore Cub fans, I'm ready for another century of Cub misery.gryoung said:OK - my response was a little harsh -- I'll reduce it to 5 years.
any chance this is coming straight from Ricketts and ownership?Blundatola said:I won't make any excuses for the way Steve Bartman was treated because it sucks when someone is unfairly turned into a scapegoat by a portion of a fan base. Thankfully that has never happened anywhere else.
Anyway, I agree the treatment of Renteria is unfair. It's pretty lame for the very people making the decisions to then say he deserved to be treated better. Well then why didn't you treat him better? That part leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Blundatola said:I won't make any excuses for the way Steve Bartman was treated because it sucks when someone is unfairly turned into a scapegoat by a portion of a fan base. Thankfully that has never happened anywhere else.
HriniakPosterChild said:
I cannot find a link, but I remember reading a story in the Globe back in 1987 of a guy who trashed Bob Stanley's son's bike and explained to the kid, "Your dad's a bum." I doubt that's the only thing of the sort that happened.
It's a big ocean.