Joe Maddon’s feet are about to be held to the fire for the first time in his managerial career.
Maddon, who was introduced as the new manager of the Chicago Cubs on Monday, is a long way from St. Petersburg, where the use of merengue bands and penguins to lighten the clubhouse mood is a cute touch. The skipper is tasked with achieving success in a place long known for its playoff futility, meaning zany antics won’t be enough to cloud Chicago’s shortcomings if Maddon fails to deliver on his lofty expectations.
Maddon is an excellent manager. He brought the Tampa Bay Rays to new heights during his nine-year tenure despite the team’s low budget, which is even more impressive in the American League East, where Maddon’s bunch was forced to compete with big market squads like the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. His ability to connect with younger players and keep things loose over the course of a 162-game grind — with 81 of those games occurring at the uninspiring Tropicana Field — was essential.
One could say Maddon is the perfect manager to take over the Cubs, who are on the cusp of becoming relevant again largely because of their farm system, which arguably is the best in Major League Baseball. He already has proven he can effectively assimilate up-and-comers, and the Cubs will have plenty of highly regarded prospects making their way to Wrigley Field over the next couple of seasons. The whole loosey-goosey shtick might even work for a time, as it did for nearly a decade with the Rays.
Maddon certainly showed Monday his personality is as vibrant and as unpredictable as ever, with the 60-year-old offering reporters a shot and a beer after wrapping up his introductory presser. But whereas the wackiness in Tampa Bay could masquerade the fact the Rays never won a World Series during Maddon’s nine years in charge, it’ll undoubtedly have a shelf life in Chicago if the Cubs don’t push for their first title in more than a century.
Chicago is on a different level than Tampa Bay as far as baseball goes. It’s a far more desirable location for free agents — ask Jake Peavy, who recently expressed admiration for the Windy City — and it’s a place where the fan base won’t settle for cowbells and fish tanks in lieu of on-field success. The Cubs haven’t won a World Series since 1908 and have finished in fifth place in the National League Central five years in a row. The time for waiting is over — or will be in a couple of years, at least — so Maddon must justify president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer canning former manager Rick Renteria and presenting the new manager with an offer he couldn’t refuse.
None of this is meant to cast doom and gloom over what admittedly should be an exciting hiring for the lowly Cubs. They’ve taken another step toward crawling out of the basement. There’s seemingly a genuine enthusiasm surrounding the organization for the first time in years.
Too much hype often yields disappointment, however. Perhaps pumping the brakes a little bit now will lessen the disappointment if/when the Cubs don’t improve and Maddon’s act grows stale.
Photo via Matt Marton/USA TODAY Sports Images
