No longer Cubs manager but still loved by Chicago players
Nightengale: Angels skipper Joe Maddon faced his former team in spring training.
MESA, Ariz. – It was 12:07 Monday afternoon when Angels manager Joe Maddon strolled into the Cubs spring training ballpark, accompanied by an ESPN TV crew and with cameras flashing every step he took down the rightfield line.
He stopped in front of the Cubs dugout, greeted a media mob, spoke for 21 minutes and then it began: a procession of his former players and coaching staff coming over to greet him.
There were long embraces and conversations, the most prolonged with Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant. New Cubs manager David Ross, one of the 2016 World Series heroes, stopped and talked for 10 minutes.
Finally, at 12:57, just eight minutes until game time, Maddon finally made it back to his own dugout, with fans standing and cheering and chants of “Thank you Joe!” coming from the stands.
It was as if he never left, engaging reporters with his disdain for the American League style of play, ridiculing the importance of exit velocity and launch angle in analytics, believing that video is overrated and praising the virtues of Bryant, who’s on the trade block.
This was Maddon’s first appearance against the Cubs since being fired at the end of last season, ending the greatest five-year run by a manager in franchise history, bringing the Cubs their first World Series title in 108 years.
His only regret during his entire stay? Opening a restaurant in Wrigleyville in mid-May last season and closing it seven months later, saying he should have put it in downtown Chicago.
Maybe Maddon’s Post would be thriving if Maddon still was in Chicago, but his blissful marriage with the Cubs’ front office started to fall apart in 2018 when they lost Game 163, and then the wild-card game, followed by their lateseason collapse last year when they failed to make the playoffs.
Maddon blamed the front office for interfering with his managerial style, saying it was too controlling.
The front office blamed Maddon for being too lenient, resulting in sloppy play and underachieving performances.
They went their separate ways after the season, with Maddon interviewing only with the Angels and Ross interviewing only with the Cubs.
“It’s like being married, stuff happens along the way,” Maddon said. “There are internal discussions, and then it might be best to do something else. But you can still be friends with your former partner. There’s nothing adversarial.
“It’s just the method of the world today that everybody is looking for adversarial. It’s not. It was a great moment. We did wonderfully together. It was a great marriage. A great union. And I was grateful for it.”
The Cubs’ players certainly aren’t choosing sides and weren’t about to criticize their current employers, but they made it clear Monday in their actions and words that Maddon was unfairly cast as the scapegoat.
“He just gets a bad rap for a lot of things,” Bryant said. “I think a lot of the bad things are just solely placed on him. We had opportunities. We’re professional ballplayers. It wasn’t like Joe was like, ‘Hey, don’t do this. Don’t go out and don’t hit.’ It wasn’t that way.
“And I know he’s not going to be that guy to say that because he’s not going to say anything bad about his team because he loves all of us. Joe is one of my absolute favorite people of all time. “He just gets a bad rap.”
If not for Maddon, Cubs players kept insisting Monday, the franchise’s World Series curse would never have ended. He was the one who kept them at ease, permitting them to relax as the pressure built throughout the season.
“He was the absolute perfect guy for that job at that time,” Bryant said. “If it wasn’t for Joe getting us to a place going out there and playing freely and relaxed, I don’t think we would have been able to win the World Series with a bunch of 23year-olds and 24-year-olds.
“I think we all carry that with us in how we approach the game now in how relaxed and how much fun this team has on and off the field with one another because of Joe.”
Even now, with the zoo animals and magicians and wacky T-shirts and theme road trips gone, Ross said Maddon’s style will be an indelible part of him.
“He talks a lot about something I believed as a player coming in and trying to be the same person every day, and not riding the highs and lows,” Ross said. “He came in every day with the same attitude and convictions of what I believe. That is really powerful coming from a manager.”
Maybe now, after all of the drama, everyone can go back to focusing on life in Chicago without Maddon. They can remember the good times. The transition from being lovable losers to World Series champions.
“I think it’s good for both sides to just move on and stop talking about one another,” Bryant said. “I’m sure Joe wants the same thing. He’s in a new organization. He has his way of doing things that worked for us and got us a World Series. He’s going to continue to be that way and just move on.”
Maddon said he even reached out to Cubs president Theo Epstein the other day, saying they should catch up before the end of spring training and grab a few adult beverages. You know, just like the good old days.
The relationship between Maddon and his former players is too strong for anyone to try to end it. You understand Maddon’s significance in their lives when even Rizzo’s parents go to an Angels game to see Maddon, exchange emotional hugs and greetings, and even bring pictures of their great times together.
“We’re connected to Joe forever,” Rizzo said. “What he did, and what he accomplished here, and what we accomplished, connects us forever. He’s the manager that broke the biggest curse in sports’ history.”