It took all of about 180 seconds yesterday for Joe Maddon to do two things…get about a tenth of the way through his press conference preamble, and for the world to see his appeal. If you could just hire any competent manager and hand him the Cubs roster and they’d win, that’d be great. But over the past 107 years they’d have like four of those, and none of them could pull it off. It’s going to take somebody who is a great manager, and a little nuts.
Hello, Joe. We’ve been waiting.
If he was all psycho-babble bullshit and crazy theories on how to reinvent the game, there would be a problem. But he’s not. Most of the crazy stuff he says makes perfect sense. Most of his “crazy” in-game strategy isn’t all that crazy.
My favorite all-time Cubs managers are Don Zimmer and Lou Piniella. I loved them for one reason. They weren’t afraid to try stuff. Dusty Baker made out the lineup card like it was a Chinese food menu. Pick a centerfielder and bat him leadoff, find the oldest guy on your roster who can play second base and bat him second…
The Cubs, are, for once, awash in talent. Nobody disputes they have excellent players on the big league roster and in the minors. Maybe they don’t have a complete set yet, but they have guys who are good at playing baseball. It’s a novel approach–for them, but even talented players need somebody with a compass to point them in the right direction. Leave it to a guy driving an RV he named after Randy Quaid to hold the compass.
The irony in all this, as our good friend Paul Sullivan pointed out today, is that if this works, and Joe Maddon is the guy to dust off the trophy case at Wrigley Field (there are no trophies in the goddamned thing because in 1907 and 1908 you didn’t get a trophy for winning the World Series), it’s going to be the fault of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Oh, this is going to be fucking great.
Sullivan points out that the lead domino that set everything in motion to land Maddon in Chicago, started when those plucky Cardinals and their pudding brained manager beat Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers, not once, but twice in the NLDS. The Dodgers weren’t going to stand for a third-straight season of the Cardinals knocking them out of the playoffs so they pilfered Rays general manager Andrew Friedman to fix the roster for next season, which triggered a clause in Maddon’s contract that allowed him to opt out.
Muahahahahahahaha.
My dad had a lot of sayings, but the one he used to tell me during my baseball playing days was, “You can’t play this game with a tight asshole.” He could have just said you need to be relaxed to play well, but that’s not nearly as colorful.
There is no doubt that Joe and my dad have similar philosophies. Baseball’s not an easy game, and it is ripe with failure. Hell, we’re Cubs fans, we know that better than anybody…literally. Joe’s greatest strength isn’t being quirky. But it’s part of the package. This game is supposed to be fun, and you can take it seriously, and play it the right way, and still have fun. That’s what he brings.
He saved baseball in Tampa. They’d not only never had a winning season before he got there, they’d never won 72 games in a season. He took them to the playoffs four times and won a pennant. He’s gone and Friedman is gone and the Rays will probably end up throwing their shit in a moving truck within the next few years.
Hell, the reason Joe is a Cub working for Theo Epstein is because of something he did with the Rays. In 2011 everybody remembers the chicken and beer collapse in Boston that cost manager Terry Francona his job and set Theo off looking west for an escape from Larry Lucchino. That late stumble doesn’t cost the Red Sox a playoff spot unless Maddon’s Rays win five in a row to end the season including a ludicrous walk-off comeback win on the final night.
It will be fun to watch Maddon manage. He joked that American League baseball is so boring that he occasionally would lose the DH on purpose just to get to run a real game. He has done a great job managing bullpens and changing closers on the fly if necessary. He loves to platoon players, not just to get the split advantage but to get his bench guys consistent at bats.
Watching the press conference yesterday, you couldn’t help but be impressed. Not with his half unbuttoned dress shirt with the collar sticking up on one side, not with his half on-half off Cubs jersey, but with his command of the moment. It was his press conference from the moment it started. He didn’t have a bunch of practiced answers, but he had answers. He wasn’t sitting there because he needed money to pay off the IRS (Dusty) or because he was bored and tired of Steve Lyons making bad wallet jokes (Lou), or to raise money for alopecia research (Quade) or because his parole officer told him he needed a job (Dale) or, even for whatever the hell Rick(y)’s purpose was…he was there because of the challenge. Some guys chase the Cubs job because they think immortality will come to the person who finally guides them to a championship. Joe’s there because he thinks it’ll be cool to try. That’s what it’s going to take.
He’ll be a lot of things, but scared won’t be one of them. The media doesn’t scare him. The pajama wearing fans at the Cubs Convention might, but he’ll get over that.
This regime’s approach to ending the World Series drought boils down to this: they are looking for the right players and the right manager, and by god, I think they just found the right manager.
One thing is for sure. This won’t be boring.
