NEWSLETTER
Today, Dan Bernstein reported on his 670 The Score radio show that he’s heard from a Cubs source that the front office was “pissed” that Joe Maddon spoke publicly about his contract situation. We regarded it as an odd report, given the limited nature of what Maddon actually said, but hey, you never know what is going on behind closed doors, I guess.
Nevertheless, team president Theo Epstein was quick to squash this one before it took on a life of its own:
Cubs pres. of baseball ops Theo Epstein, asked about report that front office was unhappy about Maddon's recent comments about contract situation:
"Totally baseless. We had no problems with Joe's comments. He has to talk to you guys twice a day and does a great job with it."
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) August 13, 2019
By and large, Maddon does do a pretty incredible job with the media when you consider you could probably count his slipups on one hand, and he does it twice a day every day in a tough market.
Now the question is … who was talking out of turn to Bernstein? And what exactly did they say? And why? And does it involve the Illuminati?
Back to your regularly-scheduled program, which is that Joe Maddon’s contract ends in a couple months, which always meant that there would be all kinds of chatter like this. It’s the risk you run when not extending (or terminating) a manager into his final season, especially when that manager is a rock star who has been arguably the most successful manager in club history. I totally get the reason the Cubs went this route, but I don’t think anyone should feel bad that they’ve got to address a stray rumor here and there about the situation. It’s kind of a big deal.
