NEWSLETTER
Around this time two years ago, the 2019 Chicago Cubs were plummeting right out of the playoff race in brutal fashion, and there was a renewed, increasingly urgent sense of focus on, “OK, but what now?” Staleness and complacency had felt present – if underdiscussed – for more than a year at that point, but most of the core players, as well as the front office, were all under contract for another couple years. Was it just going to be more running it back?
There was one thing, though. Manager Joe Maddon was about to complete the fifth year in his original five-year contract with the Cubs, and had managed through a lame-duck 2019 season of questions and speculation. Would the Cubs re-sign him? Would he want to re-sign? You start to feel that tension between a desire for something new and the lure of nostalgia. (We felt it again back in July ...)
Ultimately, the sides presented a united front at the end of the season, suggesting that everyone was on board with the idea that it was time to part ways. Joe Maddon said later that offseason that it was a bilateral decision, rather than a unilateral one. A year later, he was saying the same thing, indicating that he had actually decided mid-2019 that it was time to move on.
That all felt correct at the time, by the way. A sad, but necessary, parting of ways.
It seems clean enough – kinda like Theo Epstein’s one-year-early departure seemed to be a mutually-agreed-upon conclusion – but we know real humans are always a little more complex than that. We knew that there were mixed feelings. Tough choices. Things you go back and forth about in your mind.
Now, a couple years removed, Maddon says, sure, it would’ve been nice to stick around with the Cubs. Maybe for two more years, together with everyone else who was under contract for that time, and try to win another championship with the Cubs.
Here he is, speaking on 670 The Score when asked about how the Trade Deadline went this year for the Cubs:
“It’s a sad day in a sense,” Maddon said of the Cubs trading stars Kris Bryant, Javier Báez, and Anthony Rizzo. “Listen, we did so well together and all those guys, we cohabitated well, got to and won a World Series together, all of that. But there comes a time sometimes, for all of us, that change is a good thing. Just watching from a distance in how the season was going, what they ended up being after winning so many in a row and then having that tough streak, I think it’s good for everybody, quite frankly.
“It was good for me, in a sense, to get a new opportunity here (with the Angels), although it would’ve been nice to have stuck around a couple more years – I can’t deny that – with the boys and seen if we could’ve pulled it off again.
“But I think you get saturated at a certain point, especially in today’s climate and how the game is reported upon, all the different maybe outside pressures or however you want to describe them. I think it was good. I think it was good for everybody. I think (the sell-off) gives the Cubs a chance to do it again. I’m a big fan of Jed (Hoyer), really enjoy Jed and Jason (McLeod) and all the guys back there. So it gives them an opportunity. I know the fans are going to have to wait a bit, and that’s difficult because that is the most glorious place in the world to report to work and I’ve always appreciated that. But I think it’s good. I think Javy will have a rebirth. I had a chance to visit with Rizz already in California when we just played them, really had a wonderful conversation with him. KB, I’ve just exchanged texts to this point, but I’ll get a chance to visit with him too. But again, I think change at a certain point can benefit everybody, and I think that’s what’s going to happen here.”
Maddon isn’t quite saying “THEY FORCED ME OUT!” So don’t go nuts here. He’s just remarking that, yeah, of course there’s a world where he stays, the Cubs get another couple cracks all together, and he’s happy with that. But, like he said, this presented him a different opportunity – some change – and that was probably good, too. I don’t think he’s trying to stir back up the old “was Joe Maddon fired?!” drama.
Of course, as we discussed this morning, things haven’t exactly gone well for Maddon and the Angels the last two years, but it’s not like he missed out on a second World Series with the Cubs …
Ultimately, I don’t have much trouble reconciling the Cubs’ decision with Maddon’s original comments with Maddon’s current comments. It can all be true. Everyone sticking together for another couple years (and winning another championship! WOO!) would have been nice. Agreed! But it’s also true that change was necessary – not just in the manager’s seat – and maybe everyone actually wound up better for how things played out.
Here’s the full Joe Maddon interview, if you miss those visits:
