Cubs should go after Maddon - and quickly

Joe Maddon is good with young players.

He's good with rebuilding projects and with teams on a budget.

In other words, he's perfect for what the Cubs are doing now.

News broke Friday that Maddon has opted out of his final year as manager of the Tampa Bay Rays. Not surprisingly, a feeding frenzy erupted on social media speculating that Maddon could be coming to the Cubs, sooner rather than later.

Making the speculation all the more acute was that the Los Angeles Dodgers said they are sticking with Don Mattingly as their manager. Just recently, Andrew Friedman left his job as head of baseball operation of the Rays to become president of baseball operations for the Dodgers.

Friedman and Maddon worked together successfully with the Rays, and with Maddon possibly seeking a bigger market, it seemed only natural he might follow Friedman to L.A.

That's not going to happen, and Maddon is now a free agent. Any team in baseball ought to be interested in Maddon, a two-time Manager of the Year and a guy whose laid-back demeanor and unflappable nature would play well in any market.

Before we go any further, let's point out the obvious problem.

The Cubs already have a manager under contract: Rick Renteria. Although Renteria certainly is no Maddon, he did everything the Cubs asked of him this year in his rookie season as a manager in the big leagues. Most important, he oversaw bounce-back years from young stars Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo. That was a big reason he was hired to take over from Dale Sveum, whose blunt approach seemed a little much for those players and his bosses.

Cubs president Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer gave Renteria high marks for his handling of the young players, acknowledging that he still had room to grow as far as the X's and O's of the game were concerned. Renteria came under criticism during the season for his overuse of some relief pitchers as well as some in-game strategy decisions.

All that aside, if Maddon is available, you go get him. And you do it quickly and not leave Renteria hanging out to dry.

Epstein did not return a message Friday afternoon.

Things are lining up perfectly for a Cubs-Maddon marriage. As Epstein has acknowledged, the Cubs look to be a good year ahead of schedule in their painful rebuilding process.

Most observers probably agreed that Renteria, like Sveum, was a placeholder manager until a bigger name became available to take the Cubs to a winning level.

At the end of the season, Rizzo said the Cubs' goal for 2015 should be to win the National League Central. Epstein echoed that sentiment a couple weeks ago at an event for season-ticket holders.

So the time appears to be now, and the manager is available.

There would be other details to iron out. The Cubs like pitching coach Chris Bosio, and they just hired John Mallee as hitting coach, and Mallee will be the fourth person in that job in four years.

A plausible scenario would be the Cubs tell Maddon he inherits Bosio and Mallee but that he can bring in anybody else, including Dave Martinez as bench coach.

This past season, Maddon made his first visit to Wrigley Field as manager of the Rays and waxed eloquent about the place, which is getting a much-needed renovation that will modernize it and make it an even more spectacular place to play and manage. And in the next few years, the Cubs should be able to start acting like a big-market franchise again, something Maddon probably longs to enjoy.

With all due respect to Rick Renteria, the time couldn't be better for a guy like Joe Maddon on the North Side.

• Follow Bruce's Cubs reports on Twitter@BruceMiles2112.