Cubs' Epstein calls Renteria 'prince of a man'

While Monday was a day to celebrate the Cubs hiring Joe Maddon as manager, there was a somber undercurrent, as team president Theo Epstein had to talk about the firing of former manager Rick Renteria.

He also vehemently stated that the Cubs did not illegally tamper with Maddon while Maddon was under contract with the Tampa Bay Rays.

"It's just totally inaccurate," Epstein said of the tampering talk. "There's nothing to it. If we keep seeing stuff in print, then we're going to respond at some point. For now, we'll take it day by day, but there was absolutely no tampering whatsoever."

News broke Oct. 24 of Maddon opting out as manager of the Rays. Speculation began immediately that Maddon and the Cubs would be a good fit. Epstein has maintained the Cubs did not act on Maddon until they found out from Major Leauge Baseball that Maddon was a free agent.

Last Friday the Cubs fired Renteria and announced they had hired Maddon.

As for Renteria, Epstein again praised the work he did in his one year as Cubs manager.

"Rick took it almost unbelievably well," Epstein said. "I couldn't believe it. He was thanking us for the opportunity. He said he understood. He said there were no hard feelings.

"He handled it like a prince of a man. It was a painful week. It was a really painful week. As a person, I didn't want to do it. I don't want to ever be unfair to someone else. As an executive and someone charged with winning a World Series here, I had no choice but to do it. It was clearly the right move for the Cubs."

For his part Maddon said he was merely exercising his own right as a free-agent manager to see what was on the market.

"I feel badly about it, I honestly feel badly about it," he said of Renteria losing his job. "When this whole thing started to percolate a little bit, the only thing that was a negative to me was that. And I expressed that.

"When this whole thing dies down, he might be one of the first guys that I want to call because I heard that he was really gracious in his understanding and how he handled it."

Decision coming on coaches:

Joe Maddon and the front office were to talk immediately about the makeup of the coaching staff, but big changes are not expected.

Pitching coach Chris Bosio attended Monday's news conference. The Cubs recently hired John Mallee to be their hitting coach and Doug Dascenzo to be first-base coach. Lester Strode is the longtime bullpen coach, and Eric Hinske moved from first-base to assistant hitting coach.

Changes may come at third base and at bench coach. Third-base coach Gary Jones came in with Rick Renteria, and bench coach Brandon Hyde is an organization guy who is likely to stay in some capacity.

"I don't think we're prepared to say anything at this moment definitively," Theo Epstein said. "From talking to Joe, he really has a lot of respect for the coaches that we have on the staff overall. I would not expect significant turnover.

"I think we owe it to the coaches to make that first order of business."

Wada back in fold:

The Cubs on Monday re-signed left-handed pitcher Tsuyoshi Wada to a one-year contract worth $4 million plus incentives that could total $2 million more. Wada came up during the season from Class AAA Iowa and went 4-4 with a 3.25 ERA in 13 starts.