Rozner: Cubs have no reason to rush on Maddon contract
No manager can go into the final season of a contract.
It's one of those new baseball absolutes, etched in stone and carried down from the mountaintop.
But it's more fallacy than reality.
The notion that a lame-duck manager can't succeed is ridiculous. Witness the New York Yankees of 2017, when Joe Girardi came within a couple of runs - and ultimately a single victory - of taking them to the World Series.
Imagine the 2019 Cubs with Joe Maddon in the final season of his deal, if it comes to that a year from now.
Would the players be less interested in winning the World Series because Maddon is in the last year of his contract?
Would Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo not care as much? How about Willson Contreras, Javy Baez or Jon Lester? Would they be less inclined to win games?
Nonsense.
When a team is bad, lame-duck status becomes a huge issue simply because the manager is in obvious trouble. That seems unlikely for the Cubs of this year or next.
So what must Theo Epstein do? Nothing, any time soon.
Maddon has earned his money in Chicago, helping the Cubs to three straight NLCS appearances in his three years here.
Many will argue that Epstein built this powerhouse and anyone could have managed these teams to the postseason.
That's insulting to what Maddon achieved in 2015, when the Baby Bears had no idea what they were capable of, and Maddon was brilliant in the way he brought them along incrementally before shedding the training wheels in August.
He was just as good in 2016, managing expectations and extraordinary pressure, and getting the Cubs to the big dance.
But his bullpen management was nearly a disaster in the World Series when the Cubs won in spite of him, and equally bad against Washington and Los Angeles last year, not that it would have mattered much.
The Cubs were not beating the Dodgers. Period.
And now the Cubs are primed for another big run, and if they win it all again Maddon will probably get that extension. If they don't, he can try again next year, but the Cubs have no reason to rush this.
To be clear, Maddon is good at what he does. If there's 20 things a manager has to do well, Maddon is good at about 18 of them.
There's no shame in that.
Still, the game is getting younger in the dugout and celebrity managers are all the rage, put in place with no experience. That doesn't mean Maddon wouldn't find another spot quickly if the Cubs were to move on from him after 2019.
Last week, the 64-year-old Maddon told Jon Heyman of FanRag that he'd like to continue for a long time.
"Theoretically, I'd like to say at least five years," Maddon said. "As long as I'm enjoying it, that is. Of course, someone would have to want you. And, of course, I'd like to stay here."
What the Cubs have right now is a manager they don't need to extend, and certainly not one they need to fire, and while talk of his contract will become a hot topic once they reach the 2018 postseason, there will still be no solid reason to react.
They're in a great spot with a chance to go deep again, a rested, hungry and talented group eager to prove they are once again the best team in baseball.
The manager has the coaching staff he wanted and it's now on him to make certain the Cubs are what Epstein believes they should be, and if they again reach their potential, this will work out nicely for everyone involved.
If it doesn't, it seems Maddon will enter 2019 on the last year of a deal that will pay him another $6 million.
Not exactly a tragedy.
brozner@dailyherald.com
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