Imrem: Managers matter, and Cubs' Maddon proved it
Joe Maddon has a good idea why he was a named the National League Manager of the Year on Tuesday.
"I walked in the door not really knowing anybody in (spring training) when we got there in February," he said the night the Cubs were eliminated from the playoffs.
"How we built relationships and created a culture within one year is pretty spectacular within the clubhouse."
Anybody who thinks a baseball manager doesn't matter wasn't watching Maddon this year, his first with the Cubs.
Managers do matter. They matter managing a game. They especially matter managing a team outside of the game.
I have thought for a long time that Tony La Russa was the best at creating a winning culture and mindset. Now it seems to me that Maddon is right up there with him.
It must not be a coincidence that each has won three Manager of the Year awards.
Cub fans might not like mentioning Maddon in the same sentence as the rival La Russa, but both have been great at what they do.
Cubs reliever Jason Motte, who has played for both La Russa and this year Maddon, recently said, "They're similar."
Motte then agreed that they are similar in such different ways.
As we in Chicago witnessed up close this year, Maddon cultivates a relaxed atmosphere.
Motte understated with a chuckle, "Joe maybe is more chill" than La Russa, who was as overtly intense as any manager could be from before the game until the final pitch.
Yet each in his own way managed to get his players to buy into the culture.
Professionalism is mandatory in players. Trusted veterans run the clubhouse. Versatile players play various positions for the good of the team.
"It was structure," Motte said. "You knew (La Russa) meant business. Joe, too, (in his own way), so when you get down to it they are similar."
Let's just say Maddon and La Russa are similar in a different way and different in a similar way ... or whatever.
While Maddon is a smile waiting to happen, La Russa became famous for one sentence when he managed the White Sox, Athletics and Cardinals.
Ask before the first pitch how he's doing and La Russa always would say, "Ask me in three hours."
Motte smiled and said, "I asked him that every day. I asked him that one day in spring training and he said, 'I'll let you know at 4 o'clock.'"
Studying their relative manners and methods, you might expect that Maddon's teams would be prone to becoming too loose and La Russa's to becoming too tight.
Motte protested that suggestion with a firm, "Not really."
He added, "It's all about winning the ballgame, (La Russa) was there to win ballgames. It's the same with Joe. He's here to win ballgames."
La Russa has retired to the Diamondbacks' front office but whatever he did as a manager worked. Whatever Maddon does still is working.
La Russa led six teams into the World Series and won three championships. Maddon led low-budget Tampa Bay into the World Series and just might be the guy to win one with the big-budget Cubs, of all teams.
"They have different approaches prior to the game and maybe after the game," said Motte, who won a World Series with La Russa in 2011. "But it's all to get the team ready to win."
Maddon succeeds and La Russa succeeded because each in his own way instilled a winning culture into his teams.