Rozner: This time, blaming the Chicago Cubs' Joe Maddon is unfair

With the possible exception of some of you, no one has been more critical of Joe Maddon's in-game managing the last few years than your friendly neighborhood columnist.

Especially during the 2016 World Series run - not to mention the 2017 series with Washington - this space has not been kind to Maddon's use of the bullpen and his frequent early hook of starters.

But it's a reach to blame 2018 on the Chicago Cubs manager.

In fact, the job he did this year was at least on par with the remarkable way he managed his young core in 2015, and in some ways this might have been better.

Of course, some moves he made did not work out, but most of what he tried was a direct result of losing closers Brandon Morrow and Pedro Strop and having to navigate an overused group of guys like Steve Cishek and Jesse Chavez, with the added benefit of an earned lack of trust in so many others and absolutely no offense.

It was not at all surprising given the circumstances - which include a 95-win season and averaging 97 the last four years - that Theo Epstein was very much in Maddon's corner when he faced the media Wednesday afternoon for 75 minutes in his State of the Cubs address at Wrigley Field.

"Joe's status remains unchanged. He's the manager of this team and I'm very happy about that," Epstein said, before shooting down just the latest story suggesting Maddon was in trouble. "I know there was a sort of high-profile report this morning that was not accurate. I didn't read the whole thing, but there were some claims that he and I had personal friction.

"Not true at all.

"We have a terrific working relationship. We don't agree all the time about baseball issues. And that's the way it should be. I don't want a yes man as the manager, and I don't want it working that way the other way.

"There should be discord and debate and healthy trusting relationships where you can work together to make the organization better, and that's the way it is."

While Maddon said repeatedly this year that launch angle was not the answer to a better offense, Epstein believes in getting the ball in the air and hitting line drives.

But he also said Wednesday that the two are on the same page in that regard, and that they both want a different approach with runners on base.

According to Epstein, situational hitting is not one of their baseball disagreements and suggested it might be more a case of semantics and presentation than actually philosophical difference.

"I enjoy having Joe around personally and I like having him as the manager of this club, and I really like having the most wins in baseball the last four years," Epstein said. "I don't like going home the first day of October.

"That's not on Joe. It's not.

"I look forward to him coming back next year with some unfinished business, like we all have in this organization."

Maddon will be in the final year of his contract, which on some teams and in some games is completely unacceptable these days. That's another absurdity of sports today. It only becomes a distraction if those involved create one.

It doesn't mean Epstein won't extend Maddon, but he insisted Wednesday that he has not yet spoken to anyone about it.

"We just finished playing, so I haven't turned to that yet," Epstein said, 16 hours after the Cubs lost the Wild Card Game in 13 innings. "Certainly, I haven't talked to Joe about it yet.

"But we have to talk about that internally first and then talk about it with Joe and then if there's an appropriate time to discuss it with you all (in the media), we will, but certainly it will happen in that order."

Having a manager in his final year doesn't seem to frighten the future Hall of Fame executive, though the guess here is he will look for a way to give his manager a little more security and another year on his deal.

Even if he ends up eating it, he might see it as the best way to traverse a long season that has many ups and downs and plenty of stress.

"It's becoming more common in the game," Epstein said of letting Maddon work in 2019 on the final year of a deal. "I think you've seen it in other places and it hasn't always led to a big distraction."

It's not Maddon's fault that Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood gave the team nothing, or that his closers were injured, or that so many relievers were ineffective when it mattered most in September.

"We got the absolute most out of the talent that we have here (in the bullpen)," Epstein said. "We weren't at full strength. The way we looked (in the bullpen) at the end of the year is not how we drew it up."

It's also not Maddon's fault that Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Jason Heyward were injured, and that Javy Baez went ice cold while Anthony Rizzo, Willson Contreras and Addison Russell provided almost no offense down the stretch.

The Cubs won 95 games, they didn't collapse while playing 42 games in 43 days, and they got caught by a better team. They failed at the plate when just a couple of runs on several occasions would have landed them safely in the NLDS.

Put that on Joe Maddon if you want, if somehow that makes you feel better about 2018.

But this time, it's unfair.