At a charity event in Florida, the Tampa Bay Times caught up with Joe Maddon.
He had several things to say about his new approach in 2019, the status of Jim Hickey and not having a contract extension.
Maddon says he plans a significant change for next year in his managing style
with a shift to more on field coaching work, which is apparently tied to
baseball ops president Theo Epstein saying he expects Maddon to be
"re-energized" by the challenges after last season's disappointing
finish.
"That
will be the part that will be different," Maddon said. "I've always
kind of stayed free of coaching because I really want to stay out of
coaches' way so they can do their job. I've always felt that is the
right way to do it. But this year I'm going to get a little more
hands-on involved in actually coaching. I think that's where the comment
came from. …. I actually want to do less before the game talking to the
media and whatever and try to get on the field more often."
Maddon said last week's departure of pitching coach Jim Hickey was not
health related but said he couldn't get into specifics of what the
"personal reasons" were. "He's fine," Maddon said. "He's not ill. His
health is fine."
When asked about his lack of a
contract extension, Maddon was nonplussed. He compared the situation as
being a "free agent" not a "lame duck." He compares the situation to
Manny Machado and Bryce Harper playing out their contract to get a new,
better one. Players often do better in "contract years." Maddon is not
worried about his future.
The three takeaways from the interview:
1.
Maddon left too much coaching decisions to his staff in 2018. There
will be no excuses for the 2019 results. He is going to take a more
active approach in all phases of the players approach and execution.
Whether he can get back to developmental basics with his players is
going to be interesting.
2. Maddon was not phased by
Hickey's departure or bitter by it. Perhaps there was something
non-baseball related in the move. Maddon will now have new hitting and
pitching coaches for the third year in a row. But he did not deflect it
as a criticism of the organization or management.
3. He
still wants to manage. He wants to succeed with the Cubs. He is
preparing his 2019 campaign like a superstar free agent in his contract
year. He is managing for a new contract, with the Cubs or some other
organization.
