The local Chicago baseball beat writers really like Joe Maddon. He is a colorful guy. Down to earth. Has some good quotes. Makes their jobs easier. A few are starting to put him on a pedestal of the greatest Chicago sports coaches.
But he hasn't won a Cub game yet.
As posted earlier, Maddon was a sudden "find" in the off-season, just as valuable as a free agent pitcher. Maddon left Tampa Bay in such a quick fashion, the MLB is still investigating a tampering charge filed by the Rays.
Maddon has had great success with the small market Rays, who had to continually field teams with low payrolls and few stars.
Now Maddon leaps the ladder to a big market, big spending, historic franchise.
He was brought on board to teach young players how to be professionals, how to maintain a good clubhouse, and to win games.
How Maddon performs will be the final win loss record of the Cubs.
There are a few concerns. Maddon has said that his new players have immediately earned "his trust," and that players will have to learn to trust him. That seems to be a backwards approach. One earns trust through action. You can't trust a player to put down a suicide squeeze if you have never seen the player play.
Maddon also states he has a hands-off approach with his players. He believes that it is up to each player to be ready game in and game out. They are professionals, they should know what to do to personally prepare. This is a classic "players' manager" code. However, with a young team without strong leaders (Starlin Castro has publicly admitted he wants no part in any leadership role), a manager needs to be more involved in teaching the proper routines and habits to his club.
Without seeing and managing any of his squad, Maddon leads the Cubs championship expectation parade. A cooler head would have walked back the divisional title talk. A cheerleader is one thing; a pro manager needs objective assessments in order to adapt to game and series situations.
Fans hope that Maddon is the real deal. We have seen established managers like Lou Piniella and Dusty Baker fail with the Cubs. Maddon has yet to realize that managing the Cubs is such a different animal than he could ever imagine. The honeymoon period may be a short one if the Cubs have their traditional slow start.
