Cubs Hope To End Drought With Hiring Of Joe Maddon
Posted
Roger Grossman, Lake City Radio-
The last three baseball seasons on the north side of Chicago are best described as a long, sustained drought. You know, the kind the Weather Channel gives a catchy name to. No wins. No good players. No buzz. No fun. Then last week, the most beautiful sight appeared on the horizon – a storm cloud. A beautiful, rain-saturated, lightning-charged thunderhead named Joe Maddon. After back-to-back sub-70 win seasons in 2012 and 2013, the Cubs won 73 in 2014 and Cub fans finally saw at the big league level the young talent team president Theo Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer have been stockpiling in the minors. The alerts hit Twitter last week, Wednesday just before 6 p.m. to be exact ... a thunderstorm warning was issued for the north shores of Chicago. It was made official Monday, as the Cubs introduced Maddon as their new manager. He will attempt to do something not done since 1908 – bring a World Series title to the Friendly Confines. Lou Piniella couldn't ... Dusty Baker didn't. And for the last three years, the Cubs didn't really try. But that all changes now. Maddon, who turned 60 last winter, brings the success he helped build in the low-budget Tampa market to the third-biggest market in baseball. The Rays won 61 and 66 games in his first two seasons (2006 & 2007), but then never won fewer than 84 games until this season (77). He brings a simple, calm, assuring way of running a baseball team. He doesn't yell and he doesn't rant – he doesn't have to. He is a thinker. A philosopher of sorts. He is like your fun Uncle Joe. The one you love to sit with in lawn chairs on a summer day with a cold beverage, listening to stories from days-gone-by, knowing you would learn something from it. He's charming, humble, unassuming. He's cool. And he works well with young people. Under his watchful eye and steady style, kids like James Shields, Evan Longoria and BJ Upton became household names in 2008 when the Rays went from perennial doormats to the AL Pennant. THAT will come in handy with the Cubs. The infield that's due to start on Opening Day in April of 2015 will have Anthony Rizzo at first (age 25), Javier Baez at second (21), Starlin Castro at short (24) and Kris Bryant (22) at third. But there IS a small glitch in this latest plan to bring the Cubs to October glory...the Cubs already HAD a manager. Yep, the Cubs dropped Rick Renteria like the high school stud who had a cute math whiz for a prom date, then dropped her when the captain of the cheerleaders became available. What would you expect from an ownership group that is currently tearing down its most valuable asset – the famed bleachers of Wrigley Field. Funny, I guess just breaking ground for that jumbotron in leftfield has suddenly made the Cubs 'players' again. Who knew? While Cubs fans bask in the afterglow of the Maddon hire, we all know it DOES NOT mean that even a World Series appearance is in the offering. On the contrary. The pressure on the Cubs of 2015 will be more palpable than ever. Every hit-and-run, every pitching change, every turned double play. They bare the burden of 1984, 1989, and being five outs away in 2003. They carry with them the curse of over a century of failure. But what a refreshing change for Cubs fans. The thought of being relevant and competitive again. The wonder of what big-name free agents might now be coming. It feels like a long, steady rain shower at the end of a drought.
