I typed it, so yeah, I'd say I believe it.

Cardinals didn't go after him because they already have a manager who has taken his team to the NLCS in each of his three seasons, including one World Series appearance. If the Cards were coming off years of futility and had the option to can Matheny and get Maddon, I'd think they would have done it.

I'm not trembling in fear at the Cubs, no...but I think they are going to be a pretty good team next year, and this move only helps to reinforce that.

Lipid has JORR on the ropes!

Cardinals fans simply understand baseball better than White Sox fans.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

That's wrong. His team took him to those NLCS and that World Series. Renteria didn't have a team capable of taking him anywhere.



What would possibly make you think that?

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I was answering your question as to why they didn't go after Maddon. If you want to have an argument about how much/little credit a manager deserves, that's a completely different discussion.

As far as the Cubs go, from what I saw of them this past year, they didn't look all that bad. Give them a full year with some of the kids they brought up at the end of this year plus some new ones, throw in the free agent spending that everyone is predicting them to do, and a manager who has a history of winning and I like their chances to compete.

I'm not saying they are locks to make the playoffs or anything, but I'd be surprised if they weren't still in the mix of things some September.

Did Renteria give any reason to believe they wouldn't be in that exact same position with him managing as well?

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Perspective from beyond Cubbiedom

http://nydn.us/101mBQU

"Some sh-t is going down that doesn’t look good" -- baseball managers and lifers react to Joe Maddon/Cubs situation
BY Andy Martino
BASEBALL INSIDER
Wednesday, October 29, 2014, 7:07 PM

They are already muttering to themselves, and baseball managers will be calling, texting and finally commiserating with one another at the winter meetings in December about Joe Maddon, and whether he wronged Rick Renteria.

Amid widespread expectation in the industry that Maddon will be named Cubs manager, and conflicting reports about whether the hire has already happened, lifers were saying that the mere possibility did not look good. Maddon is well-liked, and his competitors are hoping that the full details, when they emerge, will prove more flattering. For now, the fraternity is displeased.

"The whole industry is talking about what a classless act (this is)," said one high-ranking major league executive.

“I certainly know that at the winter meetings, some of the older (managers), they're going to think it looks real bad to go after someone else's job,” said one current MLB skipper, whose team was not linked to Maddon after the former Tampa Bay manager opted out of his Rays contract last week.

Said another manager whose job was not threatened by Maddon’s surprise free agency: “I am shocked he would do this. This surprises me.”

“This,” refers to Maddon’s link to a position held by another quality baseball man, Renteria. Renteria is 52 years old, was drafted by Pittsburgh in 1980, and spent years as a minor league manager and big league coach. He is the embodiment of the hard work and persistence required to earn one of 30 dream jobs, and he just completed year one of a three-year contract.

Speak to any of the rank-and-file, whose passion and ambition drive them to chase a nearly impossible fantasy, and you’ll know how wrenching it must be to achieve it, only to have it taken from you a year later.

As one longtime major league executive put it, “It's sad to see that happen to a good man. He probably worked his whole life for that one chance.”

Added a current manager, in sympathy for Renteria: “These jobs are just so hard to find. Some sh-t is going down that doesn’t look good.”

Now look: If the Cubs feel that Maddon is a better choice than Renteria to lead them, that is their right. And as one rival manager noted, “If Joe sees this as a chance to take care of his family for years to come, then he’s got to do what he’s got to do.”

Few among us would pass up an opportunity that felt right for our kids (and in Maddon’s case, worthy charities), even if it meant nudging someone else aside. We’re not trying to step inside a glass house, mount a high horse, or embody any such cliche.

And here is additional bit of new information that looks good for Maddon: According to sources, neither he nor his agent Alan Nero contacted the Mets, before or after team officials backed Terry Collins. Maddon and Collins are longtime friends, and it was heartening to learn that the former made no attempt to usurp the latter.

Attempts to reach Nero on Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Despite all the mystery and complexity, it is worth noting the strong reaction of many around the game on Wednesday evening. This is the reality that Maddon faces.

Here is one baseball official who has participated in several managerial negotiations and hires: “As a player, you’d never want to go after someone else’s job while the person is still in that job. It is just plain wrong for a coach or his agent to openly talk about a job when there is another human being.”

Asked if he had ever heard of a managerial candidate speaking with a team while another man currently held the job, the official said, “I have never seen it happen. This is a totally new one to me. You have every right to go after a vacant job. There is no vacancy here.”

Is this different from Jason Kidd’s snake move on former Milwaukee Bucks head coach Larry Drew? Or, in a different way, from Alex Rodriguez’s opt out news interrupting the World Series in 2007?

Joe Maddon is a nice man -- smart, ebullient, even inspiring in his enthusiasm for baseball and life. So you truly hope that this isn’t as bad as many of his fellow sun-soaked lifers fear.

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DRINK BƎTTƎR. @theRIPH

So no one wanted to put their name next to their comments, huh?

They feel so strongly that they're afraid to voice it to the masses.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.