THE INQUISITOR wrote:
From John Heyman at CBS:
The expectation is that MLB's tampering investigation spurred by Tampa Bay's allegation against the Cubs in the Joe Maddon case will be wrapped up fairly soon, and while MLB was still interviewing people involved as recently as last week, there is believed to have been no smoking gun found. (Had there been, it certainly wouldn't have taken this long.) Regardless, Rays owner Stuart Sternberg was said to have been quite upset to see Maddon leave, to the point of telling him he'd never work for them again upon the breakup, and is said to have been quite interested in the findings in this case. Maddon gained the opportunity to leave the Rays, thanks to a clause in his contract triggered when GM Andrew Friedman, who famously worked without a contract, left for the Dodgers. So it shouldn't come as a shock that he did indeed leave. In this case, MLB has gone to the trouble of doing computer forensics on devices belonging to Cubs people and also to Maddon's agent Alan Nero. One weakness in the case would seem to be Maddon's olive-branch offer to stay with the Rays for what is said to have been a four-year deal for only slightly more than half of the $25 million, five-year deal he ultimately got with the Cubs. If he had any inkling the Cubs were going to make him $5 million a year, it's difficult to understand why he'd offer to stay for barely more than half that.
That is not logical, unless Heyman believes the league has a vendetta against the Cubs. The much more logical response to a longer than anticipated investigation is that there was some evidence that demanded more scrutiny.