Tag Archives: Joe Maddon

October 5, 2022

Phil of the Future

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The Angels take away the interim label from manager Phil Nevin:

The Angels will miss the playoffs for an eighth straight year. Nevin was promoted from third-base coach when Joe Maddon was fired in June with the Angels mired in what became a club-record 14-game losing streak.

?It certainly means a lot,” Nevin said. “It wasn’t exactly how I envisioned these things happening, but I know I’ve been given a heck of an opportunity with some special people that I’ve created relationships with now for the last six, seven months.”

ESPN.com

They are 46-59 so far with Nevin at the helm, after going 27-29 under Maddon. That’s hardly an improvement. I suspect Rob Thomson, who turned around the Phillies, and John Schneider, who turned around the Blue Jays, are going expect a better deal than Nevin received.

September 6, 2022

Everybody Wants to Rule the Clubhouse

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Bleacher Nation posts a very good discussion on Joe Maddon and analytics creep into the clubhouse. Brett Taylor ties the Angels front office talking to players to the last couple of years in Chicago when Theo Epstein thought complacency set in, and Maddon was doing nothing about it. I liked this:

Ultimately, Maddon’s concern is that there are too many people in too many positions of power within the sport who understand the math well, but not the “real” game of baseball. Maybe. Maybe not. These pendulums swing, and while I think analytics are swinging the entertainment pendulum too far in the wrong direction, I think it’s tougher to argue that analytics have gone too far when it comes to winning games at all costs. I get why teams do it.

BleacherNation.com

I tend to agree that numbers should go to the players through the coaches, although players who grew up with the numbers are more likely to understand the analysts than players from ten or twenty years ago. I suspect both sides have a point, and eventually front offices and field management will find an appropriate compromise.

June 7, 2022

Maddon on the Firing

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The Athletic interviewed Joe Maddon right after he was fired (requires a subscription). The firing took him by surprise:

A little bit. Actually, a lot. You always rely on people in charge to read the tea leaves properly. This time, they did not. You didn’t even have to ask me. You can ask any of the players or coaches. They’re the ones who really know.

Perry (Minasian) was in a tough spot. I understand that. Let me just put it that way. I would really rely on the sentiments of the coaches and the players.

You believe obviously they are with you.

100 percent.

TheAthletic.com

Maddon did speak about not being happy about the way analytics were pushed on the team, where “everybody wants to shove it down your throat.” So he’s not necessarily unhappy to be free.

June 7, 2022

Mad at Maddon

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The Angels fired Joe Maddon Tuesday afternoon.

The Angels, who named former Astros No. 1 overall pick Phil Nevin as interim manager, are mired in a 12-game losing streak and have dropped to 8.5 games behind the first-place Astros in the American League West. The Angels were just one game out of first before the losing streak.

Chron.com

Six of the twelve losses were by two runs or less. If the team is just getting blown out every game, that may be roster construction. A manager’s strategy should come into play in the close games, and the Angels won none of those.

I have soured on Maddon over the years. His gimmicks may work with a young squad, but seasoned veterans might find them annoying after a while.

April 16, 2022

The IBB RBI

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Joe Maddon, manager of the Angels, talks about the bases loaded intentional walk he issued to Rangers shortstop Corey Seager Friday night:

“I thought by walking Seager there, of course, just trying to stay out of a big blow,” Maddon said. “And also just to stir the group up, quite frankly.

APNews.com

Maddon has issued two of the three bases loaded intentional walks on record, and both came against Texas. The Angels win the game 9-6, but the Angels offense had more to do with that than this strategy.

April 15, 2022

Fearing Seager

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In the bottom of fourth inning of the game between the Angels and Rangers in Texas LAnaheim manager Joe Maddon called for an intentional walk of Corey Seager with the bases loaded. The walk pushed across the third run of the inning for Texas, giving them a 4-2 lead. The would go on to score two more runs on a sacrifice fly and a balk. A strange inning indeed.

Texas did not hold the lead long, however, as the Angels have scored four runs in the top of the fifth so far to tie the game at six.

I didn’t realize Corey Seager had become Barry Bonds.

April 4, 2021

Taking Out Ohtani

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With two out and the bases loaded in the fifth inning, the Angels up 3-1 on the White Sox, Joe Maddon allows Shohei Ohtani to face Yocan Moncada. Ohtani throws a wild pitch to bring in one run and advance the runners. Moncada strikes out swinging, but the pitch gets away from the catcher, and Moncada heads for first. The throw is in the dirt and gets by the first baseman. Jose Abreu tries to score from second. The bad throw from the catcher is backed up by the second baseman, who throws home to Ohtani covering. Ohtani jumps and make the catch, but Abreu slides into him just as he’s coming down and knocks Ohtani to the ground.

The game is tied, and Ohtani comes out, and it’s not clear if he was injured or not on the play. Maddon was trying to get Ohtani the win, and it may cost the Angels a player.

October 16, 2019

Mad for Maddon

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The Angels decided on a new manager:

They hope to change that now. World Series-winning manager Joe Maddon, an employee of the Angels from 1975-2005, was hired Wednesday to usher in the next era of October baseball in Anaheim. Maddon’s contract is for three years and $12 million. Buck Showalter, John Farrell and San Diego Padres hitting coach Johnny Washington also were interviewed for the position.


Maddon is coming home. He left Anaheim to become manager of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2006, three decades after beginning his professional career as a catcher in the Angels minor league system in 1975.

LATimes.com

I am much less a Maddon fan than I was when he took over the Rays. He’s the right man for a young, good team on it’s way up. The Angels are half of that. They have a very young rotation, but a pretty old offense. Also, given the apparent non-baseball problems on the team, an old-school hard-ass manager might have been the better choice. He might also want to avoid a trip where players dress up in tie dye and celebrate the summer of love.

September 30, 2019

Brad Bagged

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The Angels fired manager Brad Ausmus after just one season:

Eppler, who plans to address the media on Tuesday, joined the organization in October 2015, waited for Mike Scioscia‘s contract to expire three years later and chose Ausmus as his first hand-picked manager. Ausmus’ abrupt departure comes shortly after the Angels decided to only pick up Eppler’s 2020 option rather than extend him further, prompting speculation that the decision was made above him.


Angels owner Arte Moreno holds Maddon in high regard, sources told ESPN’s Buster Olney. And ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that a reunion is likely.

ESPN.com

In Ausmus’s defense Mike Scioscia had Mike Trout for seven full season and only made one playoff appearance. That said, the pitching was poor this season, their 868 runs allowed their highest total since allowing 869 runs in 2000. It strikes me that they need more than just a managerial change to fix the pitching.

If Maddon is hired, this will be the second time a perfectly good manager was let go because Maddon became available.

September 29, 2019

Managers Fall

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Jason Mackey Clint Hurdle‘s season (opens in a new tab)” href=”https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2019/09/29/Clint-Hurdle-future-selling-tickets-Pirates-2020-coming-back-playoffs/stories/201909290174″ target=”_blank”>writes an article published at 1:05 PM about Clint Hurdle’s season.

Monday could bring news about Hurdle’s future, although it’s not likely he goes anywhere. He is, after all, under contract for two more years.

Post-Gazette.com

At 1:51 PM, this gets tweeted by the Pirates:

In addition, Joe Maddon won’t be back with the Cubs:

Maddon, 65, is officially a free agent after the Cubs missed the postseason for the first time in five years. A nine-game losing streak in late September sealed the fate of the Cubs, and possibly Maddon, as well.


Maddon and Epstein made the announcement in St. Louis, where the Cubs are trying to play the rare recent role of spoiler in keeping the Cardinals from clinching the NL Central.


“We’re both going to move on,” Maddon said. “Hopefully, the Cubs are going to flourish. Hopefully, I get a chance to do this someplace else. But there’s no tears shed. It’s a good moment for everybody. And we’re both excited about our futures.”

ESPN.com

I am not surprised by either move, but I am disappointed in the Hurdle move. Hurdle impressed me as a manager over his years with the Pirates, and I hope he finds a job somewhere else. Sometimes a team does need to change faces. Maybe Hurdle is getting old quickly. It’s too bad, he did a great job.

Over the years, Maddon impressed me less and less. I think his shtick works better with younger players. Since Tampa was always churning their roster, Maddon’s antics didn’t have a chance to get old. The Cubs don’t need that, however. This is a young but mature team, and I think they need a Tom Kelly task master, rather than a touchy feely guy like Maddon. Maddon might do very well with the Royals or Padres, however.

May 19, 2019

Hitch Versus a Stop

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Joe Maddon protested the Cubs game against the Nationals Saturday night due to a toe tap in the delivery of Sean Doolittle. Maddon’s beef was that his closer, Carl Edwards, Jr., was not allowed to put his foot down earlier in the season. There is video of both at the link. Doolittle uses a toe tap as part of a fluid motion. Edwards starts his delivery, puts his foot down, and comes to a complete stop.

I like Doolittle’s take on Maddon complaint:


“In that moment, he’s not trying to do anything other than rattle me,” Doolittle said. “And it was kind of tired. I don’t know, sometimes he has to remind people how smart he is and how much he pays attention to the game. So he put his stamp on it, for sure.”

MLB.com

I think that might have been part of it, but I also think Maddon is going to get this type of thing reviewed by MLB. Clayton Kershaw has a hitch in his delivery, but he does it balanced on one leg.

March 7, 2019

Maddon and Churn

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Tyler Kepner writes on the Cubs desire to win now. He notes that Theo Epstein kept this group of players together, but is ready to rework the group if their second half 2018 slide continues. This struck a chord with me:


Epstein underscored that urgency in November by announcing that he would not discuss a contract extension for Manager Joe Maddon — at least not for now.

NYTimes.com

My opinion of Maddon slipped over the years. There is a lot of shtick to Maddon’s interaction with players, and I suspect it wears thin over time. It may have worked in Tampa Bay, because the Rays were constantly retooling the team, churning the roster to save money. Few players were around long enough to tire of the dress up trips and the voodoo men. When a team has been intact for three or four years, they really don’t need bonding, they need a manager who keeps them on track.

According to the article, Maddon worked on a new saying this off-season.


The motto, officially, is “own it now.”

Maybe his winter would have been better spent figuring out why strikeouts were up and walks were down among his hitters. What caused that lack of concentration? That would go much further than a new phrase.

The Cubs might need a Joe Torre type manager right now. Someone who commands and gives respect, someone the players would be afraid to disappoint. Joe Maddon is the fun uncle, but sometimes you need the strict father.

August 12, 2018

Oh Those Intentional Base on Balls

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Joe Maddon elects to walk Bryce Harper with men on first and third and one out in the top of the ninth inning, the Nationals leading the Cubs 1-0. Maddon makes the move so he can leave his right-hander, Brandon Kintzler, in to face Ryan Zimmerman and possibly get a double play grounder. Zimmerman grounds a 2-0 pitch hard up the middle for a two-run single, and the Nationals lead 3-0. That’s eight RBI for Zimmerman in the last two games.

It was a high risk, high reward strategy, and the reward was not there.

Update: It doesn’t matter. Defensive sub Wilmer Difo flubs a grounder, Ryan Madson hits two batters, then David Bote hits a walk-off grand slam to straight away center. The Cubs win 4-3. Wow.

November 15, 2016

Exceeding Expectations or Pushing Levers

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The AL and NL managers of the year will be announced in the next hour. The AL race should come down to Terry Francona and Jeff Banister, and the NL race I believe will be between Joe Maddon and Dave Roberts. Often manager of the year comes down to a team exceeding expectations, and that certainly would be the case with Francona and Banister. Both lost major players to injuries, the Indians playing without Michael Brantley, and the Rangers getting extremely poor production from Prince Fielder before they realized he suffered a career ending injury. If the post season mattered, Francona would win easily, but Texas finished with the better record. Flip a coin.

The NL race appears to be more about managerial moves leading to success. Dave Roberts lost Clayton Kershaw mid-season, yet the team was able to overcome a large Giants lead to win the division. The Cubs went into the season looking like a super team, and played like a super team. Maddon, however, moves players around, manages personnel well, which makes it look like he does a lot to help them win. I’m not sure another manager would not have done as well. Dusty Baker was very laid back with the Nationals, and they finished with the second best record in the league despite a poor season from Bryce Harper and an injury to Stephen Strasburg. I suspect most managers would have done very well with that Cubs team.

My guess is Maddon will win the award, but it might be close with Roberts.

The man shutout will be Buck Showalter. I still think in game Showalter is the best manager in the business, but that doesn’t always matter.

November 11, 2016

Archer and Persuasion

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Chris Archer doesn’t like the non-competitive talk about the Rays:

Archer said steady talk of the challenges the Rays face in competing against the larger market / higher payroll teams has a negative impact on the psyche of his teammates.

“I’m kind tired of hearing in interviews about a “competitive disadvantage” against these other teams,” he said.

“I get it. We might not be capable of spending with the Yankees and Red Sox. But if we keep harping on it then it permeates the minds of the players. And we don’t want the players to think that we’re at any competitive disadvantage.

“We have a different advantage I believe, and I think it comes from the scouting department and the creativeness that we’ve been able to develop over the years.

“I’m really starting to get tired of hearing the word “disadvantage” when it comes to the Rays because that’s just the wrong mentality to start with.”

The disadvantage existed for a long time, but Joe Maddon brought a positive attitude to the club house that cut through that negative thought. The Cubs showed the same quality this season, as no matter when they were down in games in the playoffs, the players believed they would still prevail.

Maddon’s persuasion ability is tough to replicate. Archer would like to see more money spent by the club, and that may be the signal the players need. The Rays may also want to send Dave Cash for some lessons in persuasion. The AL East remains an evenly matched division, so small but effective moves might put a team over the top until the Yankees start spending again.

November 6, 2016

Two Big Hits are not Enough

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Miguel Montero criticized Joe Maddon for not defining Montero’s role in the post-season:

“I think the toughest part for me is they never communicated with me,” Montero said. “I’m a veteran guy. They talk about veteran leadership. I have 11 years in the game and two All-Star [appearances]. I expected to be treated a little better. I was expected to get communication. Just let me know. Put me in the loop. That was the toughest part for me because I never understood what my role was going to be.”

Maddon is not about roles. Maddon is about putting players in a position where the player and the team succeeds. Montero’s two big hits in the championship run demonstrate that.

November 3, 2016

There’s a Reason for Rest

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I applaud Terry Francona‘s unconventional use of his pitching staff in the post-season. It allowed him to take a team with a starting staff diminished by injuries and come within a run or two of winning the World Series. The Indians shut down three great offenses, the Red Sox, the Blue Jays, and the Cubs for a while by pulling his starters early and letting his bullpen take over.

Joe Maddon‘s bullpen use, especially in the last two games of the series, struck me as motivated by fear more than strategy. He lost confidence in the bullpen other than Aroldis Chapman.

Both managers ended up pushing pitchers beyond their limits. Corey Kluber started two games on short rest, and had little in game seven. It was obvious at the end of the second inning, when all seven batters put the ball in play, and six of them hit fly balls. Kluber would give up four runs in four innings. The third inning would have been a good time to give Ryan Merritt a chance. It would be a bold move, but his ability to throw strikes and keep batters off balance might have worked well against the Cubs. Later, Andrew Miller, despite two days off, was not sharp. He allowed two runs, including the unlikely home run to David Ross. If Ross doesn’t hit that unlikely home runs, the Indians might have won in regulation.

Of course, Maddon did the same thing with Jon Lester and Aroldis Chapman. Lester pitched well over all, but his first inning in was hurt by bad defense. David Ross came in with Lester, and his bad throw and falling down on a wild pitch led to two runs. The same with Chapman. Having worked a lot in the previous two games, he was not sharp when he entered the game, and allowed the second unlikely homer fo the game as Rajai Davis took him deep. My guess is Maddon’s big mistake was not allowing Hendricks to continue in the game. He had thrown 63 pitches when he allowed a two-out walk. He led the NL in ERA. Maddon should have given him one more batter to finish the fifth, then he could have Lester start the sixth. Maybe Maddon saw something wrong with Hendricks, but it struck me as a panic move.

Despite all the mistakes, all the overuse, either team could have won the game. Maddon took a great team all the way. Francona took an injured team to the brink of glory. Overall, 2016 proved they are two of the best managers in the game.

November 1, 2016

Chapman In

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The Indians get two men on in the bottom of the seventh inning with two out. With a five-run lead, the Cubs bring in Aroldis Chapman. Francisco Lindor is called safe on a ground ball with Chapman covering. The replay may over turn the call, but Chapman looked hurt on the play.

The call is overturned, but did the Cubs just waste their closer? It seems that Cubs should have some other pitcher capable of getting one out without allowing five runs.

The Cubs lead the Indians 7-2 at the end of seven innings.

Update: Chapman takes the mound in the eighth and pitches a scoreless inning, helped by a nifty double play. The teams go to the ninth with the Cubs leading 7-2.

November 1, 2016

Quote of the Day

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This comes from Barry Svrluga as he discusses how the designated hitter rule changes the way manager use personnel:

Expect the game Tuesday – and, if necessary, Wednesday – to be decided by exactly the players Maddon and Francona want to use, when they want to use them.

This is the argument both for and against the designated hitter, going back to Bill James in his Abstracts in the 1980s. James argued that the DH did not reduce strategy, that decisions forced on a manager due to the pitcher batting were not strategic. Strategy involves choices, and pinch hitting for a pitcher, or bunting with the pitcher are mostly the only choice.

On the other hand, forcing the manager to think ahead may be good. It’s not strategy, however, it’s personnel management. It’s putting managers in difficult situations and seeing how they come through. I see the value in both arguments, which is why I’m more on the fence about the DH than most. I would not mind seeing a rule for or against standardized, and I really don’t care that much which way it goes.

November 17, 2015

Manager of the Year Day

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The BBWAA presents the Manager of the Year Award Tuesday night, and you can watch the reveal on MLB TV. The three finalists in the National League are Terry Collins, Joe Maddon, and Mike Matheny. Jeff Bannister, A.J. Hinch, and Paul Molitor look to take home the award in the American League. Maddon, Bannister, Hinch, and Molitor all took on new teams this year, Bannister and Molitor managing for the first time in the majors.

Often times the award goes to a manager whose team either blows away the rest of the league, or performs above pre-season expectations. Bannister, Hinch, and Molitor all fall into the latter category, and Maddon probably does as well. The Mets expected to win going into the regular season, although the pundits didn’t agree as much. The Cardinals were simply the best team in the majors during the regular season.

I would not vote for Collins first. The Mets success seemed to hinge more on front office moves at the trade deadline than Collins getting the most out of his players. That’s not a criticism of Collins; the fact that so many Mets players wanted to stay in New York at the trade deadline indicates that they want to play for the man.

There is a real strategy argument that can be made between Maddon and Matheny. Joe Maddon batted his pitcher eighth 140 times in 2015, Matheny never did (Collins used that strategy 25 times). Maddon constantly moved his players around the field trying to maximize production. Matheny tried to move Matt Carpenter around the lineup, only to find Carpenter didn’t respond well. Matheny got a lot out of a pitching staff where the best veteran pitchers spent a great deal of time on the disabled list, and one young one pitched through an injury. Toss a coin, but I think that the pre-season expectations of the Cubs, plus Maddon’s active strategy gives the award to him. I would vote Maddon, Matheny, Collins. There is no bad choice here.

The AL is tough call. The Rangers were devastated by injuries, but won the AL West. The Astros were a laughing stock two years ago, and led the AL West most of the season. I thought the Twins would be terrible going into 2015, and they played extremely well most of the year.

I like that Molitor used the pitcher batting eighth strategy five times. Two other AL managers used it once each. Hinch did a nice job of mixing his veterans and youngsters, and executed the pitch well and hit home run strategy well. Bannister got lucky that Prince Fielder could hit again. Texas was a little too aggressive stealing. While their SB% was above average, they led the league in getting picked off.

In thinking about it, I suspect Ned Yost really should be first. These three are very even, and I’d probably vote Hinch, Molitor, Bannister.

October 5, 2015 August 10, 2015

Trusting the Manager

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Theo Epstein talks about Joe Maddon changing Starlin Castro‘s role, and shows how to support a manager:

“The position that we’re in, the manager has to have the unfettered ability to put the team on the field every single game, every single inning that he thinks puts the club in the best position to win,” Epstein said, per CSN. “This isn’t a permanent thing or anything like that. It’s just a recognition of where we are in the standings, how many good options I think we have with the players we have returning now and it’s a nod to Joe’s ability to push the right buttons to put the best lineup on the field on any given night.”

That’s why the Cubs hired Maddon, and that’s what he delivered lately.

June 25, 2015

Maddon Mad Man

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I like that when Joe Maddon gets mad about poor instant replay decisions, he suggests a good alternative:

Cubs manager Joe Maddon, angry with a call on the final play of his team’s 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night, lashed out at the replay system, calling for an overhaul that includes “nerds” well versed in analyzing video on the fly.

“I think it screams for an independent group back there to research the video,” Maddon said after the game. “That’s what I think it screams for as opposed to working umpires that are actually on the field. I think you should get a bunch of nerds back there that know how to look at a videotape and then come to a conclusion. I think it would be much more interesting that way.”

All reviews are administered at MLB headquarters in New York by umpires who make the final call. Umpiring crews rotate into the role and back onto the field throughout the season.

I’ve heard it suggested in other broadcasts that the umpires in New York may not want to make the umpires on the field look bad. It is a potential bias that an independent contractor would not face.

June 4, 2015 April 29, 2015 April 5, 2015 March 9, 2015

The Personal Catcher

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Teams are rethinking the idea of a personal catcher for a star pitcher. Joe Maddon gives some reasons why it sometimes works best:

But the rise of defensive metrics, including data on pitch framing, also can help create a successful pairing.

“A part of a catcher being good is that maybe he receives velocity better,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said, “and that could be a consideration. This guy’s a low-ball pitcher, this guy really handles the low-ball well, this catcher does, that could be a consideration. So there’s different ways to look at it, absolutely. I don’t try to get too nuts about it, I really don’t.”

When teams carried three catchers, this wasn’t a big deal. Now, with position player slots at a minimum, teams can’t really afford substitutes to be too one dimensional.

November 3, 2014 November 1, 2014

Maddon Mania

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The Cubs decided to replace Rick Renteria with Joe Maddon:

The Cubs dismissed Rick Renteria on Friday, and they will introduce Joe Maddon on Monday as the 54th manager in franchise history — and third in four seasons under president of baseball operations Theo Epstein.

About one hour after issuing a release with the news that Renteria had been let go, the Cubs announced a news conference Monday for Maddon, 60, to be held at the Cubby Bear bar near Wrigley Field. The ballpark is unavailable because of the ongoing renovation work.

I thought Renteria did a decent job. The Cubs improved seven games and went from 31 to 17 games out of first place. Starlin Castro had a pretty good year at the plate and was no longer a distraction. Here is Theo Epstein on the move. He praises Retneria’s handling of the club, then tells how the move came about:

“While there was no clear playbook for how to handle this type of situation, we knew we had to be transparent with Rick before engaging with Joe. Jed flew to San Diego last Friday and told Rick in person of our intention to talk to Joe about the managerial job. Subsequently, Jed and I provided updates to Rick via telephone and today informed him that we will indeed make a change.

“We offered Rick a choice of other positions with the Cubs, but he is of course free to leave the organization and pursue opportunities elsewhere. Armed with the experience of a successful season and all the qualities that made him our choice a year ago, Rick will no doubt make an excellent Major League manager when given his next chance.”

They like Renteria, but they felt Maddon was the best person for the job. Maybe the Rays should hire Renteria. He’s be getting a club in much better shape than the Cubs last season.

This will be interesting. In Tampa Bay, Maddon never dealt with star veterans who came over from other organizations. Either they were veterans who he raised, like Even Longoria and David Price, or they were marginal vets like Carlos Pena and James Loney. I assume at some point the Cubs are going to be more involved in bringing in high-priced talent to round out their roster to push the club to a World Championship. In Tampa Bay, making the playoffs was a win. The Cubs need to go all the way after 116 106 years of failure.

October 24, 2014

Maddon on the Split

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Joe Maddon talks to MLB.com on why he left the Rays.

“I just hope they will understand that this was a unique opportunity for me and my family, and beyond that, the charities that I’m attached to,” said Maddon explaining the opportunity created by an opt-out clause in his contract that kicked in once Andrew Friedman departed for the Dodgers. “There was nothing else that I was looking for before that. Up until Andrew left I did not have this kind of opportunity whatsoever. And then once Andrew left and this opportunity opened up, I had to consider it.

“And I really ask anybody if they really looked at it, if they will put themselves in my shoes, what would they have done? So it’s not an easy decision, a very difficult decision. Talk about agonizing, that pain in the gut type of stuff, absolutely. But at the end of the day, I thought it was the right thing for me and my family.”

Maddon learned of the opt-out clause when informed by Matt Silverman, Rays president of baseball operations, who was obligated to inform him of the exit window in his contract.

“Matt called me originally, because I was totally unaware of it, I didn’t know,” Maddon said. “And then I knew. And once I had a chance to evaluate it I was able to make up my mind for what we’re doing now. It wasn’t easy. There’s a two-week window there to look at it and then make a decision.”