Joe Maddon will be next Cubs manager, report says

Ryan Fagan

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Joe Maddon will be next Cubs manager, report says image

Joe Maddon will be the next manager of the Cubs, according to a tweet from CBS Sports' Jon Heyman.

The Cubs were considered frontrunners to land Maddon, who opted out of his deal with the Rays because of a clause that opened up when exec Andrew Friedman left for the Dodgers.

Maddon would replace Rick Renteria, who was in the first year of his three-year deal. His first year, with plenty of young players on the roster, was generally considered a success by baseball people. The Cubs were a dangerous team the final few months of the season (one game over .500 in August and September, after being 15 games under up to that point in the year).

But the opportunity to land Maddon, an outstanding tactical manager with a track record of success in extenuating circumstances in Tampa Bay, was more than the Cubs could pass up, apparently.

Not everyone jumped to confirm the initial report, though. 

Major League Baseball tries to discourage this type of news during its signature events, and Game 7 of a World Series certainly qualifies as a signature event.

So, we'll see how this plays out over the next few hours. As always, check back here for more on this story as it develops.

UPDATE: Maddon's agent, Alan Nero, tried to squash Heyman's report while also confirming that he is in talks with the Cubs.

“It’s not a done deal by far,” Nero told the Chicago Sun-Times and other media. “We continue in good faith to discuss this with several teams, including the Cubs. We hope something will be resolved quickly.”

Ryan Fagan

Ryan Fagan Photo

Ryan Fagan, the national MLB writer for The Sporting News, has been a Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2016. He also dabbles in college hoops and other sports. And, yeah, he has way too many junk wax baseball cards.