NEW YORK — The Rays had — and still have — their suspicions, but a Major League Baseball investigation that took six months found no tampering by the Cubs in their hiring of Joe Maddon.
In Chicago, Maddon said, "We're all glad that's in the rear view mirror right now and very grateful it turned out the way that it did."
In New York, Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg told the Tampa Bay Times, "We make our decisions based on the facts at hand and the processes we trust. We can never be certain of the outcomes."
Maddon had one year remaining on his contract when he left the Rays unexpectedly in late October, taking advantage of an opt-out clause activated by the departure of executive vice president Andrew Friedman 10 days earlier. Maddon agreed to a five-year, $25 million deal to manage the Cubs a few days later.
A month after its deadline, MLB said in a statement Wednesday, "The investigation produced no finding of a violation of Major League Rule 3(k) on Tampering."
Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said they felt vindicated: "They did a thorough process, which we felt the entire time we encouraged them to be thorough."