Advertisement

Loss of Joe Maddon doesn't have to cripple Rays

 
Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon argues with umpire Bob Davidson after a call at first base was reviewed and overturned in the Toronto Blue Jays favor during fourth inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2014. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Thornhill) FJT117
Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon argues with umpire Bob Davidson after a call at first base was reviewed and overturned in the Toronto Blue Jays favor during fourth inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2014. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Thornhill) FJT117
Published Oct. 25, 2014

ST. PETERSBURG

It feels like a punch to the gut. • Joe Maddon is leaving the Rays. • It's still hard to believe. • When you think of the Rays, you think of Maddon. Behind those smart-guy glasses, Maddon waxes poetic about the game and life and music, using a vocabulary that you rarely hear coming from someone wearing a cap and holding a fungo. • He drinks wine and listens to Springsteen and drives classic cars and sleeps in RVs in the spring training parking lot. He lives in a swank house on Bayshore in Tampa and rides a tricked-out bike and quotes Confucius more than he does Casey Stengel. He is so big that he has made up his own holiday: Thanksmas, which serves the needy. • Maddon is about as cool as cool gets. • He made the Rays popular locally and relevant nationally. He might have been the best skipper in the game, and the best part? He was our skipper. • So, yeah, I get it. This stinks. We're going to miss him. • But I'm not all that sure that the team itself — the actual Rays on the field— will. • You might feel like ripping the clapper out of your cowbell, but just keep telling yourself this: • Maddon was just the manager. • Just the manager.

Over the past nine years, Maddon hasn't swung one bat or thrown one pitch or stolen one base.

He made out the lineups and called for pitching changes and ordered bunts — although not as many as most of you would have liked. But a manager's impact on a game isn't as great as a football or basketball coach.

What does a manager do? Mostly, he sets the tone for the team, gives it a personality. The good ones deftly deal with the collection of massive egos in the clubhouse. No question, that's where Maddon excelled.

He had a way of making everyone on the 25-man roster content with his role and contributions. He had a knack for making players feel wanted and putting them in the best positions to succeed. His laid-back personality helped an overachieving franchise weather the bad spells of a long season while governing the good times.

When it comes to managing, Maddon does it as well as anyone.

But as crafty as he is, all of Maddon's powers and ingenuity couldn't get the Rays above fourth place this past season. As much as he prodded and pulled, Maddon's magic got the Rays to only one World Series.

This isn't meant to rip Maddon now that he's leaving town. If I'm starting a team, I want him to manage. There are 20-some teams out there right now that are having front-office conversations about whether to dump their manager in order to hire Maddon.

There are good managers and bad managers. Maddon is a good one. Arguably the best.

But teams don't win solely because they have a good manager and they don't lose solely because they have a bad one. In the end, it's about the players.

The Giants won the World Series in 2010 and 2012 and are vying for another. They finished 10 games under .500 last year. Bruce Bochy was the manager all along. What, he was a bad manager last year but a good one this year?

Why do you suppose Joe Torre won four World Series with the Yankees and none with the other four teams he managed?

No doubt, it will be strange seeing someone else on the top step of that dugout next year, but remember, this wasn't the Rays' choice. Maddon was the one who wanted out.

Stay updated on Tampa Bay’s sports scene

Stay updated on Tampa Bay’s sports scene

Subscribe to our free Sports Today newsletter

We’ll send you news and analysis on the Bucs, Lightning, Rays and Florida’s college football teams every day.

You’re all signed up!

Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.

Explore all your options

If he doesn't want to be here, why would you want him to stay? Don't you want a manager who is excited and happy and committed to being here?

That was no longer Maddon, and the only real question is why doesn't he want to be here?

Is it because he thinks the Rays' future is bleak? Is it because his old boss, Andrew Friedman, left? Is it because he wants more money? Is it because he is tired of looking up in the stands of an antiquated ballpark and seeing 11,000 fans? Is it because he thinks he can never win a championship in a small market?

Maybe it's some or all of the above.

But Maddon's departure doesn't automatically spell or predict doom for the Rays. Whatever Maddon's motives, there are still plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the Rays' future.

The organization is loaded with young talent, particularly on the mound. A lot of teams would love to build around Evan Longoria and Wil Myers. It's not as if Friedman and Maddon are the only ones capable of producing a winning team on a shoestring budget. There are other smart people out there. Who around here ever heard of Joe Maddon before he became the Rays' manager?

Now we get to see what the new head of baseball operations, Matt Silverman, is made of. Maddon was really Friedman's hire. This will be Silverman's hire.

Maddon was going to leave eventually. It's a shame that it had to happen Friday. We already miss him.

But life goes on. Baseball goes on. The Rays will go on.

They will have a new manager next season. Will he be a good manager?

That all depends on Longoria, Myers and the pitching staff. The manager can only do so much.

After all, he's just the manager.