Maddon at Home in Tampa….For Now

Joe Maddon continues to win manager of the year awards and continues to be mentioned as a potential candidate for openings across major league baseball. Maddon has been with the Rays for six seasons and has led them to the playoffs three times. For a small market team with a less than small market payroll, Maddon has drawn the eye of big market franchises, which have been unable to reach the same level of success.

Maddon was mentioned by some as a possible successor to Terry Francona in Boston. The Red Sox do not appear to be close to naming their next manager but it does not look like Maddon will be their guy. He has continued to affirm that he has no interest in leaving the Rays and in fact he is under contract through next season.

The latest speculation is that Maddon might be a good fit for the Chicago Cubs with their hiring of Theo Epstein from the Red Sox. Maddon interviewed for the manager’s job in Boston with, now Cubs president, Theo Epstein. He was a finalist for that position before the Red Sox decided on Francona. Again, Maddon reminds everyone that he has a contract with the Rays for 2012, and has no plans to leave right now.

The Rays offseason the last few years has been a game of, who can you keep? They suffered significant player losses coming into 2011 and may face similar problems over the next two seasons. Earlier this week they lost director of baseball operations Dan Feinstein to the Oakland A’s. With teams interested in the services of GM Andrew Friedman and manager Joe Maddon, that game seems to have spilled over from the players on the field to the decision makers in the dugout and the front office.

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