Joe Maddon Available

Big news broke this morning that Tampa Bay Rays’ manager Joe Maddon would be opting out of his contract and leave the team immediately, basically becoming a free agent manager. With Maddon having a great connection with Andrew Friedman, being the former GM of the Rays and new President of Baseball Operations of the Los Angeles Dodgers, it was anticipated by many people, especially fans, that the Dodgers would jump at Maddon to become the next manager of the Dodgers.

Sources, immediately shot these rumors down. Andrew Friedman has stuck with his initial decision to keep Don Mattingly as manager of the Dodgers saying “Mattingly will be our manager next season and hopefully for a long time to come.” Let me just say I believe Mattingly has done a solid job managing the personalities and egos of the Dodgers clubhouse leading the team to two consecutive division titles, but Maddon’s in-game managing skills and ability to manage personnel are top-notch and superior to Mattingly’s, not to mention leading the low-payroll Rays to the World Series n 2008.

When you have a Dodgers team in desperate need of a World Series, which they have not won for 27 years, and you see your rival Giants in the World Series (3 times in 5 years), you have to go after a guy like Maddon to manage your team. As of now, sources indicate that Maddon is likely to become manager of the Chicago Cubs or New York Mets.