In a shocking turn of events, ESPN’s Buster Olney has reported that longtime Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon has opted out of his contract, and will be leaving the team to pursue opportunities elsewhere. This is the second major staff member the team has lost this month following GM Andrew Friedman’s departure for the Dodgers. Maddon says he intends to manage in 2015, and therefore will not be following Friedman to the Dodgers, as the Los Angeles club says it intends to retain manager Don Mattingly next year.
Maddon’s decision is a devastating loss for the already reeling Rays. Roundly regarded as one of the best skippers in baseball, Maddon has been at the forefront of experimentation and new strategies that have until this season resulted in the Rays being perennial contenders in a stacked AL East. However, the 2014 season seemed to be a turning point of sorts for the Rays. A combination of injuries, regression and ineffectiveness created a huge loss total that even a strong run of winning in July could not solve. Years of speculation finally culminated when David Price, the staff ace and a longtime franchise fixture, was traded away.
The Rays ended up finishing a disappointing 77-85, and the future is not especially clear. Tampa has not developed a player from draft to the majors since 2008, and their drafts have not been pretty of late. Recent success stories like Chris Archer (Matt Garza trade), Jake Odorizzi and Wil Myers (James Shields/Wade Davis trade) were all obtained externally. The Rays current top two prospects (per MLB.com, the most recently updated list) are 1B Casey Gillaspie and Willy Adames, who were either drafted just this year (Gillaspie) or only made their minor league debut last year, and was little known before his inclusion in the Price trade (Adames). Either way, barring more trades, help is a long ways off. This problem was only magnified even further when the franchise’s longtime mastermind, Friedman, left. It is for this reason that Maddon most likely decided that the writing was on the wall, and now was the time to leave. Maddon told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times today that between his curiosity to seek out other opportunities and disagreement over what his next contract with the Rays would entail financially, it was time for a change.
Maddon’s decision comes at a curious time if he does truly intend to manage next year. A number of teams (the Astros, Rangers, Diamondbacks, and Twins) all initiated searches for new skippers recently, but only the Twins have not hired someone yet. Minnesota is also deep into their interview process, and have reportedly narrowed down the field to a final few candidates. It is not hard to imagine that GM Terry Ryan would offer to let Maddon and his considerable pedigree jump in as a candidate this late in the game, but it is also not hard to envision a scenario where the old-school Ryan and new-school Maddon would frequently be at loggerheads over the course of a season. The only franchises that immediately come to mind where managers may be under the axe sooner rather than later are the Rockies (Walt Weiss is hardly celebrated for his strategizing, and there’s a new sheriff in the front office) and Reds (Bryan Price seemed to be in over his head in his first year as manager, and comments he made to the press at times seemed rather inflammatory towards his players). But once again, those two front offices figure to be rather traditional in their methodology. Both teams are also on the outside looking in at the win column, and one has to imagine Maddon would sooner join up with a possible contender or a team that is trending in the right direction. The Twins may fit into this category due to their embarrassment of riches in their farm system, but the aforementioned ideological differences with the front office could be an obstacle. Another situation to keep an eye on is that of Bud Black and the Padres. Black’s name has been occasionally bandied about as someone who could be out the door, but Maddon and Black are also good friends from their days working together on the Angels (including their run to the 2002 World Series title). San Diego has some intriguing pieces in both the majors and minors, and an exciting new voice in the GM’s chair. Could Maddon and Black somehow both work out of the dugout for San Diego, possibly with Black as pitching coach and Maddon managing? It would be a tricky negation process from both angles, but it’s something to keep an eye on. There’s also lots of rumors circulating that Theo Epstein and the Cubs could go after him. They seemed willing to spend big money to land Joe Girardi last year, and Maddon would undoubtedly be a good person to have at the helm when Kris Bryant and co. arrive and drive to the playoffs. However, Rick Renteria was only brought on last year and that could present a sticky situation.
Regardless of where he ends up, Maddon leaves no obvious successor in Tampa to helm the Rays, and many of the popular managerial “prospects” are off the market due to the recent swath of hirings around the league. The Rays are effectively rudderless heading forward, and without an immediate source of playing talent to bring them back to contention. Between the personnel changes, lack of impact prospects, and continued dissatisfaction with Tropicana Field by both the teams and fans, the next few years may be dark times for the Rays.
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