Rick Renteria is aware of the rumors claiming that his team, the Chicago Cubs, will replace him at manager with Joe Maddon, but he’s not letting that distract him from bringing an MLB championship to the North Side.
Rick Renteria is aware of the rumors surrounding his job, and released a statement claiming his only focus is helping to bring a championship to the Chicago Cubs, and not if he will be replaced by free agent manager Joe Maddon.
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Maddon opted out of his contract with the Tampa Bay Rays last week, and was linked to the Cubs almost immediately. The Cubs hired Renteria last offseason, and were generally happy with the work of their first-year manager.
Unfortunately for Renteria, there aren’t too many MLB clubs who wouldn’t consider Maddon as an upgrade at manager, and Cubs president Theo Epstein is believed to have great respect for Maddon’s work, coming close to hiring him while Epstein was running the Boston Red Sox before settling on Terry Francona in 2003.
Renteria released the statement through his agent and not through the club, as the Cubs haven’t said a public word about their manager, or Maddon, since the latter opted out of his deal October 24.
The Cubs finished 73-89 last year, and some of the team’s highly-touted prospects began to make their big-league debuts, but the Cubs could view this as a chance to pick up an iconic manager to lead the team into a new era.
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