Joe Maddon is Out in Tampa. Could Twins Get Him?

In a lot of ways the managing skills and general high level of respect for Joe Maddon reminds me of another long-time professional: the late Gene Mauch.

 

Just remember Mauch wasn't able to work miracles for the Twins. It still comes down to who you can put on the field.

Maddon is the anti-Mauch, who was one uptight dude.  On the other hand, Maddon makes players comfortable and builds team spirit.  

It just gets more depressing:

The Twins are so short sided. They would make some of the money up with publicity and marketing Joe Maddon. There's always money for a player like Mike Pelfrey. 

Do you think the Twins wouldn't give him $5M if he wanted the job?

 

I think they would. I also think he'll end up getting more than that.

Jay,

1) We have not reached out to him and he has been available four days

2) He would be pleasantly surprised if we did reach out

Is this enough proof that we do not have the budget, as a source and multiple people on this site have guessed?  I mean how would we know how much he is demanding if we didn't reach out to him? 

Or do you think the Twins don't view him as the type of talent as Molitor or Luvollo?

It was always about the money

Is this enough proof that we do not have the budget, as a source and multiple people on this site have guessed? I mean how would we know how much he is demanding if we didn't reach out to him?

 

Or do you think the Twins don't view him as the type of talent as Molitor or Luvollo?

 

It was always about the money

I highly doubt that TR doesn't know what Maddon is looking for. It doesn't take officially reaching out to Maddon to find that out.

I probably have to go with TR isn't interesting in meeting his needs. That could be money, but could just as well be about the terms of the position and the amount of power. Not sure yet, but we'll have a better idea based on where he ends up and what it looks like as he says he's willing to wait for the right opportunity.

We all know that nobody has a better resume than madden. We also know that our due diligence has not resulted in a phone call.

Yet we are still pretending it may not be about money.

What exactly could it be? We are purposefully avoiding the best guy because we don't like his glasses?

Is it possible that Maddon is looking for more than just the opportunity to be the coach for a different team making more money? That would certainly make sense to me based on what we've heard.

That's all I'm saying. It could very well be about the money, but let's look at the whole picture as well.

So we haven't called him because we think he may want something else?

Seems an easy way exists to find out what he is thinking. Dial his number.

Dial his number to confirm what you already know? Why do we assume that an MLB GM isn't connected enough to know what he's looking for? That seems ridiculous.

"Uh, hi Joe. I already know you're looking for x, but could you verify that for me and then also be sure to start mentioning to the media that we had a chat?" Really??

If it is not the money and he is the best guy on the market, why doesn't the gm make a simple phone call?

Even if he thinks something, what will it hurt to make a phone call?

I agree terry knows roughly what he is looking for and it is so much more than we are going to pay that he hasn't called. You have still the door open for another reason. That is the basis for the disagreement.

Okay, a phone call will not physically hurt anything. No small children will suffer if TR calls Joe Maddon.

That doesn't mean it accomplishes anything.

Is knowing he called all it would take to feel satisfied here? I'm almost sure the answer is no.

Well. We are on the market for a coach. He is the best coach out there. He likely opted out to be paid among the top coaches. So we know what that will cost. And we haven't called.

Anyone that acts like another reason exists other than money for the lack of interest on our end is kidding them-self

Satisfaction for me would be exploring all options to improve our team. I can understand not calling max sherzers agent. But not a 5m coach with no injury risk?

Why not call him? Call him.

Why not interview him? Interview him.

Why not hire him? ...

No matter what, the final answer there is the Twins are cheap. I'd hope we can get a deeper level of analysis here on TD. I can get plenty of that in the strib comments. I don't see how it adds value to the conversation.

Yes, Maddon will be well paid. With all the talk of front office jobs, wouldn't it make sense to think he's looking for more responsibility that just being the coach? Maybe he wants full authority over the 25 man roster? Maybe he wants more? Maybe he wants a guaranteed GM job in three years? Maybe TR doesn't want to cede any of that to his manager and maybe, just maybe... it's not definitively 100% about the money because the Twins are so cheap.

Why not call him? Call him.

Why not interview him? Interview him.

Why not hire him? ...

 

No matter what, the final answer there is the Twins are cheap. I'd hope we can get a deeper level of analysis here on TD. I can get plenty of that in the strib comments. I don't see how it adds value to the conversation.

 

Yes, Maddon will be well paid. With all the talk of front office jobs, wouldn't it make sense to think he's looking for more responsibility that just being the coach? Maybe he wants full authority over the 25 man roster? Maybe he wants more? Maybe he wants a guaranteed GM job in three years? Maybe TR doesn't want to cede any of that to his manager and maybe, just maybe... it's not definitively 100% about the money because the Twins are so cheap.

I am capable of deeper level of analysis, but a chance exists here that a drive for deeper anaylsis is causing some to identify reasons that don't seem plausable or are extremely unlikely. If we want the answer to be something else or make this site superior to the star tribune comments, we can throw all sorts of theories.

The control theory does not make a ton of sense to me.  Tampa Bay makes more decisions based on money than we do and he has not spoken out or been a thorn in the GM's side, so I would not expect that to start anytime soon.

Maybe he wants to be GM, maybe he wants a blue unicorn, you know what would be the best way to find out?  By calling him. 

My theory is that Tampa has done a remarkable job flipping guys year in and year out and fielding a very good young pitching staff.  That has allowed Maddon to platoon a decent offense and win a bunch of games.  They lost Shields last year. They won 77 games and now lose Price this year.  Hellickson and Moore are a question mark health-wise and he doesn't think this is sustainable much longer.  He is at peak value and wants to cash in.  On the timing front, the world series will be over soon and free agency will start soon.  So chance exists that he would rather take $5M from the Twins on a buy low move, rather than potentially sit out this year or be a broadcaster.  Maybe those things don't interest him at all.  Again, a phone call is the best way to figure it out and it costs nothing.  Not asking around.  Hearing it from the horses mouth.

As a moderator, I am urging you (everyone) to have some caution with these types of statements. Everyone on this board is entitled to have an opinion and every opinion is valid, including ones that disagree from one's own. You may think you are absolutely right and everyone else is absolutely wrong, but you still need to accept differing viewpoints without going down the disrespect path of dismissal over those differing viewpoints. Again, I don't care how right you THINK you are, especially over something in which we are not privy to ALL the information; perception and speculation are still not certain answers and we need to be clear and respectful on how these things are shared with one another.

I went to delete that comment and it is locked.

The job seeker cold-calling a prospective employer is not the standard expectation here (unless perhaps the job seeker had a strong preference for this particular employer, i.e. home nearby or past professional history).

 

Should Jon Lester be expected to call the Twins this offseason, just to inquire interest?

Yeah, 10-12 teams will call Lester and Max at 12:01 when free agency opens up.  But we will wait for them to call us so we have negotiating leverage. Really drive their price down and pounce.