Cubs' Maddon hopes to learn fate before leaving St. Louis
ST. LOUIS — Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon could know his fate by late Saturday night, and news could become public Sunday morning.
During his pregame session with reporters Saturday at Busch Stadium, Maddon revealed that he and team president Theo Epstein would have a meeting after the evening's game against the St. Louis Cardinals.
“Just to discuss everything right now moving forward, that kind of stuff,” Maddon said. “We haven't had any kind of a talk yet about any of this. I mean that sincerely. We will tonight.”
Asked if he'd like to have resolution before he and the Cubs leave town after Sunday's season finale, Maddon replied: “I hope so, yeah. I would like to believe so, yes.”
Epstein declined to comment Saturday, and it's likely he'll address Maddon's situation Sunday. Along on the trip to St. Louis with Epstein are general manager Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod, who recently moved from senior vice president of amateur scouting and player development to senior vice president of player personnel.
Epstein, Hoyer and McLeod all have received contract extensions since coming to the Cubs in the fall of 2011.
Maddon's five-year contract expires at the end of this season, and Epstein made him either a lame duck or an impending free agent when he refused to entertain the idea of an extension for Maddon this year.
Entering Saturday, Maddon had a record with the Cubs of 470-338, good for a winning percentage of .582. Only two managers, Hall of Famers Albert Spalding and Frank Chance, have better winning percentages with the Cubs than does Maddon.
In his first year with the Cubs in 2015, Maddon led the team to the National League championship series. The Cubs won the World Series in 2016 before reaching the NLCS in 2017 and the wild-card game in 2018.
The Cubs stumbled down the stretch both last year and this, and they snapped a nine-game losing streak Friday after being eliminated from postseason play.
Maddon remain popular with his players, several of whom have never played for another big-league skipper.
“We all have a huge amount of respect for Joe and what he's done here,” said left fielder Kyle Schwarber, who came up in 2015. “Whatever happens, happens. If he comes back, that's great. If he decides to move on, we wish him the best. He's done a lot of dang good here. You can't take that away. For him being my first big-league manager, I think that's a pretty good big-league manager to have as your first one.”