Los Angeles Dodgers Rumors: Joe Maddon Quits As Tampa Bay Manager, Now L.A. Bound After All?

Rumors around the Los Angeles Dodgers manger’s job are certain to heat up again, after Friday’s stunning announcement by Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon that he has quit the team. While new Dodgers General Manager Andrew Friedman has said publicly that current skipper Don Mattingly will “definitely” hold the job in 2015, the sudden free agency of Maddon may change that outlook considerably.

Friedman, of course, was the GM in Tampa Bay, and Maddon is the only manager he ever worked with before jumping to Los Angeles last week. Together, Maddon and Friedman turned the low-payroll Rays from a team that had never posted a winning season to 2008 American League Champions and perennial contenders in the AL East.

So when Friedman left sunny Florida for Sunny Southern California, the rumors naturally began right away that Joe Maddon would follow him across the country — especially after the lambasting given to Mattingly by the Los Angeles press and fandom after the Dodgers quick exit from the National League Division Series.

Maddon was under contract to the Rays through the 2015 season, but according to media reports, the departure of Friedman triggered an opt-out provision in Maddon’s contract.

One veteran baseball writer, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, attempted to quash the rumors connecting Maddon and the Dodgers right away.

“Early word is that Maddon understands new Dodgers honcho Andrew Friedman is committed to Don Mattingly in Los Angeles and has no intention of trying to go there,” Heyman wrote on Friday.

Heyman also noted that Chicao Cubs President Theo Epstein has coveted Maddon since Epstein’s early days as GM of the Boston Red Sox, actually interviewing Maddon for the Red Sox job before hiring Terry Francona in late 2003.

theres speculation (just speculation so far!) cubs could be fit for joe maddon. theo interviewed joe when he hired francona

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) October 24, 2014

But the Cubs have a manager in Rick Renteria — who led Chicago to a last-place 73-89 finish in 2014. The Cubs are still probably a few years away from once again fielding a competitive team, as the organization’s minor league talent continues to develop.

The process in Chicago would be similar to the development effort Maddon helped guide in Tampa Bay, where he endured dismal seasons in 2006 and 2007 before turning it all around in 2008, reaching the World Series.

Would Joe Maddon want to go through the process all over again in Chicago? Or would he push to take Mattingly’s job in Los Angeles, where he takes over a team that, despite its disappointing postseason flame-out, is fully geared to win right away?

Maddon, who is easily the most underpaid manager in baseball given his team’s performance, is also said to be looking for a big payday — which should pose no problem either in Chicago or Los Angeles.

While it’s true that Friedman has been emphatic in committing to Mattingly as his 2015 Dodgers manager, how much is his word really worth now that Maddon’s circumstances have changed? Remember that Maddon himself was just as emphatic last week when he said that he planned to stay with the Rays — but that promise quickly evaporated.

Only one thing is certain, that Mattingly must be feeling much more uneasy today about his position as Los Angeles Dodgers skipper than he did yesterday, and the rumors about Maddon taking his job have to be ringing in his ears.