Cubs Fire Rick Renteria, Paving Way For Maddon

By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 31, 2014 8:45PM

The Cubs inched closer to making the hiring of Joe Maddon as their new manager official Friday afternoon with the announcement the ballclub parted ways with now former manager Rick Renteria. The 53rd manager in Cubs history, Renteria was hired last year after President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer fired Dale Sveum. Renteria posted a 73-89 record last season, but deserves credit for developing a crop of young talent in the second half including Jorge Soler and Javier Baez and bounceback years for Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro. Epstein and Hoyer praised Renteria after the season but said in a statement the opportunity to go after Maddon, who opted out of his contract with the Tampa Bay Rays two weeks ago, was too good to pass up.

"We saw it as a unique opportunity and faced a clear dilemma: be loyal to Rick or be loyal to the organization. In this business of trying to win a world championship for the first time in 107 years, the organization has priority over any one individual. We decided to pursue Joe.

"While there was no clear playbook for how to handle this type of situation, we knew we had to be transparent with Rick before engaging with Joe. Jed flew to San Diego last Friday and told Rick in person of our intention to talk to Joe about the managerial job. Subsequently, Jed and I provided updates to Rick via telephone and today informed him that we will indeed make a change.

"We offered Rick a choice of other positions with the Cubs, but he is of course free to leave the organization and pursue opportunities elsewhere. Armed with the experience of a successful season and all the qualities that made him our choice a year ago, Rick will no doubt make an excellent major league manager when given his next chance."

Renteria will be paid the remainder of his contract while the Cubs dot the i's and cross the t's on what is expected to be a blockbuster deal for Maddon. Read Epstein's full statement here.

Maddon will be officially announced as the new Cubs manager at a Monday news conference to be held at the Cubby Bear, due to the ongoing renovations at Wrigley Field.