Cubs’ Joe Maddon ‘not offended’ by lame-duck status, plans to be at helm in 2020

LAS VEGAS — Think Joe Maddon isn’t taking this upcoming “year of reckoning” for the Cubs seriously?

The Cubs skipper added “Managing Millennials for Dummies” to his offseason reading list as he prepares for what could be the most scrutinized season of his managing career.

“It’s a great read. I’m in the middle of that right now,” Maddon said during his media session Tuesday at the winter meetings. “I’m really starting to understand this a little bit better. It’s important for me as a manager. Whether anybody here agrees or disagrees with the generation and how they process things, it doesn’t matter, because that’s the way it is.”

The book reference drew a few laughs, but Maddon wasn’t joking. Used copies go for as little as $5.09 on Amazon, and, yes, he’s reading it, he said.

Whether any of it becomes the next chapter in the Cubs Way organizational handbook — or gets shared with former Cubs hitting coach Chili Davis — it’s at least another sign of the top-down focus the Cubs are applying to 2019.

Team president Theo Epstein called 2019 a “year of reckoning” as the Cubs try to fix what went wrong during an often-underperforming 2018 that included a quick, bitter end in the wild-card game. Epstein emphasized that “year of reckoning” applied to everyone in the organization, but it certainly applies to no one more than Maddon, who goes into the final year of his five-year contract with extension talks dependent upon results.

“It’s all good,” Maddon said. “We’ve had some really good conversations. I totally understand where he’s coming from. I am not offended. I don’t feel badly about it. I get it.

“I am very happy with my stature and status. The Cubs have taken extremely good care of me and my family to the point where I could never repay them enough.”

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Maddon, who could wind up in the Hall of Fame based on the first 13 years of a managing career that included the Cubs’ 2016 World Series championship, said next year will include less pregame media time and more hands-on work with many of the younger players on the field.

“I actually like it. I love challenges,” said Maddon, formerly a longtime minor-league instructor. “I still believe in empowering coaching staff and staying out of their way, and I’ll continue to do that. But I just feel it’s necessary that I just get out there a little bit more often. I pretty much put my minor-league hat back on.”

Epstein said last month that tabling contract talks with Maddon until the end of the season “is not punitive,” nor a sign he wants to make a change. And both said the relationship is strong, despite speculation to the contrary over the last year or two.

“Joe’s in that bucket of people that are accountable,” Epstein said. “Look at what he’s done, averaging 97 wins, manager of the year again and again, and helped transform this franchise. But he’s not content. He’s looking to get better.

“We have that type of relationship where we can have honest conversations. And I wouldn’t be doing my job if I was aware of areas where he could raise his game or certain areas where the players needed him more and I didn’t bring those to his attention.”

Getting more from some of the young hitting core will be a huge factor for the Cubs after a winter limited by budget constraints from adding bats.

“The good news is that this is a situation where the players just want more of Joe,” Epstein said. “They love the impact that he has on them when he speaks to them and when he’s doing real hands-on leadership. You’re in trouble when you have players who want less of the manager.”

Maddon expressed trademark optimism and confidence that he’ll still be the Cubs’ manager when they take the field for Opening Day 2020.

“I’d like to believe so. That’s my plan,” he said. “This gig is the best.

“Let’s just win the World Series and see how that all plays out.”