Joe Maddon's Loose, Playful Persona Is Perfect to Handle Cubs' Newfound Pressure

If anyone is in need of a seminar on how to absolutely nail the handling of expectations and pressure, see Joe Maddon.

The Chicago Cubs’ newly minted skipper was officially introduced Monday, and all of the franchise lore, suffering and newfound promise was dumped on his silver-haired head in one sitting. And as Joe Maddon has come to do, he handled it with spectacular perfection.

If there was any doubt regarding how Maddon’s loose, seemingly carefree attitude would play in a city where Cubs misery is matched only by Chicago's desperation for a winner, Maddon demolished it with a cracked smile and playful charm.

“I don’t know all the circumstances surrounding the last 107 years or whatever it has been, but I'm way too optimistic to worry about things like that,” Maddon said at the press conference (via Sports Illustrated’s Michael Beller). “I never would have been the manager of the Devil Rays in the first place if I thought that way. Why would you not want to accept this challenge in this city, in that ballpark, under these circumstances, with this talent?”

Truth is, with this current regime, not many would pass on the opportunity. The Cubs, one of the oldest franchises in baseball with an encyclopedia’s worth of history, are suddenly futuristic. President Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer brought forward-thinking to the Cubs three years ago, and since then, the franchise has drafted well, spent on international signings and is now ready to dive into the expensive world of big-ticket free agency.

With a young core of talented ballplayers either producing or on the verge of producing at the major league level and the potential for high-profile veterans to round out next season’s roster, Maddon proved to be the fit for Epstein and Hoyer based on his previous nine seasons in Tampa Bay. Maddon handled his roster, front office and pretty much everything else with wisdom, class and grace. It is because of that track record there isn’t more of a backlash that Maddon essentially pushed Rick Renteria out of the Wrigley Field dugout, although there has been some anonymous pushback.

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"I am shocked he would do this," one current MLB manager on Maddon. #Cubs

— Andy Martino (@MartinoNYDN) October 29, 2014"

This was Maddon’s first brush with pressure regarding his new gig. Understand that Maddon is quite self-aware, and he is cognizant of his surroundings and the temperature around him. He knew this could reflect badly on him, snatching the Cubs job from Renteria, so Maddon made some calls to people within the game and was told that if the Cubs were OK with the change, he needn’t worry what some other managers or executives might feel, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports.

“It was not my responsibility to make that call,” Maddon told Nightengale. “All I did was exercise my right in my contract. That was it. It was not my responsibility to gauge how other organizations ran their organizations, or how they viewed it.”

While that might not put out the entire fire, Maddon addressed the situation in an upfront manner and with candidness. His first test was passed.

M. Spencer Green/Associated Press

Now comes the pressure to win. Unfairly ousting a manager with an up-and-coming team for someone else is done with a heavy amount of expectation. Epstein and Hoyer know it. The players understand it. The fanbase demands it. Maddon accepts it.

It was easy for Maddon in Tampa Bay. The team was last in line to dig through the barrels every offseason, forced to scrape the bottom for whatever it could find to fill out its roster. And then it was up to Maddon and the front office to figure out how to best use those castoffs. Anything losing the Rays did was understandable; any winning, a pleasant surprise.

That is about to change for Maddon. For a couple years, Cubs fans have waited for the young players to blossom together. Now that the fruits of the draft and the international signings seem to be budding and ownership is willing to spend on the old stadium and impact players to fill it, people are going to expect the Cubs to win. Immediately.

Maddon’s reputation tells us he is great with young players, wonderful at meshing different personalities and putting players in situations where they are most likely to succeed. He is also a fun-loving guy, willing to do the absurd or risk looking so in order to lighten the mood and loosen his players.

Maddon moves with purpose. There is little wasted motion.

“Young players are afraid to get out of their comfort zone,” Maddon said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “What's somebody going to think? How is somebody going to feel? Is anybody looking?

“You've got to get away from that (stuff). It doesn't do you any good. That's part of it.”

David Banks/Getty Images

That attitude will be critical in not only fulfilling the new expectations on the North Side of Chicago but also in managing them. Maddon can excel in that situation, whether it be shielding young players from unfamiliar criticism or alleviating day-to-day pressure by bringing in exotic animals or having a costume contest. That ability to sense the mood of a clubhouse does not go hand-in-hand with payroll. It plays universally.

The Cubs are in excellent care going forward, from willing ownership to a sharp front office to a do-it-all manager. The Cubs’ expectations have suddenly spiked, and while it is entirely possible the team could wilt on the diamond, Maddon has proven that in the dugout he will not. 

Anthony Witrado covers Major League Baseball for Bleacher Report. He spent the previous three seasons as the national baseball columnist at Sporting News and four years before that as the Brewers beat writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.