Hey, if you haven't already -- turn your clocks back an hour if you live in an area that observes Daylight Saving time. Standard time began at 2 a.m. today in those jurisdictions in the USA and Canada.
From Comcast SportsNet:
- Patrick Mooney talks about the changes to come with Joe Maddon as the new manager, saying that the Cubs will be moving in a completely different direction.
- He also writes that with Maddon at the helm, the Cubs will be in the hunt for more big free agents. It'll be interesting to see if that actually turns out to be true.
- [VIDEO] Dave Kaplan talks with Tampa Bay Times beat writer Marc Topkin about Joe Maddon.
From Cubs.com:
- [VIDEO] MLB.com analyst Jim Duquette talks about the Cubs' decision to dismiss Rick Renteria and hire Maddon.
- John Baker and Carlos Villanueva talk about the change in managers.
- More award nominations: Starlin Castro, Anthony Rizzo, and Jake Arrieta earned nominations for MLB.com's Greatness In Baseball Yearly (GIBBY) awards. I'm not sure which I like more, GIBBY or MiLBY. They're both kinda catchy.
From ESPNChicago.com:
- Jon Greenberg talks about the culture change that Maddon will bring to the Cubs.
- Steve Wulf says that while Rick Renteria deserved better, the Cubs are doing the right thing.
From CBS Chicago:
- Dave Wischnowsky says that Cub fans shouldn't weep for Renteria.
- And Bruce Levine says that the Cubs are richer for Renteria having been on the job.
- Tim Baffoe recollects the work of Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects and how it relates the the Maddon hiring.
- With the Minnesota Twins looking like they will hire Paul Molitor as their manager, one person he could be looking at for his coaching staff is Chris Bosio.
- What does Dan Bernstein think? That Maddon should be free to choose his own coaching staff.
- Tampa Bay Rays (and former Cubs) broadcaster Dewayne Staats talked about Joe Maddon with Matt Spiegel and Patrick Mannelly on Friday on 670 The Score.
- And in news not related to the manager change, sources have confirmed that the Ricketts Family LLC is close to finalizing a deal to buy two rooftop buildings.
From the Chicago Tribune via RedEye Chicago:
- Paul Sullivan writes that there's never a dull moment around Joe Maddon teams.
- Sullivan also says that hiring Maddon was the right move, adding that Renteria will go down in sports history as a sunnier version of Terry Bevington.
- He also looks back at some of the memorable exits of former Cub managers.
- Mark Gonzales talks about Maddon's ability to combine old-school with new-age ideas.
- David Haugh says that faced with a quandary, the Cubs did what was best.
From the Chicago Sun-Times:
- Rick Morrissey writes that it feels nice to be able to sink his teeth into something solid with the hiring of Maddon.
- Rick Telander says that it would have been nicer if Maddon had come under cleaner circumstances and that it was unfortunate that Maddon became a free-agent manager when he did.
From the Daily Herald:
- Mike Imrem writes that it's good to see the Cubs doing what it takes to win.
- Mike Spellman says that he's excited, primarily because Maddon is universally respected.
- Mike North echoes sentiments that others have also brought up: he's excited, but he's seen other big-name managers fail for the Cubs.
From Cubs Insider:
- Evan Altman posts a rebuttal to Mike North's story, saying that the Cubs under Maddon can't be compared to the Cubs under the previous big-name managers. (And then there's the entire thing about those previous big-name managers that supposedly failed actually getting the Cubs to the playoffs.)
From Cubs Den:
- John Arguello looks at some of the difficult decisions ahead as the free agent season gets ready to start.
- He also looks at the free agency predictions being made by MLB Trade Rumors, which have the Cubs cleaning up in the offseason.
From Chicago Cubs Online:
- CCO continues its position analysis with a look at center field.
- ESPN ranks the Cubs fourth in their Future Power Rankings.
Miscellaneous:
- There has been a lot of talk about potential tampering; here's the Tampa Bay take on it from Marc Topkin.
- [INSIDER] Buster Olney looks at the choices that Tampa Bay faces when it comes to tampering charges.
Today's food for thought:
- Watch a bowling ball and a feather dropped in a vacuum -- or in this case, the largest vacuum chamber in the world.
- The Earth is surrounded -- by a great swirling vortex or trash.
- Many of you are probably familiar with Bundt cakes. But this Sarlacc Bundt cake just might be the best Star Wars cake idea ever.