Chicago Cubs: Joe Maddon has his work cut out for him

For the Chicago Cubs to reach their goals in 2019, they’ll need to lean on their manager Joe Maddon more than ever.

Throughout Joe Maddon‘s career, he has overachieved. From taking a low-budget Tampa Bay Ray’s team to the World Series to leading an inexperienced Chicago Cubs team to the NLCS in 2015, Maddon tends to get the most out of his players. With all things considered, 2019 may be Maddon’s biggest test.

After a disappointing finish to 2018, the Cubs opted against doing many external upgrades. The team will be counting on internal improvements from within. A large part of those improvements will hinge on how Maddon chooses to utilize his roster.

Thin Bullpen

During Maddon’s tenure with the Cubs, he has used a relatively quick hook for his starting pitchers. With closer Brandon Morrow sidelined to start the season (and possibly Pedro Strop too), the team will turn to the likes of Carl Edwards Jr., Brad Brach, Steve Cishek and Brandon Kintzler to do the bulk of their heavy lifting in the late innings.

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Conventional wisdom would be for Maddon to allow his starters to go deeper into games, which would allow more room for error from the makeshift bullpen. However, there is nothing conventional about Maddon. He tends to use every weapon in his arsenal, including relievers who have suffered from inconsistency in the past. Maddon won’t even name a closer in Morrow’s absence.

"“I won’t declare anybody the closer,” Maddon said via MLB.com. “I didn’t even declare Stropy the closer. Once Brandon’s out, we’ve got to figure it out. Once Morrow comes back, he will be the closer. But until we get to that point, I like the idea of using guys in the higher-leverage moment that suits their abilities better. I don’t want to run away from a moment, just because I classified somebody as the ninth-inning pitcher.”"

Maddon will rely on putting his bullpen arms in situations where they can be successful. In the past, this has rendered results for the bullpen, even in the absence of household names. Maddon will once again need to pull the right strings for the Cubs to hold leads late in games.

Lineup shuffle

Perhaps the most criticism Maddon gets is for how he fills out his lineup card on a day-to-day basis. Maddon plays the matchups and isn’t afraid to move guys around the diamond or even sit a player who has been seeing the ball well.

The Chicago Cubs arguably have four everyday players. Besides Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Willson Contreras, there is no prototypical “everyday player” in Maddon’s rotation. I wouldn’t expect that to differ in 2019. Maddon is stubborn about his philosophy, and he welcomes the backlash.

Whether or not you like Maddon or his antics, he’s a winner. His unconventional approach to the game has produced results time and time again. With one year left on Maddon’s contract, this may be the first time in his career where he’s had something to prove. I wouldn’t bet against him.