But Epstein’s recent criticism of Maddon’s revolving lineups and his belief a lame-duck season in 2019 wouldn’t become a distraction suggest an encore for Maddon isn’t the slam dunk one might have presumed. Nero insisted it was much ado about nothing, blaming the media for creating a false narrative. “Joe never had a problem with any of this,” he said. “Never. He was very comfortable. He was very relaxed. He wasn’t thinking about it. He wasn’t worried about it. You guys fired everything up.”Nero continued, reiterating that there are no issues between Maddon and Epstein. He went on 670 The Score on Wednesday morning and said he was optimistic about a contract extension happening in the next couple months.
I know this is completely different, especially when you consider where the team was positioned at the end of the 2016, but the Cubs didn't give Epstein and the rest of the front office a contract extension until the end of the regular season that year. So, who knows, maybe this won't be a big deal after all and the Cubs sign Maddon to a mini-extension during the GM meetings. But of course this is going to be a topic of conversation in the offseason when Maddon is still positioned as a lame-duck manager as of now for next year.
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