THE CUBS and Mets have traveled remarkably similar paths.
Both had their moments in the late 2000s while managed by an alum of the late 1970s champion Yankees — Willie Randolph for the Mets and Lou Piniella for the Cubs. But the Mets lost NLCS Game 7 at home in 2006 and the Cubs lost all six postseason games they played in 2007-08.
Both chased elusive championships by throwing money at their rosters. But as the payrolls soared, so did the losing. From 2009-2011, the Mets and Cubs were in the top six in payroll each year and combined for five losing records and no playoff appearances. The clubs were beset by long-term contracts that cratered — think Jason Bay and Johan Santana for the Mets and Carlos Zambrano and Kosuke Fukudome for the Cubs, to name a few.
The organizations reacted by hiring one-time World Series champion executives with Moneyball ties to raze payrolls and restore farm systems. Sandy Alderson arguably assembled the best fleet of young pitching in the game while Theo Epstein did the same with hitting prospects.
Neither Alderson nor Epstein initially appeared to understand fully how financially handcuffed they would be. In 2014, the Mets ranked 22nd in payroll and the Cubs 23rd, each a shade over $89 million.
Now, both organizations feel enough cornerstones are in place to begin a period of sustained success.
But on Monday, it was the Cubs veering off the path they shared with the Mets to introduce Joe Maddon as their manager. It was an all-in, seize-the-moment move. It was bold and heartless and — if the Rays are to be believed — illegal.
Maddon gained the contractual right to opt out of the final season of his contract when Rays general manager Andrew Friedman left for the Dodgers.
Maddon was making $1.8 million. The Rays offered $3 million annually for three years in an extension. Maddon wanted at least $4 million. At an impasse, Maddon opted out. Chicago gave Maddon a five-year, $25 million contract because, in Epstein’s words, he is “a difference- maker in the clubhouse and in the dugout.”
The Rays are, at minimum, suspicious he would walk away from guaranteed money unless he knew much better was out there. If he or his agent, Alan Nero, spoke contract with the Cubs before Maddon opted out, the Rays believe they can make a tampering case.
Nero and the Cubs, of course, say they went by the book. Tampering charges — without a smoking email or text or tape — are difficult to prove. Still, Rays officials are said to be furious and could seek a penalty and/or compensation. It very well could be an early test case for commissioner-elect Rob Manfred, who does not take office until January, but runs point on judicial matters within the game now.
But that is a pending issue. In the present, the Cubs were willing to fire a manager under contract (Rich Renteria) to land one of the few difference-making skippers in the game. The Cubs have done this in the recent past with Dusty Baker and Lou Piniella. Baker (remember Steve Bartman) and Piniella steered the Cubs into the playoffs. Still, the organization remains without a title since 1908.
“The challenge is so outstanding, how could you not want to be in this seat?” Maddon said.
Epstein helped end the Curse of the Bambino in Boston and appears in hyper-drive now to do the same with the Curse of the Billy Goat. Maddon is just the beginning. Chicago is ready to go big for starting pitching to augment that base of hitting prospects. Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer drafted and developed free agent Jon Lester in Boston and Maddon broke in free agent James Shields in Tampa Bay.
The Mets were not willing to even consider dismissing Terry Collins to go for Maddon. No one in the game sees the Mets in hyper-drive to complement that pitching by reaching deep into their wallet at a time when it is harder to find elite hitters than arms.
Now, both organizations showed with Zambrano, Bay, etc. that spending is not always a cure-all. The few big contracts each team has given recently — Edwin Jackson with the Cubs, and Curtis Granderson and David Wright with the Mets — hardly would fall into the success column. Also, Maddon is going to have to prove his style — a brew of folksy, offbeat and cerebral — will play in a big city that cares as much as it did in disinterested Tampa.
For now — and for better or worse — the Cubs have exhibited a certain tired-of-losing ruthlessness that suggests they are ready to divert off the road they have been traveling with the Mets.