The Chicago Tribune has an interesting interview with Cubs manager Joe Maddon about his interview with former Twins GM Terry Ryan in 2014 as part of Minnesota's managerial search. It has been reported in the past the two sides met, but this had some good details. Maddon, of course, ended up taking the Cubs job while the Twins hired Paul Molitor.
In the wake of Ryan being fired Monday, Maddon discussed how the meeting went, including this:
"After our conversation, I thought we'd known each other for 20 years," Maddon said. "We starting talking about true baseball stuff. There was no overt concern about the sabermetric component or numbers."
That speaks to Ryan's presence and humanity — as well as his baseball approach. It must have been a contrast for Maddon — who was coming from Tampa Bay, which uses sabermetrics arguably as much as any team in baseball.
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.
