Gotcha!

I never thought the day would come when I’d be defending Cubs’ manager Joe Maddon, but here it is.  Maddon and team president Theo Epstein are catching all sorts of flak for all but guaranteeing last week that the entire coaching staff would be back next year, only to make three changes (pitching, hitting, third base) this week.  Maddon made things worse yesterday by admitting he was being less than candid in answering the question put to him.

There’s the rub—the question, asked before game four of the NLCS with the Cubs already down to the Dodgers three games to none.  Who asks about coaches at a time like that, unless it’s to play a little game of “Gotcha!”  Maddon says one thing and does another, gotcha!  Maddon is true to his word and still it’s gotcha!  How can a team stand pat when its bullpen implodes during the playoffs and the middle of the order fails to hit in the clutch?

No matter what Maddon and the Cubs did, they were going to get grief because of that question.  And the media wonders why so many people hate it.