Hiring Greg Maddux Cubs’ smartest move of the winter

Greg Maddux will make a world of difference in the quality of future Cubs (Image via Wikipedia).

Cubs GM Jim Hendry just made his best move of the winter — and it doesn’t involve a player.

Megabucks free agents’ contributions are often only temporary, for a free years. Trade for a guy, and you might move him on the same year if he disappoints. But brainpower and dedication — that’s permanent. That could win you more championships than the most gilded of rosters.

Hendry got about 20 percent more savvy when he brought aboard as his special assistant Greg Maddux, the smartest man in baseball and the best pitcher the Cubs ever developed.  Returning to baseball after a one-year hiatus in which his No. 31 was retired by both the Cubs and Braves, future Hall of Famer Maddux will be an instructor and talent evaluator at both the big-league and minor-league levels. The Cubs will be only limited by time and imagination in finding roles for Maddux or players for whom he can tutor. And this time, unlike 1991-92, the Cubs won’t let Maddux get away this time through sheer stupidity.

The reason Maddux is more important long-term than any player the Cubs could have obtained is the stark fact he’ll dramatically boost the evaluation and teaching of players, a process that often has been too spotty for the franchise’s good — if not outright incompetent (going back to the Wrigley family ownership). But Maddux knows more about pitching than any human being alive, even if he always soft-pedals his genius and uses verbal misdirection, albeit a lot more subtlely than Lou Pinella.

Remember, this is a fella who at age 26 in 1992 called pitches for fellow Cubs starters Frank Castillo and Mike Morgan. Castillo admitted the process and so did then-manager Jim Lefebvre. Morgan, a Maddux buddy from their native Las Vegas, even showed me the set of signs Maddux flashed from the bench through the catcher. But then, and 12 years later, Maddux denied using such a system, calling it “ballclub business.” You couldn’t blame him for his silence. Magicians rarely reveal their tricks.

A few years later, Maddux sat in the visitors’ dugout at Wrigley Field and held a bat in his hands. The object of the game, he said, was to induce the hitter into making contact off the handle or the end of the bat, pointing to the spots on the lumber.  That meant a routine ground ball or popup.

In Maddux’s 2 1/2-year second tenure with the Cubs from 2004-06, he was often seen in counsel with other pitchers.  Ask any of them what they thought of his advice, and you’ll get nothing but raves.

Maddux was an all-around player who prided himself in his knowledge of hitting, bunting and fielding. He literally could instruct in all aspects of baseball. When introduced in his new role via a teleconference,  he said he wouldn’t think of tampering with hitters’ swings. But in briefing them in pitchers’ patterns and how to handle specific pitches, he’d be the master.

Obviously, this is a trial for Maddux in how he handles baseball front-office work. With two children still in elementary school, he’s not committing himself to a 162-game schedule plus spring training. But an interesting crossroads will be seen after the 2010 season. Piniella’s contract is up. Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild is closely aligned with Piniella. Meanwhile, Ryne Sandberg, in training to be a big-league manager, will have completed a full year at Triple-A Iowa. If Sandberg is promoted to the Cubs, as all indications apparently point, he’ll need a pitching coach if Rothschild is not retained. The greatest pitching mind of this generation is already drawing a Cubs paycheck…

If Maddux could get his family’s blessing to join Sandberg, then the Cubs could complete the trifecta by hiring new Hall of Famer Andre Dawson as hitting/outfield/attitude coach. That was a winning trio in 1989, and I’d love to see the old gang together again, three Cooperstown types who knew how to play the game right. Between the three, I don’t think any player would jake it or disrespect the game. I would have loved to see a Milton Bradley type be at the business end of one of Dawson’s famous intense stares. He’d need adult Depends.

For those who know their Cubs history, there’s an irony in Maddux’s return. He’s always loved the Cubs, their fans and Wrigley Field. He never wanted to leave in the first place after his first Cy Young Award season in ‘92. Arrogant Tribune Co. bungling of his contract led to the divorce and made the rich pitching staff even richer in Atlanta. This time, the Braves did not offer a concrete deal to come back. The Cubs did.

That makes some amends for ‘92, but more importantly, makes sure incoming Cubs of the future are evaluated and instructed the right way by the brain of baseball.