Feb. 27--Manager Joe Maddon doesn't care how young a player might be or how many days off the Chicago Cubs will have early in the season.
Maddon emphasizes rest and canceling batting practice often during the latter stages of the regular season to preserve rest for his players. This policy could come in handy as the Cubs try to distribute ample playing time for their outfielders.
Maddon said he learned a valuable lesson as a coach with the Angels in the 1990s.
"It always seemed as though that we ran out of gas, even before I got there," Maddon said. "I always heard if you look at the Angels teams, every time they got to September, they'd run out of gas.
"And so then I get there. One of the things we did was hit a lot, and we'd hit on Sunday mornings for an hour, with four groups of 15 minutes.
"In retrospect, I'd see guys fade by the end of the season. I was the hitting coach, and I was in the middle of all that. I thought that was the right way to do things, too."
Maddon believes that players don't necessarily need to hit in the middle months if they've taken thousands of swings with their muscle memory settled in.
"I believe in keeping the mind sharp," Maddon said. "When the mind is sharp, the body is going to follow. And thus, I like less actual physical work."
Maddon believes a 162-game season is long enough, coupled with plane rides, different game times, day games after night games and unpredictable nutritional habits.
"There's only one way to do it," Maddon said of the need for rest. "I don't care what birth certificates say."
