Cubs manager Joe Maddon made an emphatic point during a Sunday afternoon meeting with the ESPN crew that will call tonight's Nationals-Cubs game: He will defend his players.
"My job, I believe, is to protect my brood," he said. "Quite frankly, it's no different than being a parent."
After ESPN analyst Alex Rodriguez went after Yu Darvish during a Sunday night telecast two weeks ago, Maddon slammed the former offensive star on WSCR-670, calling his comments "plastic, probably rehearsed ... and contrived."
The two men made peace Sunday, at least in Maddon's mind.
"Alex and I had a really nice discussion," he said. "I felt good about it. Hopefully he felt the same. We talked openly about it. Under those circumstances for me, you speak in a candid manner and then you move on. I really believe through that conversation that we have a chance to be pretty good friends."
Rodriguez, seemingly out of the blue, had suggested that Darvish's teammates felt the injured Japanese pitcher was being coddled.
"When you have a guy that signed an enormous contract and is sitting down and you walk in the training room and he's got two trainers working on him, you should be in Arizona somewhere getting treated," Rodriguez said.
An ESPN spokesman said that Rodriguez likely would not be available to meet with reporters before Sunday night's game because of rehearsals and prep work. He is expected to address the issue during the game.
Said Maddon: "I've talked about circling our wagons. It's about what we think first and foremost that matters. Whether it's among the coaches, the clubhouse itself, ownership, front office, that's the circle you have to satisfy. For me it's about that and anytime you have any outside noise coming in, you have to parcel it out and make sense of it and keep the integrity of the group together."
Maddon said the people who raised him in small-town Pennsylvania _ parents, aunts, uncles, coaches _ "would have it no other way. So when you speak badly of our group, it brings out the Hazleton in me."
Maddon said the issue is now in the past: "Listen, I'm not here to battle with anybody. I want to believe that it will be a nice first step to building a great relationship with Alex."
