April 10--DENVER -- Manager Joe Maddon wasn't glued to the Internet Thursday night to follow the 2015 debut of Kris Bryant and other Chicago Cubs top prospects.
"I'm just being honest," Maddon said Friday morning. "I have too much to do here. I'll hear the scuttlebutt during the day. I may ask for a stat sheet from a minor league situation. I can look up everybody. I get so locked into what I'm doing here."
Simply, Maddon hasn't forgotten the work he performed as a coach, manager and scout in the Angels' organization.
"Part of it is this: I was a minor league grunt for so many years," Maddon said. "I really didn't like when the major league dudes interfered with what I was doing because they're not there. They have no feel for what 's going on. They saw what happened in spring training, and that's all they remember.
"But when you're a minor league manager or coach or rover, you're with these people on a daily basis, and even the front office, they get to see that or understand that more than I ever can. So I'm into listening to the boots on ground in those particular cities and what the front office has to say because I'm not seeing these people. So my opinion should be valued far less than these other people's opinions should be valued."
Bryant, who was sent to Triple-A Iowa despite batting .425 with nine home runs this spring, went 1-for-4 with a stolen base in a 7-4 loss at Memphis. But Maddon's allegiance remains right now with his major league team.
"My concern is Mike Olt and getting (Tommy) La Stella involved and everybody here trying to help make them as possibly good as they possibly be. And of course, the game planning, talking to the coaches regarding what they're doing and different nuances of the other team. I really mean that. I don't.
"In Tampa Bay, I was the same way. I get involved with what's going on here now.
"Trust everybody. That's the whole thing. Everyone's got a job to do, and you trust everybody doing their job."
