Sept. 25--Since taking over as Chicago Cubs manager, Joe Maddon pulled left-hander Travis Wood from the rotation, lifted Jason Hammel sooner than expected in two starts and benched three-time National League all-star shortstop Starlin Castro in favor of rookie Addison Russell.
For Maddon, his mastery of solving problems developed in the mid-1980s when he was managing in the Angels' system.
"At one point, I wanted to be more analytical at that time," Maddon recalled Friday.
But with the help of Tim Kelly, a former major league scout and former pitching coach at Arizona State, Maddon realized that the solution to solving problems usually wasn't so complex.
"I always talked about simplicity," Maddon said. "And we would talk about stuff all the time. (Kelly) talked about the simple answer probably was the right answer."
Maddon compared Kelly's advice to "Ockham's razor," a principle originated by English philosopher William of Ockham in the 14th century.
"The simpler solution is probably the better one to go with," Maddon said. "I've been working with that premise from the mid-80s. I had to refine it and have to understand it.
"When things got crazy, I got calmer and always enjoyed trying to solve problems."
