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MESA, Ariz. -- A spring training ritual for managers and the local beat writers is the morning scrum. Lloyd McClendon of the Seattle Mariners meets at 8 a.m. every morning in his office. Bud Black of the San Diego Padres gathers in the shade outside the team clubhouse, with a Padres logo behind him for video purposes. Mike Scioscia meets on the field. The managers deliver the basics like injury updates, roster cutdowns or other news. The reporters ask some questions. Sometimes they get good answers, sometimes they don't. Some of the managers try to reveal as little as possible.  Then there's Chicago Cubs skipper Joe Maddon. I'm guessing being a Cubs beat guy in 2015 will be a lot more fun. Maddon provides good material.
Friday morning, he was talking with the media about playing in the NL Central, a division he rarely faced when managing the Rays, who made regular postseason appearances when the AL East was regarded as the best division in the majors. "I think our young guys got better, faster," he said of the Rays' breakthrough season in 2008 and facing the Red Sox and Yankees. The Cubs, like that Tampa Bay team, are a club with young talent. "I want the NL Central to be considered the best division in baseball," Maddon said. In the spring of 2008, the Rays got into a memorable fracas with the Yankees. Reminded of that incident, Maddon enjoyed telling the story of Elliot Johnson's violet collision at home plate with Francisco Cervelli, a collision that broke Cervelli's wrist. "We're friends now," Maddon said of Cervelli, "and I felt bad for him at the time, but sometimes all this stuff is necessary." The Rays had another episode in early June that year involving Jason Bartlett and the Red Sox and a takeout slide at second base, which led to James Shields plunking Coco Crisp and setting off a brawl. The point: The Rays, who had never had a winning season at that point in their history, weren't going to back down. Maddon may drink his wine and study the analytics, but his teams play with a certain fire. Expect the same from the Cubs. "Leadership isn't given," he says. "You have to take it." Asked about some of the other roster decisions he'll face -- aside from the Kris Bryant controversy -- Maddon admitted "I need to listen to other people who've seen these guys a lot more." He hinted that's a tough change for him after managing the Rays for so many years. "I think I'm a pretty good listener. But it will be a lot more listening than normal."
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