Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times wrote Friday night that the Rays “are still considering filing tampering charges or a complaint” against the Cubs for their hasty hiring of manager Joe Maddon. The suspicion being that the Cubs front office contacted Maddon while he was still under contract with Tampa Bay and convinced him to exercise his opt-out.
But that’s going to be a difficult thing to prove and Maddon’s agent, Alan Nero, is already issuing public denials. He was on SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio with Jim Bowden on Sunday morning …
Alan Nero told us that Joe Maddon was willing to stay with the Rays at UNDER market value…Rays just weren’t willing to pay @MLBNetworkRadio
— Jim Bowden (@JimBowden_ESPN) November 2, 2014
Alan Nero said he negotiated 5-6 days w/ Rays re:Joe Maddon before opting out. He was willing to stay @Rays for MUCH less @MLBNetworkRadio
— Jim Bowden (@JimBowden_ESPN) November 2, 2014
Alan Nero told us that the Cubs would not talk to them until they had a copy of his opt out clause & permission from Commish Office XM 89
— Jim Bowden (@JimBowden_ESPN) November 2, 2014
Cubs president Theo Epstein has also denied that anything wrongful took place in the hiring.