Joe Maddon Not an Option for Red Sox; Or Is He?

It was reported earlier today by Gordon Edes that current Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon is no longer an option for the vacant seat in Boston left by Terry Francona.

As Edes mentioned, Maddon spoke at a team media event on Thursday and according to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times, when Maddon was asked about his future he stated “I don’t want to go anywhere else.”

Sure Maddon has one year left on his contract and it was rumored that the Red Sox would ask the Rays for permission to speak with Maddon about possibly coming to Boston, but nothing has surfaced on that front.

So it’s case closed on the manager who was a finalist for the Red Sox job in 2004 before Francona got the gig right?  Not so fast.

Today on the SIRIUS satelite channel, Mad Dog Radio, host Chris Russo was chatting with Tampa Tribune reporter, Ira Kaufman and this is where the Maddon situation gets a little interesting.

Kaufman mentioned to Russo that one hour after the Rays had lost their ALDS to the Texas Rangers, that Rays owner Stuart Sternberg had addressed the media and was quite frank about the future of the Rays franchise.  Kaufman mentioned that Sternberg had used the term “disolvancy” when talking about the Rays future in Tampa Bay.  A powerful term when discussing the state of his team.  The biggest reason according to Kaufman was the uncertainty of the where the Rays will play.  Their contract with Tropicana Field is due up and there are currently no plans to build a new stadium for the club, mainly because of lack of funding.

It’s no secret that Sternberg will invest in another ballclub when his tenure with the Rays is over.  That timeline hasn’t been determined just yet, but it appears that it may be sooner rather than later.

So with so much disparity and uncertainty surrounding this team, let alone if they’ll even be playing baseball in Tampa Bay in a year or two, maybe this is the perfect time for Maddon to leave and manage elsewhere. Anytime a word like disolvancy is used, that doesn’t sound overly promising.  Why is Maddon sticking around only to possibly be out of work when he could quite honestly sign a four or five year deal in Boston.  Does Maddon dislike the Red Sox that much that he’ll stay with a $41 million dollar payroll and once again lead a furocious charge to the playoffs?  He gets the best out of his players and is a wizardry in developing the youngsters.  Hmmm, sounds like Boston could really use him.

While Maddon may have suggested he doesn’t want to manage anywhere else, perhaps he’s doing something that Terry Franonca didn’t do; mask his true emotions when asked about them.

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