Allgemeines » him and nurture them.At a footy

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon received a flurry of criticism for his bullpen management and other decisions late in the World Series, but he apparently hasnt lost any cachet with the teams front office as a result.Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer, speaking to reporters Tuesday at the MLB GMs meetings, expressed support for the job Maddon did this season and said Maddons performance adds to a portfolio that will eventually earn him a spot in Cooperstown.Joe is a world champion manager for the first time and hes going to be in the Hall of Fame someday, Hoyer said. I think hes deserving of both.Critics piled on Maddon for using closer Aroldis Chapman for 1 1/3 innings and 20 pitches in World Series Game 6, even though the Cubs had the game in hand at the time and went on to beat Cleveland by a score of 9-3. Maddon was pilloried in Game 7 for lifting starter Kyle Hendricks after 4 1/3 innings and bringing in starter Jon Lester in relief with a runner on first base, even after saying he would summon Lester only with the bases empty.Also, in the ninth inning of a tied Game 7, Javier Baez was called on to bunt with a 3-2 count and one out with the go-ahead run at third and the infield in. He fouled off the pitch and was out. The run didnt score. ?The game was tied because Chapman, called upon to throw 35 pitches in Game 7, allowed a game-tying, two-run homer to Rajai Davis in the eighth inning.The Cubs did recover, however, to beat the Indians 8-7 in 10 innings and capture their first title since 1908.By the time you got to the finish line, both teams were really tired and obviously that has a huge impact on what happened, Hoyer said. We won the World Series, and I know theres a zero percent chance we win 200 games over two years and win the World Series without Joe. I think thats the nature of the postseason. The managers take on an almost oversized persona, because the cameras are on them the entire game and every move they make is going to be dissected.I had my own internal monologue I could rely on. It was an amazing game. Maybe even now, Im sort of glad thats how we won the game. Its sort of an appropriate way to end a 108-year drought, when you stare into the abyss for 45 minutes or so and end up coming out the other side. Ill probably have more gray hairs now. Ill probably have ulcers and it might have taken some minutes off my life. But it was probably more appropriate.Hoyer, Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and the rest of Chicagos front-office team are in Scottsdale to begin the process of preparing for 2017. The Cubs will have to deal with the potential loss of Chapman, who is a free agent, as well as center fielder Dexter Fowler, who hit the open market after declining a $9 million mutual option for next season. Hoyer said the team plans to engage in talks with agent Casey Close and has interest in retaining Fowler, who logged a .276/.393/.447 slash line as Chicagos primary leadoff hitter this season. The Cubs tendered Fowler a one-year, $17.2 million qualifying offer, but Fowler is expected to reject it and pursue free agency.Chapman, 28, saved 16 games, logged a 1.01 ERA and struck out 46 batters in 26 2/3 innings with the Cubs after coming over from the New York Yankees by trade in late July. He joins Kenley Jansen and Mark Melancon as one of three big-name closers on the market this winter.Carl Edwards Jr., who struck out 52 batters in 36 relief innings for the Cubs this season, is one potential internal option to replace Chapman as closer. Hector Rondon recorded 18 saves before the end of July, but his performance fell off markedly after Chapmans arrival.Hoyer said the Cubs main objective this offseason will be to add pitching to catch up to the young position player core led by Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Baez, Kyle Schwarber and Willson Contreras.Our overarching focus is finding controllable pitching -- starting and relieving, Hoyer said. I think Ive said that a thousand times to our local writers, and thats probably going to be our same answer for the next 18-24 months. Our young position players are ahead of our pitchers both in volume and talent, so thats going to be the focus for a while. Cheap Basketball Shoes China . John Tavares, Thomas Vanek and Kyle Okposo were also being counted on to slow down sizzling Rangers forward Rick Nash. That plan didnt go so well early. Cheap Basketball Shoes Free Shipping . The Dane followed up his first European Tour title last weekend with eight birdies and just a single dropped shot on Thursday for a one-stroke advantage over South Africas Allan Versfeld and Portugals Ricardo Santos. https://www.cheapbasketballshoesstore.com/ . -- Aldon Smith believes he is on the path to being sober for good. Basketball Shoes Online Store . -- An ugly goal by Nick Bonino helped the Anaheim Ducks overcome the defensive-minded Phoenix Coyotes on a night when their ragged power play continued to struggle. Basketball Shoes 2020 . Jordan Lynch, the all-purpose Heisman Trophy finalist from Northern Illinois, failed to make it into that exclusive club. There was a moment during the Western Bulldogs unhorsing of the emperor Hawthorn at the MCG last weekend that seemed beautifully symbolic. Luke Hodge, Hawthorns ageing warrior was caught out of position but intent on taking his ground back as he confronted Marcus Bontempelli of the Bulldogs, the best young player in the competition, near goal.Bontempelli was not cowed by the moment. He stuck his chest out, held the Hawks skipper off, and took the mark, and it was a night for passing of batons, so it seemed. Of course Hawthorn will be back, on the evidence of recent history, and Hodge will fire a few more shots. But not this year.Meanwhile the Bulldogs continue their improbable run from seventh on the ladder, picking up all the neutrals on their considerable bandwagon, not to mention the unswerving support of their fans, most of whom cannot even remember their last premiership in 1954.Luke Beveridge is at the heart of it as the coach, because the all-too-common organisational charts do not work in footy clubs. The coach should be right at the top, with the president and the chief executive, although at times, we try to pretend otherwise. We like to think that the coach is just about the footy, but we have to remember that the footy is the core business.Beveridge is the best new coach footy has seen in years, possibly since Alastair Clarkson took over at Hawthorn at the end of 2004, and their journeys were not dissimilar. Clarkson had coached a lot, won a premiership in the SANFL, coached in the VFL and worked as an assistant under smart people like Mark Choco Williams at Port Adelaide by the time Ian Dicker and the Hawthorn board appointed him. He had done an MBA and worked as a phys-edder, but he liked coaching. He was a revelation at Hawthorn, as four flags in a decade shows.A good rather than great player, Beveridge retired and went into tthe corporate world, too, but kept coming back to footy.dddddddddddd He coached St Bedes in the amateur competition to three straight flags, he coached in the background at Collingwood, and then at Hawthorn from 2012-2014 under Clarkson, ironically alongside Leon Cameron, now coach of Greater Western Sydney and his direct opponent on Saturday at the Sydney showgrounds. He worked out how to manage groups of people, how to draw them along with him and nurture them.At a footy club, you find a good coach and everything seems to follow. The Bulldogs were scarcely in a great spot when he arrived; the board had reached a mutual agreement with Brendan McCartney to leave after the players turned against him. The reluctant captain and superstar player, Ryan Griffen, had walked. A year on, they are close to a grand final, with only the burgeoning GWS in front of their goal.What is so good about Beveridge? It is the organic improvement of those within, like Liam Picken, who looks like he could play lead guitar for AC/DC and plays just as hard. It is the role players, like Joel Hamling, holding down a key defensive post when hardly anyone knew him a few months ago. It is the enthusiasm and the spirit that has been engendered through a footy club, an infectious vibe.What a wonderful irony that Hawthorn could be brought down in their quest to match the four consecutive flags of Collingwood from 1927-1930 by a team coached by Beveridge, whose grandfather Jack played in the centre for the Magpies in the side that came to be known as The Machine.At the Bulldogs, the coach sets no limits. He is not about honorable defeat; in fact, the motto the players have adopted is: Why not us?No wonder they are everybodys second team right now. ' ' '