By Bruce Levine–
MESA, Ariz. (CBS) — The former Cubs manager lost his job to the current Cubs manager. The former Cubs manager is now the White Sox manager.
Strange dugout fellows? Not so if you ask Rick Renteria and Joe Maddon about each other. The two managers faced off on Monday at Sloan Park for the first time.
“He is awesome,” Maddon said about his counterpart Renteria. “I think he is a wonderful man. I would love to have a beer with him sometime if the schedules match up. He has been just wonderful.”
A mutual yet somewhat awkward respect is shared by both baseball men. Renteria went underground after getting sacked in favor of Maddon in November of 2014. He was paid off by the Cubs over the next two years, with $3 million area total.
That for this the proud baseball man helped ease the pain of rejection by his former employers.
“Baseball does what it does,”Renteria said. “We all must take account of ourselves. We have to find some balance. I said this before, there are worse things that have happened to people. Initially, you feel a sense of a blow.”
Renteria stayed out of baseball in 2015. He was offered coaching and player development jobs. The sting from being fired after a successful season of development as the Cubs manager needed time to subsist.
The Cubs’ young players like Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo had bounce back seasons under Renteria. The team won more than it lost the second half of the year.
“Sure, that was part of it, it would be a lie if I didn’t say that helped get through all of it,” Renteria said of the buyout. “You clear your mind, look for a spot to re-enter and to hopefully do the job in a positve way.”
Renteria hopes to sit down with Maddon someday and talk ball, but not likely at the ballpark.
“I will say hello to everybody,” Renteria said of the Cubs. “There is nothing wrong in saying hello. I tell my players if you want to get in depth, take them out to dinner or take them out to lunch.”
A real sense of competitive juices flowing for the two managers will be in the regular season games between the two clubs, which brings a four game series in late July.
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2mEcrRL
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