As he stood outside the White House last month speaking to reporters gathered for the Cubs’ championship celebration, Joe Maddon launched into his spring training stump speech.
"A mind once stretched has a very difficult time going back to its original form," Maddon began.
The Chicago media on hand nodded at one another. They had heard Maddon’s mind-stretching mantra a time or two.
But now Maddon had a rapt, new audience and a national stage on which to deliver his Zen-like thoughts, which eventually led to a T-shirt-friendly buzzword for 2017 that may or may not stick: "Uncomfortable."
"I’m really leaning on the phrase or thought of being uncomfortable," Maddon said. "I want us to be uncomfortable. The moment you get into your comfort zone after having such a significant moment in your life like that, the threat is that you’re going to stop growing."
From untouchable to uncomfortable, the World Series champion Cubs emerge from hibernation this week to begin their attempt at back-to-back titles, a feat no team has accomplished since the Yankees won three straight from 1998 to 2000.
The Cubs’ pursuit is one of several intriguing storylines this year as baseball hopes to capitalize on its highest-rated World Series since the Red Sox broke their championship drought in 2004:
The Ready for Prime Time Players
Coming off the World Series win, the Cubs have only a few key roster spots to fill.
But a second consecutive lengthy postseason combined with a longer spring training will necessitate that several seasoned veterans to be brought along slower than usual. That policy worked well last spring as starters Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks, Jon Lester and John Lackey helped the rotation compile 989 regular-season innings — the most in the major leagues. The addition of Jon Jay will give manager Joe Maddon plenty of lineup and outfield combinations.
Here are the locks, the good bets and the long shots.
(Mark Gonzales)
The Cubs’ epic stretch of failure ended Nov. 2 in that wild, stomach-churning Game 7 in Cleveland. Now that the Dark Ages are officially over, how long the Cubs Renaissance will last depends on the team’s core of young players and management’s ability to keep them together.
They return the same nucleus, switching elite closers (from Aroldis Chapman to Wade Davis), losing leadoff man Dexter Fowler and basically adding a potential 30-home-run hitter in Kyle Schwarber, who missed almost all of last season after knee surgery before his storybook comeback in the World Series.
With so much talent to manage, Maddon’s main task may be avoiding a championship hangover like the one the Cardinals endured in 2007, when they went 78-84 after beating the Tigers in the 2006 World Series.
So how will Maddon make sure his players are uncomfortable?
It should be noted the Cubs spent tens of millions of dollars last year to make the players more relaxed in a spacious, new clubhouse, and Maddon’s laissez-faire approach to reporting times and batting practice adds to the comfort zone. The only time anyone looked uncomfortable last year was when Jon Lester threw to first base.
The lure of huge contracts — for Jake Arrieta now and for Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Willson Contreras and other young stars later — and the endorsements, "Saturday Night Live" appearances and other fruits of winning should keep everyone hungry enough to at least get back to the postseason.
After that, the Cubs might need a few lucky breaks and a timely rain delay to repeat.
Ricky’s back
Photos of White Sox manager Rick Renteria.
On the South Side, where the White Sox are in the early stages of a rebuild, the operative word is "patience." Not only patience with the team — which eventually will build around top prospects Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech and Lucas Giolito — but also with Sox management, which hasn’t made any significant deals since trading Chris Sale and Adam Eaton in early December.
The Sox aren’t touting themselves as contenders, and with such low expectations for 2017, the only direction they can go is up. Rick Renteria is back in the manager’s seat for the first time since his unceremonious ending with the Cubs in 2014.
To recap, on the final day of that season, Renteria told Cubs beat reporters he planned to "go home and have every single game downloaded, just for the purpose of (using) some of the good things and some of the bad things when we get into spring training and show the players what it is we’re looking for."
A month later, the Cubs fired Renteria and replaced him with Maddon.
The Sox believe he’s the perfect replacement for Robin Ventura, a popular former player who bore the brunt of criticism for the team’s underachieving ways.
Closing time Mark Melancon, Mark Pieper Eric Risberg / Associated Press
Giants pitcher Mark Melancon with his agent Mark Pieper after he was introduced at AT&T Park on Dec. 9, 2016.
Giants pitcher Mark Melancon with his agent Mark Pieper after he was introduced at AT&T Park on Dec. 9, 2016.
(Eric Risberg / Associated Press)
Which of the three prime-time free-agent closers — Chapman (who returned to the Yankees), Kenley Jansen (who re-upped with the Dodgers) or Mark Melancon — will have the biggest impact on his team?
The best guess is Melancon, who signed a four-year, $62 million deal to close for the Giants. Melancon has a 1.80 ERA over the last four seasons with the Pirates and Nationals and should fill a huge hole for the perennial National League contenders.
If not for a four-run ninth inning off the Giants bullpen in Game 4 of the NL Division Series, the Cubs might not be World Series champions. Maddon and Cubs President Theo Epstein admitted they weren’t exactly looking forward to a decisive Game 5 against Giants ace Johnny Cueto, even at Wrigley Field.
Tale of one city
Photos of former Cubs outfielder Dexter Fowler.
Few sports towns suffered as much in 2016 as St. Louis, home of the self-anointed "world’s greatest baseball fans." The Rams moved to Los Angeles, the Blues lost in the conference finals to the Sharks and the Cardinals finished 17 1/2 games behind the Cubs and out of the playoffs.
It couldn’t get much worse, could it?
Maybe. Baseball Prospectus’ 2017 projections have the Cardinals finishing 76-86 and in third place, 15 games behind the division-winning Cubs.
Oh, the humanity. The Cardinals have not finished under .500 since 2007.
Fowler arrives from the Cubs to try to help the Cardinals return to the postseason. After the White House visit, he tossed out some red meat to his former teammates, tweeting: "Can’t wait to go back next year with my @Cardinals!"
Future shock
Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan reported Major League Baseball will test a rule in the low minors that places a runner at second base at the start of extra innings. Joe Torre, MLB’s chief baseball officer, told Passan it’s a fine idea.
"What really initiated it," Torre said, "is sitting in the dugout in the 15th inning and realizing everybody is going to the plate trying to hit a home run and everyone is trying to end the game themselves. I don’t know what inning is the right inning. Maybe the 11th or 12th inning. But there are a number of reasons."
This kind of thinking is crazy. There are no good reasons for making such a major change to a sport that has survived and thrived as long as baseball has.
To paraphrase Crash Davis in "Bull Durham": Don’t think, MLB. It can only hurt the game.
psullivan@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @PWSullivan
The White Sox will have several factors in play while whittling down their roster during spring training, which opens Tuesday when pitchers and catchers report.
A spring trade is a possibility for a number of veterans, including Jose Quintana and David Robertson, and that could shake up the roster battles. The majority of the new prospects the Sox acquired in the Chris Sale and Adam Eaton trades figure to start the year in the minors, but there’s always a chance they could force their way into the big-league picture. That could make for an intriguing spring.
Here are the locks, good bets and long shots.
(Colleen Kane)
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