Joe Maddon responds to Clint Hurdle's comments on Javy Baez: ‘It reveals you more than it reveals the person you're talking about'

Share

Don’t judge a book by looking at the cover.

Whether you learned that lesson from your parents, from a teacher or from Bo Diddley, the message is universally accepted as a good one.

But in practice, sadly, it’s not quite as well-adopted.

It’s the message that Joe Maddon delivered Friday morning, a day after controversy arose because someone failed to remember that lesson.

That someone was Pittsburgh Pirates skipper Clint Hurdle, who criticized Javy Baez and questioned his “respect for the game” after Baez emphatically tossed a bat in frustration during Wednesday night’s game. It wasn’t exactly an unexpected moment from a player who seems to do everything at full go and has won tons of fans for his style of play. But it didn’t appeal to Hurdle, whose team lost that game by a 13-5 score.

Baez defended himself after Thursday’s game, defended his work ethic, defended his style of play. The following morning, Maddon said he was thrilled with how his player handled things and took the opportunity provided by Hurdle’s judgments to offer an important life lesson to anyone paying attention — including Hurdle.

“I was surprised by it. I did not see it coming at all. Clint and I have had a great relationship, I’ve known him for many, many years. I don’t really understand why he did what he did,” Maddon said a day after controversy arose when Hurdle attacked Baez for not respecting the game in response to the Cubs second baseman tossing a bat during Wednesday’s game.

“I’ve had commentary, and I don’t deny that I have, but to try to disseminate exactly what I think about a guy on another team based on superficial reasons, I’ll never go there. I don’t know the guy enough. I’m not in the clubhouse with him. I don’t have these conversations. I don’t know what kind of a teammate he is. I don’t know any of that stuff. I would really be hesitant.

“(It’s) just like people making decisions about (Cubs relief pitcher Pedro) Strop just because of the way he wears his hat, or (Minnesota Twins closer and former Cub) Fernando Rodney. I think most of the time when you hear critical commentary, it’s really, pretty much, self evaluation. It’s about what you believe, it’s about your judgmental component. It reveals you more than it reveals the person you’re talking about. I’ve always believed that.

“So whenever you want to be hypercritical of somebody, just understand you’re pretty much revealing yourself and what your beliefs are more than you are being critical or evaluating somebody, because you have not spent one second in that person’s skin.”

Who knows if Hurdle saw what Baez said after Wednesday’s game, when he owned up to the “ugliness” of his bat toss on the pop up and talked about how a teammate approached him about his reaction and used it as a teaching moment.

But Maddon is among the many who watch this team on a daily basis who hope none of this changes how Baez plays the game. Baez is hands down one of the game’s most exciting players at the plate, in the field and as a base runner. To tamp down his enthusiasm wouldn’t just be bad for fans — it could cost the Cubs games. Baez is a flashy player, and all that flash turns into spectacular plays, must-see tags, huge home runs and game-winning trips around the bases.

“If you went to Puerto Rico, he fits in pretty well. You wouldn’t really be all that concerned about how he plays the game or the methods. This is how we view things here,” Maddon said. “For me, he plays with a joy. I also believe that guys that are really good at this game and in some regards do a lot of it easily, you almost want to accuse them of being flamboyant.

“I don’t want him to be robotic. How about the play he made at shortstop yesterday? Is that flamboyant or is that outstanding? … Whether people describe it as flamboyant, I would have to believe that if you’re paying a good dollar to come watch the Cubs play, you’re looking for that flamboyant play that he’s able to make that nobody else can.

“I love the way Javy plays baseball. I love the way Contreras plays baseball. I love the emotion and the passion. … I would much prefer that than the lethargic approach any day of the week.”

As for how Hurdle’s comments will reverberate with Baez himself, Maddon thinks they will have an effect, one that will be evident the next time the Cubs and Pirates get together.

“I just know it’s going to motivate Javy, I really believe that,” Maddon said. “Javy’s motivated anyway, but I’ll be eager to watch him perform in Pittsburgh from now on.”

Contact Us