Here's a headline you might not have expected. Greg Maddux has left the Chicago Cubs to join his brother Mike in the Rangers organization. The younger Maddux will apparently assist with young pitcher instruction in a special assistant to the GM, part-time position. Maddux spoke with Bruce Levine about the move:
↵↵↵Yeah, it's true. I'm going to go work with my brother in Texas. I really enjoyed my time with the Cubs, and I'm going to miss the people over there. But I can't pass on an opportunity to work with my brother and the Texas Rangers.
↵
That is not something that I ever expected Greg Maddux to say.
↵The Rangers face losing C.J. Wilson this winter and have begun to work on how they're going to hang onto Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Nelson Cruz, Mike Napoli and Elvis Andrus past their current contracts, but possibly the two most critical nonplayers in the organization outside of Jon Daniels and Nolan Ryan - Mike Maddux and A.J. Preller - have been considered for lead jobs. Preller may still be up for the Astros GM job, but the retention of Maddux, seemingly solidified by his brother joining him (as opposed to the other way around, as it could have gone), is pretty huge for an organization that will have one of the youngest rotations in baseball next season. Aside from that, it's just cool to have Greg Maddux around.