Major League Baseball launched an investigation into whether Joe Maddon‘s hiring by the Chicago Cubs was preceded by tampering, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
On that same day, Theo Epstein, the Cubs President of Baseball Operations invited the investigation. He believes that there is nothing to hide, according to Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune.
“We welcome the MLB investigation,” Epstein told Sullivan. “As we said last week there’s no tampering whatsoever, and I’d rather they investigate so we can clear our names and get this over and move on from this quickly. We’re giving our full cooperation and welcome it.”
The Cubs were smart about waiting until Maddon officially opted out of his deal on Oct. 25 before beginning negotiations. However, the Rays think he decided to opt out because of tampering.
If the investigation shows proof that the Cubs did tamper, they may need to provide the Rays with some form of compensation which could include players, draft picks, and, or cash.
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