HAZLETON, Pa. — Joe Maddon compared signing Jon Lester to winning the baseball lottery at last year’s winter meetings. The Cubs manager now feels like he hit another Powerball jackpot with Jason Heyward.
“We won two years in a row,” Maddon said Tuesday. “I believe he’s one of the top five players in the National League.”
Almost 700 miles from the fancy Michigan Avenue restaurant where the Cubs staged Heyward’s welcome-to-Chicago press conference, Maddon imagined the possibilities while back in his blue-collar hometown in Pennsylvania, preparing for his annual “Thanksmas” events at the Hazleton One Community Center.