Cubs Are Creating Unnecessary Tension With Lack of an Extension for Joe Maddon

Can somebody please explain to us the maddening strategy being deployed by Chicago Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer in terms of his plans for extending Joe Maddon? Because we are finding that task to be impossible.

As we know, the 65-year-old manager is the final year of the five-year contract he signed with the organization back in 2015. And his future (or lack thereof) with the franchise has been an underlying storyline in a roller coaster season for the Cubbies.

Maddon remains confident that his future won't depend on wins and losses, but Hoyer refused to elaborate on those inclinations. Instead, the GM wants to focus on Chicago's current predicament: battling for the NL Central crown.

We have one question: why? Why not just hand Maddon the extension now? Doing so would lift a heavy burden off his back, and everybody knows just how much Maddon's managing abilities fluctuate under pressure.

Sure, the three-time Manager of the Year is confident that he'll return to the Windy City for the foreseeable future, but so much tension would be relieved if a deal were agreed upon before the season's stakes raise even higher in a few weeks' time.

The Cubs would be foolish not to hold onto the man who delivered the Cubs their first championship in over a century. Further more, the club (as far as we know) doesn't have any potential successors lined up to replace Joe. Joe Girardi's going to have plenty of suitors, and can't necessarily be relied upon for a Wrigley homecoming (he's bizarrely made his predilection for the Mets well-known).

Do everybody a favor and just get the deal done already.