Cubs hire Padres scouting director Jaron Madison

[CaliforniaRaisin]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/2012/08/madison-leaves-padres-for-cubs/

 

Padres scouting director Jaron Madison is leaving the team to join the Cubs in the same position, a baseball source said Friday.

 

Madison, 36, has been San Diego's scouting director since December 2009. During his time with the Padres, the club's farm system has improved dramatically, thanks to an influx of talent that includes draft picks such as Jedd Gyorko (2010); Cory Spangenberg, Joe Ross and Austin Hedges (2011); and Max Fried, Zach Eflin, Travis Jankowski and Walker Weickel (2012). Madison previously worked as an area scout for the Padres and Pirates and as an assistant scouting director for the Padres and Cardinals.

 

Madison was hired as San Diego's scouting director by then-Padres GM Jed Hoyer and vice president of scouting and player development Jason McLeod, who now hold those positions in Chicago.

 

The Cubs have yet to officially announce Madison's hiring or what will become of Tim Wilken, their current director and one of the game's most respected scouts.

[ctcf]

Yea I guess I should have put it here instead of Cubs Discussions.

[El Duderino]

Gotta imagine this is the end for Wilken.

[StarlinOnYou]

Good riddance.

 

This is an upgrade.

[davell]

Honestly, I think Wilken is a good counterview for our group. While I certainly figure he's gone, I actually hope we do we have an old school guy or two around.

[ctcf]

David Kaplan @thekapman

Cubs Scouting director Tim Wilken has been reassigned to a role as Special Assistant to Theo Epstein. Jaron Madison is new scouting director

 

Please stay this way

[davell]

Love expansion. Surprised Wilken is staying, but totally fine with it.

[ctcf]

Paul Sullivan @PWSullivan

Wilken to become Theo's special assistant, and will get a contract extension as well.

 

Absolutely awesome.

[davell]

So, not only did the Pads end up getting any compensation for Hoyer and McLeod, we can still raid them for more? Kinda great, wonder if we've taken all we want or if they have more we want?

[Magnetic Curses]

but b2b was telling me that wilken would stick around as scouting director and that the hiring of theo and jed would mean nothing.

[davell]

but b2b was telling me that wilken would stick around as scouting director and that the hiring of theo and jed would mean nothing.

I missed that one from him. Thank God.

[Magnetic Curses]

but b2b was telling me that wilken would stick around as scouting director and that the hiring of theo and jed would mean nothing.

I missed that one from him. Thank God.

 

sorry, it was actually godzillavskingkong

[Guest]

i'm not going to pretend like i know anything about this guy, but i like that theo/jed keep bringing in more of their guys, while reducing roles of those remaining from the old regime.

[WrigleyField 22]

but b2b was telling me that wilken would stick around as scouting director and that the hiring of theo and jed would mean nothing.

oh quiet. You were supposed to change your name to raging anus if wilken or flieta stuck around to start the year.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[sweetpeteman]

Turns out Wilken isn't getting the axe, he's getting promoted:

 

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120810&content_id=36471254&vkey=news_chc&c_id=chc

[davell]

I can't post it from my cell, but there's a great interview on Scout with Madison. Cubsden posted it a little while ago. He's definitely in line, thought-wise with McLeod. It's cool to be gathering so many of these guys. I guess majority rules when they're talking over potential picks? If so, the more great minds the better obviously.

[Guest]

Press Release:

 

CUBS PROMOTE TIM WILKEN TO SPECIAL ASSISTANT

TO THE PRESIDENT/GENERAL MANAGER,

HIRE JARON MADISON AS DIRECTOR OF AMATEUR SCOUTING

FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 2012

 

CHICAGO – The Chicago Cubs today promoted Tim Wilken to Special Assistant to the President/General Manager and hired Jaron Madison as the club’s director of amateur scouting.

 

In his expanded role with the organization, Wilken will continue to scout players for the amateur draft while adding major league, international and professional scouting responsibilities. Wilken will also now contribute player evaluations throughout the club’s entire major league and minor league system.

 

Wilken, who has spent more than 30 years in baseball, was named the 2006 East Coast Scout of the Year by the Scout of the Year Foundation one year after joining the Cubs organization the previous December. In his seven years with the Cubs, Wilken has drafted and signed many current Cubs players, including Darwin Barney, James Russell, Jeff Samardzija, Brett Jackson and Josh Vitters. Each of his first four first round selections with the Cubs – Tyler Colvin (2006), Vitters (2007), Andrew Cashner (2008) and Jackson (2009) reached the major leagues with the Cubs.

 

Prior to joining the Cubs, Wilken spent the previous three seasons as special assistant to the general manager in Tampa Bay. He began his career as an area scout in 1979 for the Toronto Blue Jays, where he spent 25 years in a variety of roles including area scout, minor league manager and coach, national crosschecker, director of amateur scouting and vice president, baseball operations. With Toronto, Wilken contributed to the club’s signing and developing of numerous players including Chris Carpenter, Roy Halladay, Vernon Wells and Michael Young.

 

Jaron Madison joins the Cubs organization after spending the last three years as Director of Amateur Scouting for the San Diego Padres, his third stint with the organization. Madison began his professional baseball career as an associate area scout with the Padres in 2002.

 

Madison served as an area scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2002-05 before returning to the Padres in 2005 as assistant to the director of player development. He later spent two seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals (2008-09) as the assistant scouting director before returning to San Diego to lead the club’s amateur scouting efforts on December 18, 2009.

 

The 36-year-old Madison is a 1998 graduate of Long Beach State University, where he also coached from 2001-02. He received his masters in sports management from the University of San Francisco in 2002.

[Guest]

I can't post it from my cell, but there's a great interview on Scout with Madison. Cubsden posted it a little while ago. He's definitely in line, thought-wise with McLeod. It's cool to be gathering so many of these guys. I guess majority rules when they're talking over potential picks? If so, the more great minds the better obviously.

 

http://padres.scout.com/2/1190168.html

 

MF: To you, if you look at one guy and think he has a 10% chance of hitting his peak, but if he does, he’s a Hall-of-Fame caliber player, and another kid kid has a 70% chance of making it, but for him that means he becomes an every-day regular, which is the “best player available” to you?

Madison:Honestly, we try to balance it out and take a little of each of those. We’ll take the high-ceiling upside guys, but we’ll balance it with a Jedd Gyorko, the guy who we’re pretty certain is going to get to the big leagues and be at least a regular and have an impact. But we’re also going to shoot for the stars a little bit and take the Joe Ross, the Austin Hedges and some of those guys. We treat it like a stock portfolio, you have to diversify and have a little bit of everything. If you take all those safe, low-ceiling guys, you’re never going to have the impact in the system. But if you take those high-risk, high-reward guys and don’t hit, you’re really going to be in trouble.

 

Last year, we took Spangenberg, and to a man we thought, this guy can hit and he can run. We were sure, to a man, he’s going to play in the big leagues. And we balanced it with Joe Ross, who if it all clicks, he can be an ace on this staff. But there’s risk in the high school right handed pitcher. And then we come with Michael Kelly and Jace Peterson and Hedges. We really tried to diversify our draft. And that’s the fun part of it.

[weis21]

Love that interview and love this move. I wish I could fast-forward 5 years when the Cubs are awesome and the system is stocked with talent.

 

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[toonsterwu]

David Kaplan @thekapman

Cubs Scouting director Tim Wilken has been reassigned to a role as Special Assistant to Theo Epstein. Jaron Madison is new scouting director

 

Please stay this way

 

I hate being the guy that seems to voice the negative opinions, but ... why do you feel so vehement about this? I'm just mildly curious.

 

Look, I love the new braintrust as much as anyone, but I've argued before that McLeod's drafts in San Diego were over-hyped (although I really like Jace Peterson). This doesn't take away from McLeod's good run in Boston, as Wilken's efforts here (while not great, hardly horrible), doesn't take away from his good run in Toronto and a solid couple drafts in Tampa.

 

I think Madison had a good draft this year, but he had 5 picks in the top 70, and I don't know how much of a home run draft this was for the Padres (I really don't recall the post-draft reviews of each team, but glancing at their draft now, there's a couple exciting names, but I don't know if I think this is a draft that's going to reap huge benefits for them down the road).

 

My point? There's a lot of Wilken bashing, but his tenure hasn't been bad, particularly when you factor in how limited he was at the start of the tenure (which has been acknowledged). Before we get too excited about everyone that comes in the front door, let's remember that most scouting directors will have a lot more decent years than good years. Let's keep in mind that guys like Baez, Vogelbach, Martin and others are all on Wilken, once he had the money to spend. Signing Maples, even if he doesn't pan out, is still a plus for Wilken as his people knew what it would take to get it done. Yes, Simpson looks horrible now, and Golden's been hurt, but Szczur/Wells still hold high intrigue from 2010, and I still say Kurcz was under-rated by some here last year. And let's not forget Austin Reed, who could end up being the closer of the future if he can fix his kinks out and become more consistent (or ... he could go the way of Chris Huseby, to name a guy who just couldn't figure it out).

 

Let me reiterate, I know sound like I'm bashing McLeod/Madison, but I'm not. I'm not too enthused about some of their last drafts at their previous stops, but again, most scouting directors have more bad moments than good. I just think we're going a bit overboard on the Wilken bashing, particularly when the totality of circumstances for his run is taken into consideration. Let's not forget that the "value" of Cashner brought in Rizzo, even if Cashner doesn't pan out as a starter (as his arm was valued high enough to get that deal done).

 

Edit: I do think Wilken is out after the season. I think big parts of the old regime were kept around for a couple reasons. First, it took so long to work out the Epstein/Hoyer situations. 2nd, Ricketts liked them and wanted to give them some stability. I imagine Wilken will land on his feet somewhere as a scouting director, or maybe some sort of Special Assistant role with an eye on becoming an aGM at some point (or maybe he gets an aGM gig). Slowly, over time, I'd expect the final pieces of the old regime to leave (namely, Fleita and maybe Bush), and Epstein/Hoyer bring in their guys, or guys supportive of their methods, and the organization will be better off for it.

[Guest]

toonster - I thought I saw that Wilken actually got a contract extension as part of the move.

 

I'm just happy that they are continuing to build the front office. We were understaffed for so long and I believe that impacted their performance.

[El Duderino]

He got an extension. I have no problems with that, as I think Epstein values having a guy like Wilken around, just in a different role.

[davell]

Sniped. But he got a new deal and will be doing some of everything at this point. Edited August 12, 2012 by davell

[toonsterwu]

I know he got an extension/promotion, but it still wouldn't surprise me if he's out the door eventually. IIRC, Wilken was semi-promoted in Tampa as well when a new regime came in (Friedman), and he opted to leave eventually because he wanted to find a place that was a better fit. And Friedman's regime is run probably (obviously not certain) in a similar way to Epstein/Hoyer.

 

Wouldn't surprise me if he pursued an aGM gig. IIRC, rumors have been around for awhile that he'd like to move up eventually, and I'm not sure he'll find an aGM opening here.

[Clem Fandango]

I know he got an extension/promotion, but it still wouldn't surprise me if he's out the door eventually. IIRC, Wilken was semi-promoted in Tampa as well when a new regime came in (Friedman), and he opted to leave eventually because he wanted to find a place that was a better fit. And Friedman's regime is run probably (obviously not certain) in a similar way to Epstein/Hoyer.

 

Wouldn't surprise me if he pursued an aGM gig. IIRC, rumors have been around for awhile that he'd like to move up eventually, and I'm not sure he'll find an aGM opening here.

 

Well being an assistant the the premier GM in the game would certainly open up a few doors down the road then, would it not?