Cubs' Lester on board with Maddon's quirky methods

 

Joe Maddon has some interesting strategies when it comes to managing a team, but it appears the ace of his pitching staff is all for it.

“You never know how to take it,” Jon Lester told CSN Chicago. “You don’t really know: Is it unprofessional?

“But being around him, he’s great. It’s great – especially for these guys that are young that haven’t done this – to keep it light, to keep it entertaining.”

Lester is as competitive – and appears to be as serious – as it gets, but even he understands that the grind of a lengthy season can catch up to people and that sometimes it's necessary to do strange things to break it all up.

“This game is so hard to stay attentive to for the whole season,” Lester said. “When you have things like that, it kind of like rejuvenates guys a little bit. You have something fun and interesting at the field. You just don’t see that.

“It kind of breaks people’s concentrations for a little bit and lets them reboot. And then (you) go back out there and play baseball.”

(h/t CSN Chicago)
Photo Credit: Norm Hall/Getty Images