NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball has ruled that the Chicago Cubs did not violate tampering rules when they pursued manager Joe Maddon last fall.
The commissioner’s office released a statement Wednesday clearing the Cubs of wrongdoing about six months after Tampa Bay accused Chicago of tampering with their manager before Maddon opted out of his contract with the Rays.
“The investigation produced no finding of a violation of Major League Rule 3(k) on tampering,” MLB said in the statement.
The Rays, playing in New York on Wednesday, had not comment.
The Cubs announced Oct. 31 that Rick Renteria had been fired after one season as manager and that Maddon was hired.
Maddon opted out of his contract with Tampa Bay soon after Rays executive Andrew Friedman left the club to take over the Los Angeles Dodgers in mid-October.
Cubs executive Theo Epstein has said the Cubs checked with MLB to be sure Maddon was OK to talk with other clubs before negotiating with him.
