Report: Joe Maddon is the new manager of the Chicago Cubs

It didn't matter that the Chicago Cubs already had a manager in place, when Joe Maddon hit the open market, it got their attention.

And now, just like that, Rick Renteria's tenure as Cubs skipper is apparently over after just one season. The Cubs have upgraded, agreeing to make Maddon their new manager, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports:

Maddon and the Cubs are on the verge of agreeing to a mega deal, according to people familiar with the situation. The Cubs deny that a deal is done, but people familiar with the dealings say that it is certain to be completed in coming days, and that Maddon would indeed be the next Cubs manager.

The contract, once finalized, is expected to make Maddon one of the highest-paid managers in baseball and quite likely the best-paid in the National League. Mike Scioscia's Angels deal pays him $5 million annually, so he sets the standard.

We may not get official confirmation of this immediately, because MLB frowns upon teams making news on the day of a World Series game. That's led to other MLB reporters saying the deal isn't yet done. But that could just be because the Cubs are waiting for the World Series to end before confirming the story.

Maddon opted out of his deal with the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday, saying he wanted to explore the open market. His free agency, as it were, shook up the managerial ranks to where otherwise employed gents like Renteria started to fear for their jobs.

The Rays were 754-705 under Maddon since 2006. He took over in rough times and turned a 100-loss team into a contender in the AL East, going to the World Series once and the postseason four times.

The Cubs are hoping for the same turnaround. They were 73-89 in 2014, seven games improved from 2013. There's a lot of young talent coming up in Chicago, though, so the Cubs are hoping for much more success in the coming years. They brought up Javier Baez and Jorge Soler this summer, and still have slugger Kris Bryant waiting in the wings.

The Cubs are expected to be big players in the free-agent market too, as they have money to spend. They're considered as a possible destination for Jon Lester and possibly another well-known arm.

Now, they've made their first big move, and it's not even technically the offseason yet.