Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon exercised an opt-out clause in his contract Friday and is leaving the organization immediately.
Maddon had a year left on his contract at $2 million but now becomes a free agent.
Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg issued a statement regarding Maddon’s contract situation.
“Joe Maddon has exercised an opt-out in his current contract, a contract which was not scheduled to expire until after the 2015 season,” Sternberg said. “We tried diligently and aggressively to sign Joe to a third contract extension prior to his decision.
“As of yesterday afternoon, Joe enabled himself to explore opportunities throughout Major League Baseball. He will not be managing the Rays in 2015. Joe has been our manager for nine seasons, and the foundation of success laid during his tenure endures. We thank him for all that he’s meant to the organization.”
Maddon told the Tampa Bay Times that his decision to leave the club was a combination of financial issues and curiosity over other opportunities out there. Maddon said there was discussion with the Rays on a new contract but “we were still too far apart.”
“I have been doing this for a long time,” Maddon told the newspaper Friday. “I have never had this opportunity to research my employment on my terms. Never, never, never. And I think anybody given the same set of circumstances would do the same thing.”
Maddon said his decision was “gut wrenching, almost feeling sick.”
Maddon said he has no new job lined up but hopes to manage in 2015. The only team without a manager is Minnesota.
Tampa Bay was 77-85 this season. It was the first year since 2009 that the Rays did not win 90 games.
Maddon is 781-729 in 11 seasons as a major league manager. He was 754-705 in nine years with Tampa Bay and managed parts of two other seasons with the Angels. He is a two-time American League manager of the year, including in 2008, when the Rays won the American League pennant.
The move comes 10 days after the Los Angeles Dodgers hired former Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman as their new president of baseball operations.
Friedman said last week that Don Mattingly will manage the Dodgers next season — “definitely.”
A Dodgers source told ESPN.com on Friday that Maddon’s departure from the Rays has “nothing to do with us.”
Maddon had an opt-out clause with Friedman’s departure.
Maddon, who has an off-season home in Long Beach, said last week that he expected to discuss a contract extension with the Rays this winter.
“I want to continue to be a Ray, absolutely,” Maddon said then. “They have to want me to be a Ray too.”
Maddon said he and his wife recently moved into a Tampa home once owned by former USC and Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach John McKay.
“I’m really embedded here pretty well,” he said last week. “The roots are pretty strong. We have a great infrastructure here. We have a great operation. We have great people. There’s so much to like. There’s only one negative. That’s the ballpark. It’s a big negative. But that’s about it.”