Maddon’s Cubs built like 1995 Tribe

CHICAGO — One thing about Joe Maddon: The man thinks big.

The other day, Maddon was asked about the possibility that Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant could develop into the same kind of middle-of-the-order combination as Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. And instead of calling, he raised.

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Maddon said that when he looks at what his Cubs are growing into, he sees a devastating lineup that wears out pitching staffs over the course of nine innings, a series or a season. He sees the John Hart-Mike Hargrove Indians of the 1990s — a collection of hitters who arrived in the Major Leagues at about the same time and then stayed together for an extended run of success.

“I have a lot of respect for the Manny-Ortiz combo,” Maddon said. “I saw that up close. [But] that whole Cleveland gig in the ’90s was really strong, too. That whole group they signed, [Carlos] Baerga, [Sandy] Alomar [Jr.], [Omar] Vizquel, [Albert] Belle, [Jim] Thome … wow, that was pretty firm. You’d like to be able to eventually grow something like that yourself.”

Don’t look now, but Theo Epstein and his staff have pretty much taken care of that.

The Cubs are leading the National League in scoring, on-base percentage and walks while standing fifth in slugging (a ranking that is likely to improve if good weather ever arrives alongside Lake Michigan). Also significant is that the Cubs’ hitters are 13th in strikeouts. They don’t do anything to make life easy on opposing pitchers.

That’s exactly like the Tribe in the years it had Kenny Lofton in the leadoff spot, followed by the likes of Thome, Belle, Ramirez, Vizquel, Alomar and Baerga. There were some changes in the later years — Baerga was traded to the Mets for Jeff Kent in ’96, and Belle left as a free agent after ’96. And short-timers like Eddie Murray, Julio Franco, David Justice and Paul Sorrento played big roles when they were on the roster.

But these Indians who produced a .595 winning percentage in 1994-99 were largely about …

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