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Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - The Chicago Cubs have finalized an agreement to make Joe Maddon their next manager, with the former Tampa Bay Rays skipper to be formally introduced in a press conference scheduled for 3 p.m. ET on Monday. Maddon agreed to a five-year contract in which financial terms were not disclosed, though the deal is expected to make the two-time American League Manager of the Year among the highest paid at his position. The Cubs moved quickly to obtain Maddons services after he opted out of his contract with the Rays on Oct. 24, shortly after Tampa Bay general manager Andrew Friedman left the organization to become the president of baseball operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Maddon, who guided the small-market Rays to four playoff appearances and the 2008 AL pennant over the past seven seasons, joins a long-suffering Cubs franchise that has endured five consecutive losing campaigns but appears to have a very promising future. Chicagos present farm system is ranked among baseballs strongest and the Cubs are expected to be significant players in free agency this offseason, something Maddon never experienced during his successful nine-year run with the low-budget Rays. Those factors, coupled with Friedmans departure and the presence of Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein -- who nearly hired Maddon as the Red Sox manager in 2004 while then Bostons GM -- likely played a role in Maddons decision. The 60-year-old takes over a Cubs team that showed improvement in Rick Renterias lone season as manager, with Chicago posting a 73-89 record in 2014 after winning 66 and 61 games the previous two years. Despite those strides, Epstein informed Renteria last week of his intention to pursue Maddon and make a switch. Renteria was offered another position within the organization but predictably declined. Even though they annually operated with one of the lowest payrolls in the majors, the Rays were a consistent contender for much of Maddons reign. Lauded for his ability to work with young players and to maximize the available talent on hand, the charismatic manager guided Tampa to six consecutive winning seasons that began with the unexpected 2008 World Series run. The Rays, who had never won over 70 games in their first 10 seasons prior to that 2008 breakthrough, also reached the playoffs in 2010, 2011 and 2013. Maddon amassed a 754-705 overall record in Tampa Bay, easily the most of any manager in club history. . People familiar with the case told The Associated Press on Friday that arbitrator Fredric Horowitz could issue his decision this weekend. . Wiggins, a 6-foot-8, 200-pound forward who plays his first exhibition game on Wednesday against Pitt State, was the top prospect in the class of 2013. http://www.49ersrookiestore.com/49ers-P ... is-Jersey/. Rob Klinkhammer and Mikkel Boedker scored 63 seconds apart in the first period for the Coyotes, who handed the Kings their third straight loss and took over sole possession of eighth place in the Western Conference. Mike Smith made 36 saves. .com) - Former New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya is joining the Major League Baseball Players Association staff as a senior advisor to executive director Tony Clark. . He has spent much of his adult life trying to give back to his native South Sudan, the war-torn African nation the Cavaliers forward and his family fled when he was a young boy.WINNIPEG -- CFL commissioner Mark Cohon says the Hamilton Tiger-Cats will decide in the coming weeks whether they can open before construction of their stadium is finished. "What theyve potentially talked about is opening with not the full stadium ready but they have to make that decision in the coming weeks," he said in Winnipeg, where the Ottawa Redblacks played their first regular season game against the Blue Bombers. The Blue Bombers are experts on missing stadium opening dates. Theirs was delayed an entire year. Cohon said he was in Hamilton on Wednesday and the Tiger-Cats were meeting Thursday and Friday with Infrastructure Ontario to review where they are with the prooject.dddddddddddd But he also stopped in Ottawa this week and says the Redblacks revamped home field is expected to open on schedule July 18. The Redblacks have brought the CFL back to the nations capital after almost a decade, a move Cohon started working on in 2007. Meanwhile, the commissioner admitted only six of the nine CFL teams are expected to break even or make money this season but says a new TV deal and players contract has positioned the entire league to do better in the future. "I think what the deal does, and this is important, it creates the foundation moving forward for our teams to prosper," he said of the new CFL contract with the players. ' ' '