It looks like Joe Maddon's trek into free agency will be a brief one.

Two days after his agent said that the former Tampa Bay Rays manager would sit out the 2015 season if he couldn't find a job CBS Sports' Jon Heyman reports that a deal is imminent between Maddon and the Chicago Cubs.

Heyman reports that Maddon and the Cubs are on the verge of a "mega deal", but both parties are denying it.

The denials are likely connected to an edict by the Commissioner's Office that teams do not make off-the-field news during the World Series.

Heyman reports that Maddon, who made $2 million per year with the Rays, will become the highest paid manager in the National League, if not the highest in all of baseball.  Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim's Mike Scioscia is currently the highest paid skipper in baseball, at $5 million annually.

Cubs president Theo Epstein was at the helm of the Boston Red Sox in late 2003 when Maddon was a finalist for the job that eventually went to Terry Francona.

Rick Renteria, who is still the manager of the Cubs as of now, just finished his first year on the job and is under contract until the end of the 2016 season.