If we are to believe Bruce Levine, the search comes down to three front-runners, Eric Wedge, Mike Quade, and Ryne Sandberg, with the possible inclusion of Joe Girardi if the team is willing to await the outcome of the playoffs and has some kind of signal he will make himself available.
I favored hiring Girardi four years ago when the Cubs put their money on Lou Piniella even though it was clear Girardi was being groomed for the Yankees job. Now I'm not so sure. I'm not so sure he would be interested for one thing. Who would even think about leaving a perennial World Series team for the Cubs in the midst of what will undoubtedly become a rebuilding or retooling season? Girardi is also the favorite among all the know-nothing sportswriters and commentators, so right there you rather lose my interest. These guys, the Phil Rogers and Dave Kaplans of the world are almost always wrong. Kaplan has recently suggested trading Carlos Marmol, the second best closer in all of baseball who works now for the equivalent of the minimum wage in baseball terms, because you could really get some great prospects in exchange. Duh!
Anyway, Girardi strikes me as a bit of a tight-ass and that might be another strike against him. This team is a pretty fragile mix and I don't think they need that right now. I mean, they need to play tighter baseball and concentrate, but I'm not sure a looser version would not be a better choice. I wouldn't think he was doomed to failure, nor would I actively dislike the guy, but - and maybe my reasoning is a little idiosyncratic - I have more than a few doubts. The other problem, of course, is you could wait around until mid-November and lose out altogether on your secondary choice.
I can't figure out what the deal is with Eric Wedge. You have to certainly consider some sort of history with the team and their fans as a plus, but Wedge has nothing to relate to here. He seems to be a buddy of Jim Hendry, a black mark already, and his career with Cleveland was undistinguished. He inherited a team packed with stars of the caliber of C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore among others and he won, I guess, a division title before the front office started dumping salaries again and eventually dumped him.
Mike Quade is the wild card. Nobody would have thought him a serious contender prior to his stopgap appointment to fill out the season after Piniella's desertion. He did very well, or the team did. That has to count in his favor. Against him are these considerations. First off, he is a Hendry guy, which, to my mind, creates doubts straight off. Hendry is nearly always wrong. He had a great run, but the team as a whole played better in only one clear respect, viz., their pitching was exceptional. His lineups were pretty predicable and not well thought out even allowing for the limited chips he had to play, especially after injuries closed the book on Colvin, Soto, and Silva.
Actually, I don't know why the Cubs don't give the job to Sandberg and call it a day. Given the direction Ricketts seems to be signaling, that is a renewed emphasis on player development, Sandberg is the one guy who really knows the minor league system, having manged his way up the ladder from A ball to AAA and having had a hand in the development of most of their current prospects. Sandberg is also the only guy who has said anything sensible about his philosophy of building a team when he praised the Twins approach that emphasized a consistent style of play throughout their system and consistent expectations of the prospects they develop. This is a dose of medicine the Cubs genuinely need.
The other plus is that he is not a guy who is entirely a creature of Jim Hendry. I like the idea that he has in a sense called Hendry's bluff. Apparently he came to Hendry four years ago and asked for consideration for the manager's job. Hendry supposedly suggested he had no experience and he should go down to the minors and work his way up, perhaps little thinking he would take him up on the idea. Sandberg did what Hendry suggested, and he was successful at it. Maybe I am sentimental, but I do think there is a kind of implicit obligation created there, and that it would really be dishonest for the organization to move in any other direction.
I also really think having a certain amount of tension between the field manager and the general manager is not a bad thing. I also think Ricketts is nuts if he trusts Hendry to make the final selection given his prior track record. Actually I think he is nuts to even let Hendry conduct the preliminary interviews.
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