and I wouldn’t be unhappy. But I’m still convinced he’s taking the Atlanta job.

Personally, I think a lot of the managerial talk is so that when Sandberg is hired, Hendry can say he looked at lots of great managers and Sandberg won the job. I don’t think he wants it to look like he was just handed the job.

here about Hendry talking with Sandberg and potential plans for him.

In a perfect world, Girardi is hired and Sandberg is his bench coach.

He’s almost certainly the fans’ choice, and he has paid his dues in the minors.

when, in October 2013, Ryne Sandberg is fired and badmouths this team on the way out the door.

Even sadder, much of this board will be encouraging the move.

There’s NOT going to be any hiring until Girardi’s season is over. Then they can talk and hopefully Ricketts and NOT Hendry, make their offer to Girardi…which, in fact, will contain many millions of dollars. If he wants it, it’s his. If not, it’s Sandberg’s…but, they still have to go through the “interviewing minority candidates” phase, to keep Selig and Watson off their asses.

Unlike Sandberg he:

1) Has a successful major league track record
2) Speaks Spanish
3) Doesn’t have a legacy that will be tarnished when he is inevitably run out of town

He’d be a good manager. I think Sandberg would be a better one.

Incidentally, to the poster above who thinks the Cubs will “wait” for Girardi: um, no.

….uh, Sandberg’s (potential) hire….works out??

Or, do we just assume a Fail?

SANDBERG. “Why because he is a Cub hall of famer? If his name was Bob Sandberg and had the same resume you wouldn’t want him.” You bet I wouldn’t want him. Players want the best people to manage them, right? Well, why not have a hall of fame player managing the team you are playing for? You have some Bob Sandberg saying, “I’m the new manager. Go run me some laps fatsos.” The players will think, “Well ok.” Then you got Hall of Famer Sandberg saying “Go run me some laps fatsos.” The players will be like “He’s a Hall of Famer, he knows how to be good. Let’s run some laps. He thinks I’m fat?”

draw straws……short one loses, ummmmmmmm, wins the job. Just adding a little humor here.

Guess we’ll all find out soon enough who the chosen one is. I pity him if he doesn’t succeed from the get go. It won’t be easy because the media and fans will be on him like “white on rice” without considering the bigger picture.

From the NBC piece:

Sources say that Gonzalez is at the top of general manager Jim Hendry’s wish list in the early stages of the process and that he prefers a manager with major-league experience

Wasn’t that the same knock on Girardi in 2006? And now some people think/hope/pray that Girardi will come back to the Cubs, while there are no indications that the Yankees are dissatisfied with Girardi as manager. The Prodigal Son does not always return home.

So if Sandberg does not have enough MLB manager/coaching experience, what does Hendry expect him to do? I hope Hendry does not expect Sandberg to go manage elsewhere and then return to the Cubs some time down the road. Girardi has shown that be wishful thinking.

If anything, the 2011 Cubs are probably the best time to bring in a less experienced manager to learn with, hopefully, a younger team.

I am not saying that the Cubs should hire Sandberg because they did not hire Girardi for the same reason – no major-league experience. I previously even considered that a Sandberg hire could be considered a rebound decision of Girardi.

But I think that Hendry has got to have a different search criteria than the ones that brought in Baker and then Piniella, only to watch them age before us like they were the president of the United States.

I want the next Cubs manager to get it. I want him to understand what he is walking into and not have an epiphany at the Cubs history, the size and style of the Chicago media, the additional commitments. I want the next Cubs manager to be able to grasp the whole ball of wax.