On Sentimentality, The Cubs, And Baseball

but I can’t help but wonder how everything would have played out had Sandberg beaten out Quade for the job last year. We know the 2011 Cubs sucked and Hendry was shown the door, but I have a feeling Ryno would have survived the transition to Theo and Jed. We’ll never know, but it doesn’t matter now. Time to move on…

Who is the front runner? Besides Francona, is there someone included in the “Featured Poll” on the sidebar that has a connection to Theo and Jed?

am not upset with the Sandberg decision. I figure he has been apart of a broken system anyhow. WIth new management looking to move forward I am sure they eliminated him from consideration right away.

Have my trust. If they didn’t feel like Sandberg was the right buy with whom to build the Cubs’ future success, then I accept it.

Do we need to take shifts?

You should end every post with this.

Theo wins championships.

although one must acknowledge that one reason that the Rangers have never inspired a large fanatical following is that they don’t play with an odd, oblong shaped ball.

The Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex is large enough that they can support all four (and five with MLS) sports, and they’ll get behind a winner like the Mavericks or Stars. But we will have to see what’s going to happen when the Rangers put together four or five years of 75 to 85 wins. If Rangers fans can go through that without saying “How ’bout them Cowboys?” then they can join the ranks of the truly great baseball fan bases.

I notice the Cubs are interviewing Pete Mackinin. As have the Red Sox. I say we hire him now and then let the Red Sox hire him. Then we can demand whatever players the BoSox get for Epstein back as compensation for Mackinin.

and yes, I was looking in a mirror when I said it. Nothing’s happened to me – I’m still alive and fee

Managing in the minors is clearly better preparation than not managing at all, the pressure and issues and distractions at the MLB level are different, or at least bigger.

While I really liked the emotional/sentimental aspect of Ryno coming back to manage the Cubs, I can also see a lot of value in having someone who’s already made his rookie managerial mistakes, built up a fund of knowledge on MLB dynamics, and maybe developed a few extra layers of skin.

We all know the road ahead will be challenging – as my wife says, it will be an epic battle between the energy and smarts of Theo and his pals, and the sheer weight of our team’s legacy. We’ll have no shortage of sentimental feeling; If we can take a few “ooops” moments out of the mix, I think it’s a good call.

many of us don’t even know who to pull for. Maybe that’s a good thing. The poll on the right sidebar is telling…..“someone else” leads the poll and only Francona got above (barely) 25%. Theo has taken the fans out of the decision by totally outguessing us once Sandberg was off the table. The only thing left for us to do is trust the brain trust.

Al, do you have a favorite, someone with all the qualities that we are looking for?

I don’t think Charlie Manuel has too many more years in Philadelphia. I believe Sandberg will end up being the Phillies manager by 2014.

Maybe he’s not qualified as a bench coach but 3rd base coach?

Somehow, I think Gibson is under less pressure in Arizona to manage than he would be in Detroit or maybe even Los Angeles. That’s because Gibson never played for Arizona. In Detroit, Gibson would have been under tremendous pressure to succeed to restore the glory of 1984. I don’t think the pressure wouldn’t have been as great in Los Angeles because Gibson only had one good year there as a player.

As tough as Philadelphia fans are, I believe that Ryno would be under less pressure managing the Phillies than he would be managing the Cubs. It’s not as if Sandberg was ever a hero in Philadelphia.

…okay, pissed, but not for sentimentality reasons.

Though Ryno is the player who ‘hooked her’ on the Cubs (like Ernie Banks did for me), she feels like I do- that Ryno did everything asked of him and more to lay the groundwork to return to the majors as a manager.

He managed in the low, mid and high minors; did so very well and won honors for doing same. He taught his players the right way to conduct themselves as ball players and as men; i.e. how to play the game as it is meant to be played. He led.

Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out this time. It doesn’t mean it never will, but sometimes the stars simply refuse to be aligned for a person’s dream.

Okay, let’s see who is chosen. Frankly I don’t care if it’s Charlie Brown, as long as he can finally bring a WS to the Cubs.

But I don’t think they’re invincible. However, when the Hawks fired their legend, and fan favorite, Denis Savard, I just put my faith in the new upper management…trusting in their new direction for the organization. And they went on to hire Joel Quenneville. Two seasons later, a championship.

Now, that doesn’t mean I think that’s exactly what’s going to happen here. I’m just saying we need to just let go and give Theo and Co. some benefit of the doubt, and see where they’re going with this. As Al said, they’re respecting tradition, but completely changing the philosophy. I’m definitely for it. As a diehard Hawks fan as well, I saw that work firsthand. I want that to get a chance with the Cubs.

He gets my vote. It’d be like having a stellar pitching coach as well! He has proven he has what it takes to really get a pitching staff in great shape.

Also, an added bonus would be the lure for Greg — could we get the brothers back together? :)

I agree with everything you say. I trust the new management will make the right decisions because, well, I don’t have a choice. I have to trust them.

I understand people who want Sandberg as manager. He is a legitimate candidate.

Where I disagree strongly is when people say he deserves it or he is the best candidate. He doesn’t deserve anything. There are many people who have worked longer and harder and haven’t gotten a chance. As for the best candidate, the best candidate is someone who would work best with Theo and the band. We don’t know whether that is Ryno or not.

I personally also prefer someone with more major league experience as manager and/or coach. That is my personal preference and apparently Epstein also agrees. Also a personal preference is that anything to do with Ryne Sandberg as a HOF second baseman who played for the Cubs should not have any bearing in the decision.

He has put the work in and by all accounts done well. He knows the system and deserves the shot. I will not deny that there is bias in my view. He was after Johnny Callison my favorite player. So a tad of my opinion is based on this.
 However I truly respect Theo and the boys. I believe he will make the right call for this team. If it were about 29 other GM’s I would have doubts.
 Make a good choice Theo, and lets gets some pitching somehow.

……..suggested Sandberg be the Cubs manager, then those same fans must also say Sandberg should not consider the Cardinals job.

One can’t be the fan favorite in Chicago and then go to work in St. Louis – right?

I trust his judgment in not hiring Sandberg.

and he was asked about Sandberg and he said that a major league manager needs managerial experience. He didn’t specifically endorse Sandberg for anything, but he did say that maybe if Don Mattingly had spent some time managing in the minors he wouldn’t make so many in-game mistakes. You need to learn how to manage a game by doing it in the minors, not by watching someone do it in the majors.

I really agree with this. Certain people keep harping on how important major league coaching experience is and I wouldn’t say it is not important, but actually managing a team is really important too.

Having said that, there are people other than Ryne Sandberg who have managed in the majors or minors. Pete Mackinin is sounding better and better all the time.

What was his rationale for hiring him? This obviously worked out greatly at first. Was there some personality trait or motivational ability or knowledge that Tito had that got him hired?

I’m just trying to grasp the mind of Theo, and if there is a personality or character trait that he’s looking for.

and this goes with Josh’s post above….other than salaries and bigger stage and microscope, what, really, is the difference between managing Major leagues and Minor leagues…i would think broad strokes, its the same sport. same decisions, same scenarios. whats the minutiae?

The manager is a completely overrated commodity. You don’t need a genius to be successful, you need competence. That’s all.

Talent between the lines wins championships. Period.

If the right manager is the difference, then why didn’t laRussa win with talent? And I would also mentin that this year’s STL champions matched up equally with their TEX counterparts.

The key here is ‘competence’. Stay out of the way and put the talent on the field in the best position to win. EX: Game 5

I was just thinking how none of the Cubs coaches have been asked permission to interview for other jobs except Rothschild but that was because he wanted to be in Tampa in the Spring. I hope the Cubs get a great great manager with an awesome coaching staff like they have in Anaheim and Boston where other teams are constantly looking at their coaches and asking permission to interview them for their manager vacancies.

Wow, what kind of games have Theo and Tito been playing the last 6 months? I thought Theo had a part in pushing Francona out the door. And that team really did TANK in september… Sick, stale situation? Meddling owner and president? Rampant alcoholism?

Francona is by far the most qualified guy out there, but how can that feel like “moving onward and upward?”

This is gonna be interesting.

I like Mike Maddux, but I just can’t think of a lot of long-term successful managers that were pitchers.

…when the Maddux brothers matched up against each other in, if memory serves, Veteran’s Stadium. At the time they were both basically unknown quantities. I never would’ve thought at the time that one of them was headed toward 300+ victories and a first class ticket to Cooperstown.

It’d be nice to have both of them in Cubbie blue.

Greg was the youngest player in the MLB at 20 years 5 months or so and Mike was 25. The irony was both were rookies because Greg never went to college and sped through the minors. Yes both were bad that year, Greg won of course. They are both intensely competitive guys, but it has never affected their relationship.

While I think they would enjoy working together ( and I would be over the moon) I am sure Mike Maddux wants to and will be evaluated on his own merits.

… that if Sandberg gets his WS ring wearing Cardinals colors, and does so before the Cubs get theirs, I will be quite cross.

For him to shape that formerly toxic wasteland of a rotation and bullpen into a good staff two years in a row says something.

Seriously, I would have been fine with Sandberg as the new manager, but I am also fine that they will be going another direction. I think Ryno could become a good manager (hopefully not of the Cardinals), but I fully understand wanting to go with a more experienced (big league experience) person.

Theo and Co have good track records, so I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

They are setting up a big X-treme sports type of event in the team parking lot on Clark. Bulldozers are building giant dirt piles which look like they will support ramps for bikes or skates or something. There’s staging and Red Bull trucks.

Also, they’re doing work on the upper level concourse inside of the park…. lot’s of construction noise.

I agree with you. I felt that too many fans seem to think that all the Cubs need to do is bring Sandberg in to manage and he will sprinkle magic fairy dust or wave his Hall of Fame plaque over the players and they will be instantly transformed into clones of him! I love Sandberg, but we need someone with winning experience. And that part about Cubs fans being against bringing in any former Cardinals or White Sox, well I would love to have AJ Pierzynski on the Cubs because I know he would play his butt off for them. And personally, I like the idea of bringing in Mike Maddux, NOT because hes Gregs brother, but because he has a winning track record as a coach, plus as a pitching coach he knows how to handle young pitchers.