Sandberg to coach Iowa Cubs in 2010

[Eric Clipperton]

I would prefer bringing back Dusty to hiring Sandberg. Even if Dusty brings Aaron Miles with him to fill the gritty second baseman spot in the batting order for 600 PAs, I think I still like the Dusty side of this deal. Hell is a bad place, folks.

[Soul]

The groundswell of pro-sandberg-in-'11-types amongst average cubs fans, at least here in peoria, is overwhelming. "oh, he's such a class act," "oh, they are sure grooming ol' ryno for the job," and "boy oh boy that'd be great, he'd straighten out some of those guys up there"... ITS GONNA HAPPEN

 

Hehe. I have a couple friends who are probably going to be calling for Sandberg to be manager soon. The conversation is probably going to sound much like those quotes. Thing is, they don't know enough about the minors to realize he's been promoted to AAA yet. Any chance we can keep this quiet?

[kujay]

This is bad news.

[biittner77]

If they leave him in AAA for a couple years he might get anxious and hired by some other organization. It could be wishful thinking though.

[kujay]

If they leave him in AAA for a couple years he might get anxious and hired by some other organization. It could be wishful thinking though.

 

Yeah, that would be giving the baseball people too much credit.

 

If he doesn't get the job next year, no doubt he'll move on to another organization, probably pissing and moaning every step of the way.

 

What I want to know is this: has he shown any ability whatsoever to manage? Or is it just, "Hi, I'm Ryne Sandberg, remember how good I was on all those shitty teams you rooted for when you were a kid? I want to manage the Cubs now!"

 

It seems to me he's had a sense of entitlement about this job for a long time without much substance to back him up.

[Guest]

Well, he's "paying his dues" in the minors to show what a good organization guy he is. And he does a lot of things to show how smart of a manager he is like sacrificing with his #3 hitter in the first freaking inning against mediocre pitchers when he's behind multiple runs.

[kujay]

Well, he's "paying his dues" in the minors to show what a good organization guy he is. And he does a lot of things to show how smart of a manager he is like sacrificing with his #3 hitter in the first freaking inning against mediocre pitchers when he's behind multiple runs.

 

So he thinks all he has to do is put in a few years, regardless of whether he shows any acuity for the job at all, and his name will do the rest?

 

Eff that.

[SouthSideRyan]

Well, he's "paying his dues" in the minors to show what a good organization guy he is. And he does a lot of things to show how smart of a manager he is like sacrificing with his #3 hitter in the first freaking inning against mediocre pitchers when he's behind multiple runs.

 

So he thinks all he has to do is put in a few years, regardless of whether he shows any acuity for the job at all, and his name will do the rest?

 

Eff that.

 

He's also getting kicked out of games and sacrifice bunting. Oh and won a division title last year with a team that was like 2 games over 500.

[Shilzzz]

this organization has disaster written all over it for the next several years. #-o

 

edit: and i'm serious when i ask this, but i really want to email hendry. maybe he never reads it, maybe he does and doesnt' give a rip, but i really want to give him a piece of my mind. i really don't look forward to being a cub fan over the next 5 years or so, outside of guys like castro and aramis.

[mhuber92211]

so serious question. How does Sandberg get better as a manager? Who is there to guide is learning? I towuld seem more logical for him to get the experience managing in the minors then spend a year under Lou to learn what it takes at the Big League level. Sandberg would probably be good at Quade's Job

[Eric Clipperton]

this organization has disaster written all over it for the next several years. #-o

 

edit: and i'm serious when i ask this, but i really want to email hendry. maybe he never reads it, maybe he does and doesnt' give a rip, but i really want to give him a piece of my mind. i really don't look forward to being a cub fan over the next 5 years or so, outside of guys like castro and aramis.

 

I'm with you on this- I feel like it shouldn't be that hard to somehow get a word in to someone high up in the organization, although I don't actually know of any such way off hand. I think that if a bunch of people worked on contacting the team to voice their opinion especially on something like having Sandberg manage, that provided such an effort is coordinated and focused, it would be frankly hard not to get that message to a wider audience which would eventually reach the decision makers in some form. I would definitely show up at games with signs speaking out against hiring Sandberg, which along with blog posts and open letters to Jim Hendry (perhaps this is a good thread idea? your very best work at an open letter to Hendry, which could then be compiled and spread through the blogosphere with the final goal of reaching high-level club officials in demand of an explanation.

 

If they can honestly support Sandberg in any way other than a pure money grab based on spiking casual fan short-term interest, I would love to hear it-because it would truly be groundbreaking and unexpected. I just would like to know if the Cubs are really that monumentally stupid, or are going for a pure money grab, and to have to lie directly to my face to justify their move rather than through several levels of media filters. I think I could walk away cleanly from Wrigley if that did happen, safe in the decision to not support a team that cannot stand firmly behind the moves they make without getting defensive and propagandist. Yeah, I am just looking for a revolution, nothing too unusual, but I think the choices for how to try are more varied than ever before, so hey hey whaddya say? I am willing to spend way more time than is professionally wise working on this project, but it would all be worth it either to never have to see Ryno booed off the field after being an idiotic manager.

[haubrich91]

I'd rather have Trammell.

[Guest]

this organization has disaster written all over it for the next several years. #-o

 

edit: and i'm serious when i ask this, but i really want to email hendry. maybe he never reads it, maybe he does and doesnt' give a rip, but i really want to give him a piece of my mind. i really don't look forward to being a cub fan over the next 5 years or so, outside of guys like castro and aramis.

For everyone one of us there are maybe 100 or more fans with the opposite opinion. Many people wanted Girardi to Coach the Cubs and many more will want him after Lou is gone, never realizing that Girardi probably cost the Yankees more games than he won for them.

[jersey cubs fan]

this organization has disaster written all over it for the next several years. #-o

 

edit: and i'm serious when i ask this, but i really want to email hendry. maybe he never reads it, maybe he does and doesnt' give a rip, but i really want to give him a piece of my mind. i really don't look forward to being a cub fan over the next 5 years or so, outside of guys like castro and aramis.

 

What is it you are asking?

 

I doubt this team deals with a 5 year disaster situation. They can always use money to bail them out. Baltimore became a disaster when they stopped trying to match the Yankees payroll, then actually cut it and became small market, plus they compete with Yanks and Red Sox. Now I could see a Jim Hendry led organization go through another 2 year drought of crap like 2005/2006, but my bet is they make a change before they let him do that again.

[Shilzzz]

sorry, i guess i didn't frame the actual question properly. i want to know if anyone knows a way to email hendry or even someone else in the hierarchy. maybe it won't make a difference, it most certainly won't, but i'd at least like to make my informed, honest opinion known.

 

edit: just to kind of answer what you were saying, what good is a big free agent going to do when he is bunting a runner to second in the first inning? perhaps that's extreme, but i just don't want to have to go through that on any level.

[Eric Clipperton]

sorry, i guess i didn't frame the actual question properly. i want to know if anyone knows a way to email hendry or even someone else in the hierarchy. maybe it won't make a difference, it most certainly won't, but i'd at least like to make my informed, honest opinion known.

 

edit: just to kind of answer what you were saying, what good is a big free agent going to do when he is bunting a runner to second in the first inning? perhaps that's extreme, but i just don't want to have to go through that on any level.

 

Luckily the big free agent won't be hitting second, that'll be Ryan Theriot's spot cause second basemen hit second, dude. Just like the hero of all second basemen and therefore all Cubs as well, Ryne Sandberg.

 

Although I guess after Theriot bunts Soriano over, but Soriano is somehow an even worse runner than he is now as his legs continue to deteriorate a bit more each day, but since he can't bunt and wants to hit leadoff Ryne puts him there...then, the big free agent acquisition who will probably be Brad Hawpe or someone equally terrible, will probably have to execute the 1-out #3 hitter bunt to second. But I will have eaten cyanide for breakfast, so I will be sitting quietly in front of the TV while you all wish for a similar way to end the inevitable pain.

 

 

IT'S GONNA HAPPEN (idiocy, double-sac-bunts, benching Aramis for watching HRs, etc.)

[scarey]

This thread is ridiculous. It seems to me that you guys are all jumping to conlusions based on... a whole lot of nothing. The only thing I've seen that gives anyone fuel is Rob's post about Ryno's public mockery of advanced metrics and small ball managerial style (which, no offense to you Rob, but I haven't seen any statements to back these accusations up).

 

I honestly don't know what his managerial style is like other than he seems to get ejected quite a bit. However, I looked up some statistics and they don't seem to go along with these "sac bunt with cleanup hitters!" comments being thrown around.

 

I compared Piniella's sac hits the last three years with the Cubs to Trammel's three years in Detroit and Sandberg's last three years in the minors (I took his numbers and extrapolated them for 162 games).

 

Piniella averaged 59 SH per season.

Trammel averaged 53 SH per season.

Sandberg averaged 61 SH per season.

 

Compare that to Dusty Baker who averaged about 80 SH per season while with the Cubs and I think you'll see that Sandberg isn't as much a sac bunt type guy as you guys are making him out to be.

 

You guys are totally buying into the mob mentality. You're hearing something uncomfirmed and piling on based on that info. I'm not even trying to say that Sandberg does NOT like to sac bunt. All I'm saying is you need to be better informed instead of using this.

 

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/18/70384439_ba1fd5b9de.jpg

[jersey cubs fan]

This thread is ridiculous. It seems to me that you guys are all jumping to conlusions based on... a whole lot of nothing. The only thing I've seen that gives anyone fuel is Rob's post about Ryno's public mockery of advanced metrics and small ball managerial style (which, no offense to you Rob, but I haven't seen any statements to back these accusations up).

 

A whole lot of nothing is Ryno's own words.

[scarey]

This thread is ridiculous. It seems to me that you guys are all jumping to conlusions based on... a whole lot of nothing. The only thing I've seen that gives anyone fuel is Rob's post about Ryno's public mockery of advanced metrics and small ball managerial style (which, no offense to you Rob, but I haven't seen any statements to back these accusations up).

 

A whole lot of nothing is Ryno's own words.

 

And who of the people bashing Sandberg in this thread have heard or seen words of his on this particular topic? If you have a source, I would love to read it.

 

If you're referring to his hall of fame speech, I think you're blowing it way out of proportion. I don't think he's saying that star players should learn the value of sac bunting... he himself had all of 31 SHs through his whole career. I think he's saying there's is a time and place for it and certain players that should be able to do it don't know how to effectively. See: Mike Fontenot

 

However, that's just how I interpret it and that's mostly based on the fact that he really doesn't bunt much relative to a guy like Lou who doesn't use the sac bunt particularly often.

[CUBZ99]

This thread is ridiculous. It seems to me that you guys are all jumping to conlusions based on... a whole lot of nothing. The only thing I've seen that gives anyone fuel is Rob's post about Ryno's public mockery of advanced metrics and small ball managerial style (which, no offense to you Rob, but I haven't seen any statements to back these accusations up).

 

A whole lot of nothing is Ryno's own words.

 

And who of the people bashing Sandberg in this thread have heard or seen words of his on this particular topic? If you have a source, I would love to read it.

 

At one time there was some claim that his Yahoo column backed up this argument, but if you go back and read them, they were pretty bland. It would be interesting to see how the people that have followed his managerial style in the minors view him.

 

Also, it would be nice to see how managing for 3 years or so has changed his mind on certain things. Does he view managing in the minors as more of an arena to emphasize fundamentals? What are his thoughts on what makes a successful team? Does he value OBP? How much does he know about other stats ?

[Guest]

This thread is ridiculous. It seems to me that you guys are all jumping to conlusions based on... a whole lot of nothing. The only thing I've seen that gives anyone fuel is Rob's post about Ryno's public mockery of advanced metrics and small ball managerial style (which, no offense to you Rob, but I haven't seen any statements to back these accusations up).

 

A whole lot of nothing is Ryno's own words.

 

And who of the people bashing Sandberg in this thread have heard or seen words of his on this particular topic? If you have a source, I would love to read it.

 

If you're referring to his hall of fame speech, I think you're blowing it way out of proportion. I don't think he's saying that star players should learn the value of sac bunting... he himself had all of 31 SHs through his whole career. I think he's saying there's is a time and place for it and certain players that should be able to do it don't know how to effectively. See: Mike Fontenot

 

However, that's just how I interpret it and that's mostly based on the fact that he really doesn't bunt much relative to a guy like Lou who doesn't use the sac bunt particularly often.

He had a series of articles written for Yahoo sports back in 2006 that were much more disastrous than his HOF speech. I'm sure they're still available if you search for them.

[SouthSideRyan]

I think our best hope is that Sandberg is like Ozzie Guillen in that he says all this braindead stuff then doesn't really follow through with it in his managing.

 

If he's not a maniacal prick, that'd be nice too

[jersey cubs fan]

I think our best hope is they get a better GM, because the talent of the players is much more important than who the manager is. Managers are worthless. I have no idea how Sandberg thinks of pitchers, but unless he's Dusty level reckless, there isn't going to be much difference between him and everybody else.

[scarey]

This thread is ridiculous. It seems to me that you guys are all jumping to conlusions based on... a whole lot of nothing. The only thing I've seen that gives anyone fuel is Rob's post about Ryno's public mockery of advanced metrics and small ball managerial style (which, no offense to you Rob, but I haven't seen any statements to back these accusations up).

 

A whole lot of nothing is Ryno's own words.

 

And who of the people bashing Sandberg in this thread have heard or seen words of his on this particular topic? If you have a source, I would love to read it.

 

If you're referring to his hall of fame speech, I think you're blowing it way out of proportion. I don't think he's saying that star players should learn the value of sac bunting... he himself had all of 31 SHs through his whole career. I think he's saying there's is a time and place for it and certain players that should be able to do it don't know how to effectively. See: Mike Fontenot

 

However, that's just how I interpret it and that's mostly based on the fact that he really doesn't bunt much relative to a guy like Lou who doesn't use the sac bunt particularly often.

He had a series of articles written for Yahoo sports back in 2006 that were much more disastrous than his HOF speech. I'm sure they're still available if you search for them.

 

 

I'll check them out.

 

I just want to reiterate: I'm not saying that he does not bunt often. I'm saying I don't know for sure and I believe nobody really does know for sure unless they've actually watched a fair amount of the games he's managed. I'm also saying that the statistics don't seem to back up the idea that he over emphasises sac bunting.

 

Should he be the next manager of the Chicago Cubs? I don't know. But he shouldn't have a strike against him because he likes to sac bunt all the time IMO because as far as I can see... he doesn't.

[Guest]

I've listened to a lot of his games at Peoria and Tennessee. He bunted a lot. Compared to other Cub minor league games and Piniella, it sure seems like he had his guys bunting way more (I know, I don't have numbers backing this up and just my perception).

 

But he bunted with his best power hitters. And he bunted in odd situations (down multiple runs late; with his 3 and 4 hitters in the top of the 1st after two straight walks). He was also super aggressive on the base paths (hit and run and otherwise), even with slower base runners who probably should never be running.

 

Sure, you could say he was training his minor leaguers in these aspects of the game but it does seem like his teams do it way more than other teams.

 

And his Yahoo editorials were definitely telling.