Fire Lou Piniella

[cheapseats]

At this point i would be ok with a number of people in there other than Lou

 

Sandberg

Trammel

Brenly

 

Sandberg and Brenly have the ability to be worse than Lou.

[17 Seconds]

At this point i would be ok with a number of people in there other than Lou

 

Sandberg

Trammel

Brenly

 

Sandberg and Brenly have the ability to be worse than Lou.

 

sandberg likely WOULD be worse than lou

[BigSlick]

I commonly see people say that Sandberg is a bad choice and I seem to recall him being a bunt-a-holic but is there any other juicy quotes or stats backing the "he'd be a terrible manager" opinion?

[soapy]

I commonly see people say that Sandberg is a bad choice and I seem to recall him being a bunt-a-holic but is there any other juicy quotes or stats backing the "he'd be a terrible manager" opinion?

He wrote some articles for yahoo sports, I believe, that were pretty telling about how he might manage a team. I don't remember a lot of details about the articles now but I remember thinking he was nuts when I read them.

[Tracer Bullet]

I commonly see people say that Sandberg is a bad choice and I seem to recall him being a bunt-a-holic but is there any other juicy quotes or stats backing the "he'd be a terrible manager" opinion?

He wrote some articles for yahoo sports, I believe, that were pretty telling about how he might manage a team. I don't remember a lot of details about the articles now but I remember thinking he was nuts when I read them.

 

yup.

 

Of the likely options after Lou, I'm hoping Trammell gets a shot. I'm terrified of what Sandberg will do as manager.

[Soul]

I really wouldn't mind seeing Trammel get a shot.

 

Those Detroit teams he managed never had a chance. He deserves another opportunity with at least some talent on his roster.

 

I'd definitely prefer him over Sandberg.

[Guest]

I could live with Sandberg as Trammell's bench coach. Probably looking at the inevitable anyway, but may as well let him take the next step if Trammell were to get the gig.

[jersey cubs fan]

Ricketts has been very complimentary toward Lou in the press ever since he started talking about the deal. If I had to guess, I would bet he is much more likely to let this season play out and then making wholesale changes in the offseason, including hiring a "baseball guy" who will determine who the next GM will be and let that guy select his manager.

 

That sounds about right. Plus, frankly, I'd rather not have a front office shakeup prior to the draft and trade deadline.

 

A front office shakeup may not have any impact whatsoever on the draft. And frankly I'd rather have people in here who care about the future instead of desperate execs looking to save their job with an 85 win season.

 

If both Hendry and Lou were fired (or either, really), the likelihood would be that interim people would be put in their places. Those interim people would also be making moves with their jobs in mind, assuming they were auditioning for a job.

 

Interim people would be much easier for the owner to control/overrule when it came to big moves. Ricketts runs the risk of being labeled as a difficult to work with micro manager who submarined Hendry's job status and the Cubs season if he vetoes a Hendry move, but if he fires everybody and brings in a new president, they can give anybody the reins as the de facto GM for the remainder of the season, and not allow any trades of prospects without taking much heat. And there's very little concern when it comes to the draft, since Hendry doesn't run the draft.

[dew1679666265]

MacPhail fired Baylor, then stepped down as GM and promoted Hendry from Assistant GM. I think that sequence of events was largely so that Hendry wouldn't have to fire Baylor as his first move.

 

I wonder how much input Hendry had in that move. I'd expect quite a bit.

[erik316wttn]

I'd like to see Trammel as manager, however seeing as Ryno is a HOF'er who played all but 13 games of his career in a Cubs uniform, I wonder if the organization would feel they "owe" him first chance at the job.

 

I would hope not, but you never know with this team.

[dew1679666265]

Interim people would be much easier for the owner to control/overrule when it came to big moves. Ricketts runs the risk of being labeled as a difficult to work with micro manager who submarined Hendry's job status and the Cubs season if he vetoes a Hendry move, but if he fires everybody and brings in a new president, they can give anybody the reins as the de facto GM for the remainder of the season, and not allow any trades of prospects without taking much heat. And there's very little concern when it comes to the draft, since Hendry doesn't run the draft.

 

That doesn't make those people focused on the future, though. It might make Ricketts look a little better, but the new GM/manager are still going to make moves focused on the present rather than the future.

[Sammy Sofa]

Soto hitting 8th again today.

[erik316wttn]

Soto hitting 8th again today.

 

Yeah, that's gotta stop. With as hot as he is right now he should be no lower than 6th in the lineup.

[NCCubFan]

MacPhail fired Baylor, then stepped down as GM and promoted Hendry from Assistant GM. I think that sequence of events was largely so that Hendry wouldn't have to fire Baylor as his first move.

 

I wonder how much input Hendry had in that move. I'd expect quite a bit.

The scenario I imagine is that MacPhail told Hendry that he was turning the GM post over to Hendry, asked Hendry if he wanted Baylor to continue as manager, and when Hendry said no MacPhail agreed to be the hatchet man as his last act as GM so Hendry could get a clean start. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's how it went down.

[Garwilly]

As long as he's in there, I'm not going to get too bent out of shape about the position.

[soapy]

Soto hitting 8th again today.

 

I don't usually get too hung up on batting order, but Soto hitting 8th right now is lunacy. It might be different if Lee and Ramirez were hitting, but this is absurd. I look forward to Lou's post game musings about how the media should "talk to the players" about the middle of the order coming up short lately. Cause, you know, he has no control over that.

[jersey cubs fan]

Interim people would be much easier for the owner to control/overrule when it came to big moves. Ricketts runs the risk of being labeled as a difficult to work with micro manager who submarined Hendry's job status and the Cubs season if he vetoes a Hendry move, but if he fires everybody and brings in a new president, they can give anybody the reins as the de facto GM for the remainder of the season, and not allow any trades of prospects without taking much heat. And there's very little concern when it comes to the draft, since Hendry doesn't run the draft.

 

That doesn't make those people focused on the future, though. It might make Ricketts look a little better, but the new GM/manager are still going to make moves focused on the present rather than the future.

 

That's not necessariliy true at all. First off, the manager is meaningless in this discussion. The question was about the risk of changing people before the draft and trade deadline. The interim GM, if you even need one, can be hired in that position with the sole purpose of keeping things moving properly, signing papers and whatnot. His power to trade young players for short-term help can be limited easily.

[soapy]

Soto hitting 8th again today.

 

I don't usually get too hung up on batting order, but Soto hitting 8th right now is lunacy. It might be different if Lee and Ramirez were hitting, but this is absurd. I look forward to Lou's post game musings about how the media should "talk to the players" about the middle of the order coming up short lately. Cause, you know, he has no control over that.

 

Quoting myself but, whatever:

 

To go further, it's really weird that he can be so reactionary with some things (Byrd leading off/Theriot moving to 8th for one game, Zambrano to the pen, etc.) and then be so stubborn about something like this.

[jersey cubs fan]

Soto hitting 8th again today.

 

I don't usually get too hung up on batting order, but Soto hitting 8th right now is lunacy. It might be different if Lee and Ramirez were hitting, but this is absurd. I look forward to Lou's post game musings about how the media should "talk to the players" about the middle of the order coming up short lately. Cause, you know, he has no control over that.

 

Quoting myself but, whatever:

 

To go further, it's really weird that he can be so reactionary with some things (Byrd leading off/Theriot moving to 8th for one game, Zambrano to the pen, etc.) and then be so stubborn about something like this.

 

I wonder if it's more about not wanting to pressure Soto to do too much, or feeling Soto let him down last year and it's a sort of punishment.

[dew1679666265]

MacPhail fired Baylor, then stepped down as GM and promoted Hendry from Assistant GM. I think that sequence of events was largely so that Hendry wouldn't have to fire Baylor as his first move.

 

I wonder how much input Hendry had in that move. I'd expect quite a bit.

The scenario I imagine is that MacPhail told Hendry that he was turning the GM post over to Hendry, asked Hendry if he wanted Baylor to continue as manager, and when Hendry said no MacPhail agreed to be the hatchet man as his last act as GM so Hendry could get a clean start. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's how it went down.

 

Yeah, that's probably very likely.

[dew1679666265]

Interim people would be much easier for the owner to control/overrule when it came to big moves. Ricketts runs the risk of being labeled as a difficult to work with micro manager who submarined Hendry's job status and the Cubs season if he vetoes a Hendry move, but if he fires everybody and brings in a new president, they can give anybody the reins as the de facto GM for the remainder of the season, and not allow any trades of prospects without taking much heat. And there's very little concern when it comes to the draft, since Hendry doesn't run the draft.

 

That doesn't make those people focused on the future, though. It might make Ricketts look a little better, but the new GM/manager are still going to make moves focused on the present rather than the future.

 

That's not necessariliy true at all. First off, the manager is meaningless in this discussion. The question was about the risk of changing people before the draft and trade deadline. The interim GM, if you even need one, can be hired in that position with the sole purpose of keeping things moving properly, signing papers and whatnot. His power to trade young players for short-term help can be limited easily.

 

So basically promote a puppet GM with no power whatsoever? It's going to be hard to find somebody willing to do that.

[MWV]

Soto hitting 8th again today.

At least he's in the lineup. As of yesterday, Soto was 11 out of 16 starting NL catchers in terms of PA. Despite that handicap, he's 2nd in walks with 1 less than the league leader (McCann) in 12 fewer PA.

Edited April 29, 2010 by MWV

[Garwilly]

Interim people would be much easier for the owner to control/overrule when it came to big moves. Ricketts runs the risk of being labeled as a difficult to work with micro manager who submarined Hendry's job status and the Cubs season if he vetoes a Hendry move, but if he fires everybody and brings in a new president, they can give anybody the reins as the de facto GM for the remainder of the season, and not allow any trades of prospects without taking much heat. And there's very little concern when it comes to the draft, since Hendry doesn't run the draft.

 

That doesn't make those people focused on the future, though. It might make Ricketts look a little better, but the new GM/manager are still going to make moves focused on the present rather than the future.

 

That's not necessariliy true at all. First off, the manager is meaningless in this discussion. The question was about the risk of changing people before the draft and trade deadline. The interim GM, if you even need one, can be hired in that position with the sole purpose of keeping things moving properly, signing papers and whatnot. His power to trade young players for short-term help can be limited easily.

 

So basically promote a puppet GM with no power whatsoever? It's going to be hard to find somebody willing to do that.

 

Dibs!

[dew1679666265]

So basically promote a puppet GM with no power whatsoever? It's going to be hard to find somebody willing to do that.

 

Dibs!

 

Good point. I'd do it too.

 

I meant a realistic candidate though. :D

[biittner77]

I think it may be more a matter of trusting his 2 best hitters to eventually come around and not breaking up his string of 5- 8 hitters that are all doing well so far. Think of Soto as a 2nd cleanup hitter with Byrd, Soriano and Fontenot all hitting well in front of him.