New GM/Cubs Future News Articles

[Guest]

Could it be that LaMar had been asked to interview for the Chicago Cubs’ GM position (“the feeling” that LaMar was leaving “to have opportunities”), and the Phillies’ brass wasn’t too keen on letting him step out for a look-see in the middle of a pennant race?

 

Why the hell would the Phillies be so upset about an assistant whose main job is player development asking to interview for a GM position when the minor league season is over just because the team is in a pennant race. Would they really think his interview would somehow distract the Phillies from winning a game? Is Halladay going to lose focus wondering whether the freaking assistant GM is going to interview with another team?

 

 

For the record, I think this hire would suck balls.

 

I didn't know that assistant GMs sat around doing nothing in September. Must be a nice gig.

 

What could he possibly be responsible for on a day to day basis where interviewing for another job would somehow get in the way?

 

I doubt it would be about interfering with the day to day ops (though, come on - he's doing something). It would be about a lack of commitment to the organization.

 

This is all very much hypothetical, by the way. It's a plausible explanation, not a likely one.

It's not plausible either. Why would they care if he interviewed if they thought he was good at his job? It's much more plausible that he's pissed off at them for some reason that probably has to do with money. The minor league team is in the playoffs for the first time in forever and he probably asked for a raise or promotion. They said no, so he left.

 

Parsimony.

 

He is the antithesis of what Ricketts said he was looking for. He's an old-timey baseball guy who lives by his gut.

[Post Count Padder]

I really, really, really don't want LaMar. I don't even care if we don't get a big name and go with Oppenheimer or Hahn. I just think hiring LaMar would be as bad as keeping Hendry or hiring Colletti.

[UMFan83]

The thing that scares me about a possible LaMar GM hire is the fact that we resigned Fleita and are rumored to be resigning Wilken. Is there any connection between those 2 things (lamar resignation and wilken/fleita resigning) The more I think about it, the more I can't believe that Ricketts would be dumb enough to lock up two important positions in baseball operations before hiring a GM, or having one in mind. It goes against all logic, no matter how you feel about those 2 people. What if you could have had Theo Epstein, but he doesn't want Fleita, so you are stuck with people like Chuck Lamar.

 

So is it possible he decided on Lamar and signed Fleita and Wilken (who worked with Lamar in TB) in order to convince him to leave the Phillies and take the GM job. Before JH was fired it was rumored that Wilken was loyal to him. So is a benefit to hiring Lamar keeping Wilken? We already know Ricketts values Wilken, as evidenced by the unprecidented amount of money he allowed the Cubs to spend on Wilken's draft this year.

 

I don't even really believe what I am saying, because as others pointed out, Lamar goes against everything Ricketts said he was looking for in a new GM a couple of weeks ago. But I am just trying to draw connections between a series of very suspicious moves (Fleita/Wilken resigning and Lamar abruptly resigning from Phi with no reason given)

[Guest]

The thing that scares me about a possible LaMar GM hire is the fact that we resigned Fleita and are rumored to be resigning Wilken. Is there any connection between those 2 things (lamar resignation and wilken/fleita resigning) The more I think about it, the more I can't believe that Ricketts would be dumb enough to lock up two important positions in baseball operations before hiring a GM, or having one in mind. It goes against all logic, no matter how you feel about those 2 people. What if you could have had Theo Epstein, but he doesn't want Fleita, so you are stuck with people like Chuck Lamar.

 

So is it possible he decided on Lamar and signed Fleita and Wilken (who worked with Lamar in TB) in order to convince him to leave the Phillies and take the GM job. Before JH was fired it was rumored that Wilken was loyal to him. So is a benefit to hiring Lamar keeping Wilken? We already know Ricketts values Wilken, as evidenced by the unprecidented amount of money he allowed the Cubs to spend on Wilken's draft this year.

 

I don't even really believe what I am saying, because as others pointed out, Lamar goes against everything Ricketts said he was looking for in a new GM a couple of weeks ago. But I am just trying to draw connections between a series of very suspicious moves (Fleita/Wilken resigning and Lamar abruptly resigning from Phi with no reason given)

Self-toture is not good. Take off your tin foil hat. There is noting suspicious going on.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Lamar has GM experience, has been part of winning franchises, and has a background in player development. As long as he gives some lip service to stats, that sounds exactly like what Ricketts said he wanted.

[Guest]

Lamar has GM experience, has been part of winning franchises, and has a background in player development. As long as he gives some lip service to stats, that sounds exactly like what Ricketts said he wanted.

Except when he was a GM he was a laughing stock. Ricketts said he wanted to emulate Boston, hiring Lamar would be emulating the Rays of the Bob Lurie days. The first thing Sternburg did when he bought the team was fire his sorry ass.

[jersey cubs fan]

Lamar has GM experience, has been part of winning franchises, and has a background in player development. As long as he gives some lip service to stats, that sounds exactly like what Ricketts said he wanted.

Except when he was a GM he was a laughing stock. Ricketts said he wanted to emulate Boston, hiring Lamar would be emulating the Rays of the Bob Lurie days. The first thing Sternburg did when he bought the team was fire his sorry ass.

 

He has talked about Boston in the past, but I'm not sure their name has been raised of late. I would have to think he would be more than happy to emulate Philly as well.

[Guest]

Lamar has GM experience, has been part of winning franchises, and has a background in player development. As long as he gives some lip service to stats, that sounds exactly like what Ricketts said he wanted.

Except when he was a GM he was a laughing stock. Ricketts said he wanted to emulate Boston, hiring Lamar would be emulating the Rays of the Bob Lurie days. The first thing Sternburg did when he bought the team was fire his sorry ass.

 

He has talked about Boston in the past, but I'm not sure their name has been raised of late. I would have to think he would be more than happy to emulate Philly as well.

I like the winning part, but I'm not sure buying/trading away prospects for the best available pitcher in free agency each year is a sustainable plan.

 

I will really vomit if Ricketts hires Lamar.

[Cubswin11]

Is GM the only position open in the FO right now for us? If there is interest in Lamar could it be for a different position? And yes it would be an awful move hiring him as GM, IMO Edited September 7, 2011 by Cubswin11

[Brett]

Why the hell would the Phillies be so upset about an assistant whose main job is player development asking to interview for a GM position when the minor league season is over just because the team is in a pennant race. Would they really think his interview would somehow distract the Phillies from winning a game? Is Halladay going to lose focus wondering whether the freaking assistant GM is going to interview with another team?

 

 

For the record, I think this hire would suck balls.

 

I didn't know that assistant GMs sat around doing nothing in September. Must be a nice gig.

 

What could he possibly be responsible for on a day to day basis where interviewing for another job would somehow get in the way?

 

I doubt it would be about interfering with the day to day ops (though, come on - he's doing something). It would be about a lack of commitment to the organization.

 

This is all very much hypothetical, by the way. It's a plausible explanation, not a likely one.

It's not plausible either. Why would they care if he interviewed if they thought he was good at his job? It's much more plausible that he's pissed off at them for some reason that probably has to do with money. The minor league team is in the playoffs for the first time in forever and he probably asked for a raise or promotion. They said no, so he left.

 

Parsimony.

 

He is the antithesis of what Ricketts said he was looking for. He's an old-timey baseball guy who lives by his gut.

 

Not to be a total douche, but you just said "it's not plausible," and then offered a "more plausible" explanation. You know that's contradictory, right?

 

With all due respect, just because you believe something is unlikely doesn't make it implausible. The idea that there could be things going on in the Phillies front office vis a vis their relationship with LaMar that we can't possibly know - things that could conceivably make his asking to take an interview elsewhere a breaking point - is not implausible. Frankly, I can't believe there are people arguing that it's not plausible.

 

Given that Amaro SAID the very reason they decided it would be best if LaMar resign (code for: we told him to resign) was because LaMar wanted to explore other opportunities, how can you not believe that it's *plausible* that sometimes guys are let go because they start sniffing around at other jobs? That's, like, exactly what happened - whether it was the Cubs or something else.

[SouthSideRyan]

It's fun to speculate about who's coming on board,

 

Speculating about Chuck LaMar coming on board is not what I would call fun.

[SouthSideRyan]

Self-toture is not good.

 

After 27 years, I think it's too late to change UMFan.

[Guest]

Not to be a total douche, but you just said "it's not plausible," and then offered a "more plausible" explanation. You know that's contradictory, right?

 

With all due respect, just because you believe something is unlikely doesn't make it implausible. The idea that there could be things going on in the Phillies front office vis a vis their relationship with LaMar that we can't possibly know - things that could conceivably make his asking to take an interview elsewhere a breaking point - is not implausible. Frankly, I can't believe there are people arguing that it's not plausible.

 

Given that Amaro SAID the very reason they decided it would be best if LaMar resign (code for: we told him to resign) was because LaMar wanted to explore other opportunities, how can you not believe that it's *plausible* that sometimes guys are let go because they start sniffing around at other jobs? That's, like, exactly what happened - whether it was the Cubs or something else.

It's not like exactly what happened. I suppose it's plausible that today is the last day of the earth because tomorrow we're going to be blown up by the deathstar. Drink up.

 

Anything is possible, but Amaro SAID that Lamar could explore opportunities inside or outside of baseball. To me this smells like Lamar asking for more of something and them saying no thanks. I don't see the need to draw a connection when there is not the tiniest bit of evidence to suggest it to be possible.

[UMFan83]

The thing that scares me about a possible LaMar GM hire is the fact that we resigned Fleita and are rumored to be resigning Wilken. Is there any connection between those 2 things (lamar resignation and wilken/fleita resigning) The more I think about it, the more I can't believe that Ricketts would be dumb enough to lock up two important positions in baseball operations before hiring a GM, or having one in mind. It goes against all logic, no matter how you feel about those 2 people. What if you could have had Theo Epstein, but he doesn't want Fleita, so you are stuck with people like Chuck Lamar.

 

So is it possible he decided on Lamar and signed Fleita and Wilken (who worked with Lamar in TB) in order to convince him to leave the Phillies and take the GM job. Before JH was fired it was rumored that Wilken was loyal to him. So is a benefit to hiring Lamar keeping Wilken? We already know Ricketts values Wilken, as evidenced by the unprecidented amount of money he allowed the Cubs to spend on Wilken's draft this year.

 

I don't even really believe what I am saying, because as others pointed out, Lamar goes against everything Ricketts said he was looking for in a new GM a couple of weeks ago. But I am just trying to draw connections between a series of very suspicious moves (Fleita/Wilken resigning and Lamar abruptly resigning from Phi with no reason given)

Self-toture is not good. Take off your tin foil hat. There is noting suspicious going on.

 

Re-read my post. I didn't say there was a conspiracy going on. I said I am trying to link together 2 seemingly unrelated things into making sense. Makes no sense that Lamar would abruptly quit his position and reveal no reason why. Likewise, it doesn't make a lot of sense that Ricketts would extend Fleita and probably Wilken while he's searching for a new GM to make decisions on people like them. So my post was trying to find some link between the two....which I identified as Wilken and Lamar's previous working relationship.

 

I doubt this is the case, but its fun to speculate at least.

[jersey cubs fan]

Makes no sense that Lamar would abruptly quit his position and reveal no reason why.

 

Not sure why you would say that. Guys resign from positions every year, and rarely do they spell out exactly why, especially the day after doing it.

[UMFan83]

Makes no sense that Lamar would abruptly quit his position and reveal no reason why.

 

Not sure why you would say that. Guys resign from positions every year, and rarely do they spell out exactly why, especially the day after doing it.

 

I guess, but it seemed like Amaro was being really weird about it in the press conference, and he did mention something about leaving to persue other baseball interests. He could be taking a lateral position but why leave a solid organization like the Phillies? And if he was going to leave baseball, he probably would have indicated as much.

[jersey cubs fan]

Makes no sense that Lamar would abruptly quit his position and reveal no reason why.

 

Not sure why you would say that. Guys resign from positions every year, and rarely do they spell out exactly why, especially the day after doing it.

 

I guess, but it seemed like Amaro was being really weird about it in the press conference, and he did mention something about leaving to persue other baseball interests. He could be taking a lateral position but why leave a solid organization like the Phillies? And if he was going to leave baseball, he probably would have indicated as much.

 

Again, I don't know why you think he "probably" would have given any indication. That's a false assumption.

 

He's an older guy in a secondary role. Maybe he wanted more money, or more power or both. Maybe he got cocky and played all his cards only to see it blow up in his face. There's no reason for Amaro to go into details and there's really nothing all that extraordinary about these circumstances.

[javy knows my name]

It's fun to speculate about who's coming on board, but let's not forget what we've actually learned about Ricketts. The media doesn't have any idea what he's doing. Hendry was fired for a month before he had a press conference, and in that week there was more than one "hearing that Jim Hendry will stay on" articles. He also does what he says. Invest more in the minor leagues and draft? Done. Invest in infrastructure, both at the MLB and MiLB level? Done one, working on Wrigley. Wanted to keep Fleita and Wilken? Looks to be done. So when he says he wants to hire a GM with a more analytical bent, I'm inclined to believe him. And I'm not inclined to believe anyone in the media claiming to have an idea of who has the inside track, especially guys like Colletti and LaMar who are counter to what Ricketts said that he wanted in the position.

 

Besides, think through this LaMar business. What makes more sense, LaMar resigns so he can interview and take the Cubs GM job before any other potential candidates would be available to interview, or that there's literally any other reason for LaMar to resign? I'm not going to say it's impossible that LaMar gets hired, but I'm not going to put any stock in reporters trying to read tea leaves that lead them to conclusions that have LaMar as a runaway candidate that gets the job before truly considering anyone else.

 

Nice post, and the bolded made me laugh

[Bull]

Ricketts hired him back in July, but has kept it secret.

[RammyFanny]

• We've heard a lot of talk about the Cubs pursuing a bunch of marquee names to be their next GM. But the planets don't appear to be lining up quite the way they had in mind.

 

Andrew Friedman? People within the sport who know him well say he's so close to Rays owner Stuart Sternberg and team president Matt Silverman, they have a hard time imagining he'd leave Tampa Bay unless he found nearly the perfect situation. There has been speculation elsewhere, in fact, that Sternberg could offer him a small ownership stake.

 

Theo Epstein? May be fascinated by the possibilities, but he's under contract through next season, with no indication that the Red Sox would allow him to leave. Epstein also seems unlikely to uproot his family at this stage of his (and their) life. Baseball men who are friendly with him say he may look for a new challenge a few years down the road, but the timing doesn't appear to work now.

 

Brian Cashman? An official of another club says that despite what's been written about him, Cashman wants to stick around and, in fact, has "an understanding" with the Yankees that he isn't going anywhere.

 

Billy Beane? Friends say he has legitimate interest. But even those who believe he's tempted say, in the next breath, that he has tremendous freedom in Oakland to juggle team-building with all his other passions, and remind themselves that he also owns a piece of the team in Oakland.

 

So one longtime friend of team chairman Tom Ricketts predicts that, in the end, he'll hire a young, creative, sabermetrically inclined executive willing to try a whole new approach to curse-busting.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/page/rumblings110909/offseason-market-loaded-closers

 

ChiTribRogers Phil Rogers

No news on Cubs GM search but I'm hearing Theo Epstein is more viable than I had thought. I'll write on Theo, etc., Monday. #cubs #redsox

4 hours ago

http://twitter.com/#!/ChiTribRogers

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

I still think it's going to end up being Beane, which I think will require some worth it compensation to Oakland.

[NCCubFan]

I still think it's going to end up being Beane, which I think will require some worth it compensation to Oakland.

Zambrano for Beane. :D

[Have a seat, Neifi]

Here's a far more promising "article" from Cubs Insider (I know, I know) posted a few hours ago: http://www.chicagonow.com/cubs-insider/2011/09/theo-epstein-to-cubs-is-more-real-than-you-think/

 

I agree that at the end of the day, it'll be Beane or a young, up-and-coming Assistant GM somewhere. I think Epstein is smartly using the buzz about the Cubs GM position to increasing his bargaining power for an extension with the Red Sox.

[Vinestal]

Here's a far more promising "article" from Cubs Insider (I know, I know) posted a few hours ago: http://www.chicagonow.com/cubs-insider/2011/09/theo-epstein-to-cubs-is-more-real-than-you-think/

 

I agree that at the end of the day, it'll be Beane or a young, up-and-coming Assistant GM somewhere. I think Epstein is smartly using the buzz about the Cubs GM position to increasing his bargaining power for an extension with the Red Sox.

 

Id love to see Epstein become the next GM or president of baseball operations for the Cubs, but I think its a little unrealistic at the moment and that he's just angling for a contract extension. Who knows though anything is possible and Theo could be looking for a new challenge. Im not sure how Id feel about Beane running the team, Im sure it would be a vast improvement but that goes without saying with any of the names that have been thrown around. Of all the names Epstein would be the dream choice, I hope somehow it happens.

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

Here's a far more promising "article" from Cubs Insider (I know, I know) posted a few hours ago: http://www.chicagonow.com/cubs-insider/2011/09/theo-epstein-to-cubs-is-more-real-than-you-think/

 

I agree that at the end of the day, it'll be Beane or a young, up-and-coming Assistant GM somewhere. I think Epstein is smartly using the buzz about the Cubs GM position to increasing his bargaining power for an extension with the Red Sox.

 

Id love to see Epstein become the next GM or president of baseball operations for the Cubs, but I think its a little unrealistic at the moment and that he's just angling for a contract extension. Who knows though anything is possible and Theo could be looking for a new challenge. Im not sure how Id feel about Beane running the team, Im sure it would be a vast improvement but that goes without saying with any of the names that have been thrown around. Of all the names Epstein would be the dream choice, I hope somehow it happens.

 

See I don't think Epstein would happen just because there's no way "they'd" let one guy hog all that potential glory like that. I mean, BOTH of the old, cursed franchises? The guy's already never going to see the benefits of ending the Red Sox's drought go away as it is. It's just not something that seems realistic to me.