Cubs Fire Renteria, Hire Maddon

[Guest]

If he's available you get him if you can. A team should try to get better at every opportunity. Ricky will be well compensated.

[Guest]

The only hesitation I would have is if it hamstrings us financially in some way to buy out Renteria and pay Maddon (4 years and $15-17 mill, I'd guess?). I know, I know - it shouldn't. But the reality is they aren't spending a ton of money yet.

 

Maddon should be worth some number of wins over Ricky Renteria and that's probably an undervalued commodity in the market at this point. If he's worth 1 win a year it's worth doing.

 

Plus there's some value to having a marketable manager in terms of the $$$ the team can get back.

Yup it's going to create added excitement about the team and probably sell more tickets. I can't say I've ever been as excited about a managerial possibility as I about Maddon. I just love hearing the guy talk baseball, he gets it. Maybe it's his personality or his honesty and openness with the media but the dude just oozes baseball intellect. I didn't feel that way about Giardi or anyone else I can think of in the past. I've been trying not to get to giddy because he could easily wind up elsewhere but damn, I hope we get him.

 

Managers don't sell tickets. Winning does.

[d_money]

If we get him, hoping his tenure doesn't end like the other big managerial signings - Dustys or Lou's. The Cubs have been here before.

[Guest]

If we get him, hoping his tenure doesn't end like the other big managerial signings - Dustys or Lou's. The Cubs have been here before.

 

dusty was never actually a good manager

 

lou was fine and his tenure was fine

[Vinestal]

The only hesitation I would have is if it hamstrings us financially in some way to buy out Renteria and pay Maddon (4 years and $15-17 mill, I'd guess?). I know, I know - it shouldn't. But the reality is they aren't spending a ton of money yet.

 

Maddon should be worth some number of wins over Ricky Renteria and that's probably an undervalued commodity in the market at this point. If he's worth 1 win a year it's worth doing.

 

Plus there's some value to having a marketable manager in terms of the $$$ the team can get back.

Yup it's going to create added excitement about the team and probably sell more tickets. I can't say I've ever been as excited about a managerial possibility as I about Maddon. I just love hearing the guy talk baseball, he gets it. Maybe it's his personality or his honesty and openness with the media but the dude just oozes baseball intellect. I didn't feel that way about Giardi or anyone else I can think of in the past. I've been trying not to get to giddy because he could easily wind up elsewhere but damn, I hope we get him.

 

Managers don't sell tickets. Winning does.

I realize that but the majority of the ticket buying public doesn't always follow that logic. Not that your wrong either, winning does sell tickets but an excited fan base helps as well.

Edited October 25, 2014 by Vinestal

[Vinestal]

If we get him, hoping his tenure doesn't end like the other big managerial signings - Dustys or Lou's. The Cubs have been here before.

 

dusty was never actually a good manager

 

lou was fine and his tenure was fine

That's about how I felt about them. There were plenty of people who didn't like the Dusty hire when it happened and most just grew to absolutely hate the man during his tenure.

[davell]

Shields loved playing for him, saw that earlier this morning. I still think its a slimmest of slim shots, but POSSIBLE, to wind up with Lester, Scherzer, or Hamels AND Shields.

[Vinestal]

Shields loved playing for him, saw that earlier this morning. I still think its a slimmest of slim shots, but POSSIBLE, to wind up with Lester, Scherzer, or Hamels AND Shields.

I think Hamels is the least likely guy there. Largely because it's difficult to deal with Amaro, but maybe it depends on how motivated he is to move Hamels. I think a trade for Hamels is pretty much a long shot, but maybe they shop him around and realize what a fair offer is.

[Sammy Sofa]

If we get him, hoping his tenure doesn't end like the other big managerial signings - Dustys or Lou's. The Cubs have been here before.

 

They have? Neither guy was anywhere near as well regarded as Maddon is and you had plenty of people who were wary of (or outright opposed) the Dusty hire from the beginning.

[Sammy Sofa]

Managers don't sell tickets. Winning does.

 

Sandberg would probably get some fat, greasy fingers on some tickets.

[Guest]

Managers don't sell tickets. Winning does.

 

Sandberg would probably get some fat, greasy fingers on some tickets.

 

Yeah. I'm not saying there aren't a handful of idiots out there who would get excited about a managerial hire and decide to buy some tickets in February, but this team practically sells out every game if it's even sniffing .500, so it's kind of moot at this stage in the game.

[Vinestal]

So how soon could we start hearing about interviews or any kind of news on where he might be headed. You would think teams would want a manager in place before the winter meetings, aren't those in mid November?

[Sammy Sofa]

Managers don't sell tickets. Winning does.

 

Sandberg would probably get some fat, greasy fingers on some tickets.

 

Yeah. I'm not saying there aren't a handful of idiots out there who would get excited about a managerial hire and decide to buy some tickets in February, but this team practically sells out every game if it's even sniffing .500, so it's kind of moot at this stage in the game.

 

Oh, definitely; Maddon might get a few dorks to buy some extra seats, but by and large it's not going to effect sales directly.

[treebird]

Managers don't sell tickets. Winning does.

 

Sandberg would probably get some fat, greasy fingers on some tickets.

 

yeah, i definitely think that it's possible for a manager to sell tickets (in february, especially). the problem with that argument in this case is that the people smart enough to know how big a deal maddon is are also the people smart enough to know how marginal the value of a manager is. meatballs who think sandberg is going to yell at castro and make him promise not to make any errors are the ones who'll turn out better due to a manager.

[Guest]

just curious, but does anyone know what percentage of capacity we were at in like 07 and 08?

 

it's been so long that i'm trying to recall if we even sell out those crappy april mid-week day games when they're good

[Andy]

So how soon could we start hearing about interviews or any kind of news on where he might be headed. You would think teams would want a manager in place before the winter meetings, aren't those in mid November?

Winter meetings are in the winter. January or early February, I believe.

[treebird]

just curious, but does anyone know what percentage of capacity we were at in like 07 and 08?

 

it's been so long that i'm trying to recall if we even sell out those crappy april mid-week day games when they're good

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance/_/year/2008/sort/homePct

 

this says 99.1 in 08, 97.1 in 07. both figures were second best in the majors.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

So how soon could we start hearing about interviews or any kind of news on where he might be headed. You would think teams would want a manager in place before the winter meetings, aren't those in mid November?

Winter meetings are in the winter. January or early February, I believe.

 

They are in December every year. It pretty much kicks everything off.

[Guest]

So how soon could we start hearing about interviews or any kind of news on where he might be headed. You would think teams would want a manager in place before the winter meetings, aren't those in mid November?

Winter meetings are in the winter. January or early February, I believe.

 

GM meetings are in a few weeks in November.

 

Winter meetings are in early December.

[gscool89]

If we get him, hoping his tenure doesn't end like the other big managerial signings - Dustys or Lou's. The Cubs have been here before.

Dusty was always terrible and the decline was a result of a poor minor league system and declining talent. Lou was just burnt out after the 2 straight playoff losses. You could tell he was done after '08.

[Guest]

just curious, but does anyone know what percentage of capacity we were at in like 07 and 08?

 

it's been so long that i'm trying to recall if we even sell out those crappy april mid-week day games when they're good

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance/_/year/2008/sort/homePct

 

this says 99.1 in 08, 97.1 in 07. both figures were second best in the majors.

 

so i'm guessing those 3% were mostly in april in 07 but in 08 when the hype was in full force they even sold out the rest of those

Edited October 25, 2014 by David

[Elrhino]

The only hesitation I would have is if it hamstrings us financially in some way to buy out Renteria and pay Maddon (4 years and $15-17 mill, I'd guess?).

 

 

Maybe poor Tom Ricketts clipped a "Buy 1 manager, add 1 half off." coupon from the Sunday Tribune.

[Elrhino]

Maddon is maybe the only mlb manager that has occasionally used his "closer" in the 8th inning if the heart of the opposing lineup is due up.

 

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/baseball-joe/blog/joe-maddon-s-getting-semi-radical-082614

 

If his bullpen tactics prevent us from signing one overpaid bullpen arm, it's worth it.

[Vinestal]

So how soon could we start hearing about interviews or any kind of news on where he might be headed. You would think teams would want a manager in place before the winter meetings, aren't those in mid November?

Winter meetings are in the winter. January or early February, I believe.

 

GM meetings are in a few weeks in November.

 

Winter meetings are in early December.

Ah that's why I was confused, was thinking about the GM meetings.

[Banedon]

If we get Maddon, and the Cubs start winning...watch out for the Telander article telling us how Theo got lucky that Maddon became available, and that the success of the Cubs is all Maddon's doing.