Laura

Listach will be managing the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League, which starts tomorrow. He has also been a regular reader of NSBB during the season. :) DJaxxFan can probably give some insight as to his managerial style in AA. I'm glad they're considering some of the inhouse talent.

Excellent news!

Girardi may want the Cubs job, but if the Nats were to offer him a job, I wouldn't expect him to hang around hoping that Hendry might eventually offer him something.

The Braves did allow Fredi Gonzalez to be interviewed. Since the season hadn't ended yet, the the request also had to go through the Commissioner's Office, which also granted approval.

Straight up? I think I'd have to go for that. Apparently there was some talk (not rumor) of trading A-Rod for Aramis & Wood, assuming both would be re-signed. Part of the rationale as explained to me was that the NYY would prefer to trade him to the NL and someplace that ARod would find acceptable. Since Cubs fans will cheer for anything and love anyone, he would like it here. NYY get a replacement 3Bman, perhaps some Rivera insurance next year and the possibility of Wood rebounding enough to start in the future. Cubs get one of the best players in baseball (despite his non-clutchiness) which could make the difference in a putrid division like the NL Central.

Apologies if this has already been posted, but Levine on ESPN Radio 1000 is reporting that the Cubs will be contacting San Diego for permission to interview Bochy. He also said Bochy has one year @ $1.9M left on his contract.

Bochy has been mentioned as a candidate in the past. What's his contract status? I was under the impression that he was signed past this season and it would be the Padres' decision as to whether to cut him (& Towers) loose.

I think Giambi had a cortisone shot and was unavailable to play.

It's a shame he didn't make it into the Hall of Fame while alive. It will be an indictment on voters when he makes it in post-humously.

I wonder if Rozner is referrring to an ESPN broadcasting gig. Rozner has a interview-chat with Girardi leading off his column.

Rozner's take.

I heard that....I hope Gammons is wrong. I see you didn't mention Gammons thought that Lou was heading to the Cubs? I heard it in the car. Gammons said something about how Piniella wouldn't want to go to a rebuilding team, he wants to 'win now' and Mike/Mike asked "aren't the Cubs in rebuilding mode after their horrible year?" Gammons said, "yes, but they'll spend $100M while rebuilding." hooray?

The BA Southern League chat is at 1:00 pm CT (subscribers only).

Fredi Gonzalez had been considered among the top candidates for the Cubs job before he was hired by some other team first.

If Hendry can multi-task, great. I think people expected Hendry to move rapidly because --as BBB notes, he should have been aware for some time now that he'd need to hire a new manager, --I thought I heard his new boss make some noises about winning a world series and having a new sense of urgency about the business of winning, and --the new trend in hiring managers seems to be to decide early who you want and then hire him when he becomes available before someone else can. I suppose we should be grateful to the Marlins -- if Gonzalez were still in the mix, it might take forever. In all seriousness, if the search continues beyond this next week, then signs will be pointing to either Hendry wanting someone affiliated with a playoff team and/or there perhaps being a disconnect between Hendry and McDonough on who the next manager should be. Chris De Luca hints at that in his column today.

Early on, Piniella seemed to get mentioned as a possibility for San Francisco and Washington (and perhaps returning to Seattle, though they seem set for the time being), but I haven't heard him mentioned lately for any slot other than the Cubs. Has anyone else?

I hadn't heard this story before and it made me chuckle: Media buzz is definitely not always accurate, but the buzz seemingly puts Piniella - Girardi 1-2 in the Cubs managerial race and Brenly behind both of them.

Winners list is on the last page of the sticky thread.

It's not hard for me to see why they should consider other candidates ... but if those really are the two Hendry is considering, he should get a move on.

Congratulations to Mark Prior's Calves, overall winner of the '06 Predictions Contest! Congratulations also to Derwood, the winner of 3 months of Premium Membership! Mark Prior's Calves 640 TruffleShuffle 635 Derwood 545 goony's evil twin 530 sandberg23 520 Dobson 515 Cubbies75 475 Transmogrified Tiger 470 .825 USSoccer 470 .821 Bob's Keeper 460 CubsinNC 455 sweetpeteman 450 Mizzou 445 .837 rawaction 445 .825 Rocket Sauce 440 NCCubbieFan 430 SouthSideRyan 435 Pistolcub42 420 Treeman 415 otis89 405 .850 BigbadB 405 .780 ndistops 400 sethuel1 395 DJaxxFan 370 vance_the_cubs_fan 365 wolf stansson 355 Mark_R 345 jd6762 335 sherwood921 325 J-Shils 310 .826 Serena 310 .825 Here are the final standings for Premium Members: Mark Prior's Calves 640 TruffleShuffle 635 goony's evil twin 530 sandberg23 520 USSoccer 470 .821 Bob's Keeper 460 sweetpeteman 450 rawaction 445 .825 NCCubbieFan 430 BigbadB 405 .780 ndistops 400 sethuel1 395 DJaxxFan 370 vance_the_cubs_fan 365 Serena 310 .825 Please doublecheck your entry & scoring -- the scoring is below each entry -- and PM me if there are any mistakes. Like last year, the Premium winners will be able to choose what they want to receive from a list. The list will be posted by Tuesday and winners will choose in the same order they placed. Thanks for participating and congrats! :cheers:

Good show! You have a good broadcasting voice, Irish O'Shea! You can download the interview as an mp3 file or listen to it here: http://www.4shared.com/dir/977989/c80d2d05/sharing.html It's a little over 12 minutes. The audio clip starts about 30 seconds into the interview while Bruce is summing up the Dusty Baker era. The audio get choppy occasionally -- sounds like the phone was cutting out a few times -- but the majority of it is clear.

I have seen Mets third-base coach Manny Acta mentioned. I don't think that is why Hendry is dragging his feet but you never know. There were also rumors that Bruce Bochy may become available and the Cubs had been interested in him in the past.

He asks what team he roots for and when the answer is "Cubs," Lasorda goes "Ugh!" before responding.