C.C.

What do you like about Francona? Mainly the fact that Francona seems to thoroughly get the importance of OBP. Well regardless, as far as I know he's still the manager of the Red Sox, so why are we talking about him being the manager of the Cubs?

I'd probably go with Brenly. I don't like the issues and baggage that belong to Girardi. I'd hope that some of Len's knowlede had at least rubbed off on Brenly and that he might consider things like run expectancy in making decisions. What issues? Him telling Loria to quit yelling at the umpires? It's Girardi's job to communicate with the umpires, not the owner. thats not necessarilly "baggage." I'd also have to have a stronger endorsement of Brenly other than he's sat with a PBP guy the past two years. It probably won't be either one of these guys anyway. No. It seems pretty well known that Girardi didn't listen to suggestions or directives from the GM either. . What didn't he listen to? Maybe I just haven't seen confirmation of this, I believe you. Is their hard evidence of this? Or just speculation with the firing? I don't have specifics, but after the Loria incident, there were reports that he had feuded with the GM as well. I don't think the Marlins ever released a laundry list as part of the press releases, but I think there's sufficient reasons to believe that Girardi was going to do things his way regardless of what his superiors thought. In the Cubs case this might be a good thing. No?

I'd probably go with Brenly. I don't like the issues and baggage that belong to Girardi. I'd hope that some of Len's knowlede had at least rubbed off on Brenly and that he might consider things like run expectancy in making decisions. What issues? Him telling Loria to quit yelling at the umpires? It's Girardi's job to communicate with the umpires, not the owner. thats not necessarilly "baggage." I'd also have to have a stronger endorsement of Brenly other than he's sat with a PBP guy the past two years. It probably won't be either one of these guys anyway. No. It seems pretty well known that Girardi didn't listen to suggestions or directives from the GM either. You may find that admirable, but in most lines of work it's insubordination. As I've said elsewhere, it's ironic that someone who wants his players to toe the line and be subjected felt he didn't have to answer to anyone. It's those issues I have concerns about. I'm not so sure Girardi's issue is that he's a diciplinarian or an egotistical control freak. It's likely somewhere in between, but I'm not sure I'd want to chance having a Showalter-type manager. Given the choice between Girardi and Brenly, I'd take Brenly. I think the difference is (everything I've read) the players seem to really like playing for Girardi.

Isn't Francona basically a Dusty Baker? He's a vet manager that vets love to play for...Blah, blah, blah...

I believe that Dusty was Jim's first choice and he hadn't even thought about the replacement before yesterday. I believe you are right. Because at the press conference he seemed clueless about who the next Manager or what he was looking for. I don't think he ever thought it out properly, like the Marlins did. Marlins knew exactly what they were going to do months ago.

I'd roll the dice on Girardi. I agree...What choices are left Brenly or Lou?

It depends how much. They were at 95 last year, so perhaps they are going to "Raise it" to 100. Who knows. I'll believe it when I see it...

$$$$$$$$ I'm not sure about that. You don't even hear his name attached to any teams.

Yeah right! LOL!

Yeah right! With what money?

I agree, but would expand the idea to cover two more themes I've been harping on since the late 1990s after viewing the model of the Yankees rebuild a dynasty. Building on your bolded thought, what makes the antiquated notions even worse is the habit of starting with a fixed budget. It's the combination of the two that compounds a Pierre trade with a Jones 3 year contract just because it fits a budget, then scrimp elsewhere by starting unproven rookies in critical position on the field and in the order. We must couple a new baseball strategy with a flexible and significantly expanded budget that allows a GM to pull in the right player whenever he's available, or to extend a player when we know he's exactly what conforms to our baseball strategy. Second, it still boggles my mind that the Cubs' ownership can't recognize that any relatively modest increase in payroll ($50M is a drop in the bucket) that would enable sustained exciting, WINNING baseball would reap orders of magnitude increases in revenues for the foreseeable future. Where do get this crap ? When the CUBS traded Sosa to Baltimore, they had to shift approx $20M of his contract from a future period to the present accounting period. This in turn, caused the Tribune Co. to have to restate their financial statements and it literally caused ripples throughout the financial community, and their stock took another hit...... but you tell us that $50M is a drop in the bucket. Geez..... I guess I just don't get it, eh? Just goes to show no good deed goes unpunished. Trib ups the payroll and outspends the rest of the division, fans bitch that the Trib won't outspend the whole NL. If the Trib outpent the whole NL fans would bitch that it's still less than the Yankees spend. If you can't win with a 100 million dollar payroll you need to get a new GM. It's that simple!

Well then it's one less manager to discuss.

I think the Marlins know this and acted quickly to get their man. Or maybe Fredi preferred the Marlins over the Cubs. Who knows?

None of this means a lick, and should not come into play when discussing the pros and cons. If anything, past ties to the Cubs should be considered a negative for any candidate. It certainly wasn't a negative for the W.Sox. I know I may be being overly sentimental, but I perfer someone that knows the City and it's fans.

how has ramirez's lack of hustle ACTUALLY hurt this team? I don't know, but some radio host during yesterday's press conference was all excited about the idea of letting Ramirez walk away. Morons. I actually heard several radio hosts and callers with that same sediment this weekend. I don't quite understand it?

Wow! I didn't know that Stone wasn't liked on this board. I guess I'm one of the few that finds him very entertaining.

That would have disaster written all over it. Since McDonough is the interim president, and he's the one apparantly enamored with Stone, my guess is he's in-line for a job under president, but I doubt the Trib would put the entire organization under Stone's control, given his complete lack of any business success. I can't imagine the Cubs would be that stupid.

I think Brenly going to San Fran. Seems like a good fit there...

No. Mark Grace is horrible...

I do care if Stone comes back. I miss him in the booth.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-marlins-girardifired&prov=ap&type=lgns Here's the link...

This early? They aren't wasting time are they...

They subtracted, lets see how they add.

From what I heard from Grace in the booth he doesn't even come close to Stone or Brenly.

He sounds like a beaten down man. Doesn't sound confident, at all...