Now that it's official that Lou Piniella is gone in 2011, who will be his successor?
Here are some of the top names and their chances of managing the 2011 Cubs:
Ryne Sandberg: Probably the fans' choice because of his place in Cubs' lore as a man who knows the game and played it the right way. Currently in his fourth year in the Cubs' system, managing at Triple-A Iowa.
Joe Girardi: Lost out to Piniella for 2007 opening, but went on to win a world championship with the 2009 New York Yankees. The former Cubs catcher has always said he wanted to manage the Cubs someday, but it's hard to imagine him leaving the Yankees after 2010.
Bob Brenly: Another favorite of Cubs fans for his blunt criticisms about the team. But he already was interviewed for the job by general manager Jim Hendry in '06 and never was given a realistic chance. Would he go through that again?
Photo: Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg could be the people's choice. (Phil Velasquez/Tribune)
Joe Torre: Los Angeles sources insist Torre would love the challenge of managing the Cubs, and he's about to become available again with his contract ending with the Dodgers. Has the kind of winning experience that makes him a prime target.
Alan Trammell: Piniella's bench coach knows the team and has
experience with Detroit. Not the kind of "big name" hiring that the Cubs
normally go for, but he is well liked by Hendry.
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Sandberg would make a good hitting coach. Someone named Joe would make a good manager. Torre looks good in blue, and looks good in Pinstripes. Likewise for Girardi. Brenly has had a bad attitude about the Cubs for at least a season and a half, and I wouldn't mind getting him out of the broadcast booth, but not onto the field. Just get rid of him. Trammel seems alright as a bench coach, but I wouldn't make him manager.
Check out Giardi Here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Joe-Girardi-for-next-Cubs-Manager/119169878123445?ref=ts
Joe Girardi, World Series champion manager go to the CUBS? He has 4 rings with the YANKEES! He caught a perfect game and a no-hitter with the YANKEES.....Why would he give that up to manage the mess on the north-side?
Ryno - what does he know about winning?
Brenly Ok, Don't know about Grace...
Give Lee Elia another shot at it.
I have always been a huge Sandberg fan. I do hope to see him someday in Chicago as manager. However, Larussa is not under contract after this year. When you hire Larussa just as importantly you get Dave Duncan as pitching coach. This is the best move for winning now. I believe the reason Larussa only signed a 1 year deal with St Louis this past offseason was that he had his eye on returning to Chicago. All these egos know that whoever is able to finally bring a championship to the Cubs will be forever King of the city.
CubsRule on July 20, 2010 8:41 PM
Why is Hendry not gone? He's the best GM they've ever had, but not good enough. Ari Kaplan, please.
Oh, and the White Sox and all of their fans suck. No one cares about your little team and your stale, crappy ball park and your psycho manager. You all are a bunch of whiny pukes with serious inferiority complexes. Now, go back to Bridgeport and have sex with each other.
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Did your mom have any kids that don't have to sit down to pee?
Why is Hendry not gone? He's the best GM they've ever had, but not good enough. Ari Kaplan, please.
Oh, and the White Sox and all of their fans suck. No one cares about your little team and your stale, crappy ball park and your psycho manager. You all are a bunch of whiny pukes with serious inferiority complexes. Now, go back to Bridgeport and have sex with each other.
What the Cubs need is a manager that fits both the team members and the fans. Only Jimmy Piersol fits with the head problems of the team and its fans. Go Jimmy!
Seriously, who would want to manage this mish-mosh of a roster???? No pitching; no hitting; really bad long-term contracts. A recipe for continued disaster.
Needs to be Brenly... the guy has been around the origination long enough to step in... he has even expressed interest... i think it's always a plus when someone has interest in what they are doing, has won a world series, and is already familiar with the pieces in place.
I think he should step aside now. Let someone get in w/ little less than half a season. it's obvious his heart's not in it any longer.
Class act by Lou making his announcement this early. Lebron, are you taking notes?
Didn't Girardi want the Cubs job but he didn't fit the Tribune "corporate mold?" Of course, John McDonnough was an executive with the Cubs and flew the coop to help assemble the Stanley Cup winning Blackhawks. Going back even further, Nick Colleti was Travelling Secretary for the Cubs and has done rather well as GM for the Dodgers.....and the list goes on and on and Ernie Broglio.
Not Ryno. Because in three years someone will have to get up enough nerve to fire him when the Cubs quit on him like they did Pinella.
GrammarCheck on July 20, 2010 5:43 PM
"Spellcheck on July 20, 2010 3:41 PM
First off it's M-A-D-D-U-X. Maddux was a pitcher and Maddox was a Steelers quarterback, why do so many have a hard time spelling his name."
Gee, I don't know, Spellcheck. But since you're such a prude, answer me this: Why do people write in run-on sentences, then ask a question, but don't use a question mark?
Dude, Greg Maddux is a HOF pitcher whose number is retired with Los Cubs. Spell his name correct if you expect anyone to take you seriously
"Spellcheck on July 20, 2010 3:41 PM
First off it's M-A-D-D-U-X. Maddux was a pitcher and Maddox was a Steelers quarterback, why do so many have a hard time spelling his name."
Gee, I don't know, Spellcheck. But since you're such a prude, answer me this: Why do people write in run-on sentences, then ask a question, but don't use a question mark?
Wow, Joe Torre could pique my interest and almost make me interested in the Cubs again!
Hell, why not just reinstitute the "College of Coaches"?
Girardi and Torre will probably pull a Dwyane Wade. How much money will the Cubs offer but neither leaves the Yankees and Dodgers.
Watch Joe Torre and Joe Girardi come to Chicago and meet with Hendry when they have absolutely no desire to leave their respective teams.
The Cubs are no longer owned by the Tribune who provided Hendry with unlimited money. Ricketts has shown that he is more interested in saving money than winning. With all of the empty seats at the games now he's going to want to spend the least amount of money. Trammel or Sandburg would cone the cheapest.
Neither one is much of a manager. Good players yes, managers, no.
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Carl Sandburg? Poet? yes! baseball man? maybe! dead? for sure.
Check out a sample of this Chicagoians work:
ON THE WAY
Little one, you have been buzzing in the books,
Flittering in the newspapers and drinking beer with
lawyers
And amid the educated men of the clubs you have been
getting an earful of speech from trained tongues.
Take an earful from me once, go with me on a hike
Along sand stretches on the great inland sea here
And while the eastern breeze blows on us and the
restless surge
Of the lake waves on the breakwater breaks with an ever
fresh monotone,
Let us ask ourselves: What is truth? what do you or I
know?
How much do the wisest of the world's men know about
where the massed human procession is going?
You have heard the mob laughed at?
I ask you: Is not the mob rough as the mountains are
rough?
And all things human rise from the mob and relapse and
rise again as rain to the sea.
Please not Trammell. We don't need a Piniella flunky as manager.
Joe Torre if he will come, highly unlikely I say he's just lebroning us for more money from LA.
The Cubs are no longer owned by the Tribune who provided Hendry with unlimited money. Ricketts has shown that he is more interested in saving money than winning. With all of the empty seats at the games now he's going to want to spend the least amount of money. Trammel or Sandburg would cone the cheapest.
Neither one is much of a manager. Good players yes, managers, no.
Might as well be Ronnie Woo Woo...
The Wrigley Field fans will still show up regardless to support the ballpark.
The Franchise has spent years advertising the ballpark rather than the crap on field product and as a result have spawned a generation of beer swilling/cell phone jabbering ignoramusus Wrigley Field fans who don't know the difference between a ball and a balk and what's further don't care to....
True baseball and True Cub fans bailed on this national embarassment a long time ago due to this continued embrace of mediocrity and failure....
Giradi and Torre? Leave the Yankees who compete every year for the World Series and the Dodgers who are a team that is definitely on the upswing for the cubs who never compete for anything and who are on the downswing or level at best.
Giradi and Torre may not be the smartest men in the world, but they aren't stupid!
Not Ryno, because he will not win a pennant, and then he will be fired. Same with Brenley...he is great in the booth. Bring on Girardi. It will be interesting to see how he fares without the Yankee $$$. He is somewhat of a authoritarian fanatic too, isn't he? He'd give the prima donnas some spankings!
There is only one man for the job -- Mickey Morandini
Dig up Leo the Lip, stick a wad of chew in his mouth and he will be ready to go.
Folks,
Just heard Ricketts make it official at their presser this afternoon...he has decided to keep Jim Hendry as the GM of this team for the rest of this year and all of next year.
This team is now finished and done. You guys want to make a statement, Cubs and non-Cubs fans, stop going to the games, stop buying the concessions and not park there, don't watch them on TV or listen to them on the radio (fire Santo while you're at it) and don't buy the merchandise and stop supporting this team and the Ricketts. The Ricketts have officially lost their minds, especially the frat boy himself, Tom Ricketts. Just an awful decision and shows Ricketts has no clue what he's doing in running a team!
Why is Maddux always mentioned as the next GM? Shouldn't he be the next pitching coach?
How about a rock? Until the Cubs get rid of Hendry and his poor personnel choices it won't matter much who manages the team.
Just say "no" to Tramell. What did he lose in Detroit, 120 games or something like that? Please. Hiring from within a mediocre organization is going to get you the same old mediocre thing, like keeping Jim "No Trade" Hendry, keeping Clown Kenney, ad nauseum. This organization needs completely new, outside blood, from president through GM on down to manager. Sorry, but that wouldn't include Ryno. Actually, he should cut his MLB managerial teeth somewhere else to get another perspective, then come and fix this dump.
I think Ryno was one of the best ever and will probably be a very good ML Manager one day. However, he lacks experience at this point and it's always hard for a team to hire a former player as a manager because the next step after that is FIRING him at some point. That's just the law of averages. Not all go up the ladder from there.
The Hawks did it with Savard. Luckily, Deni is still around and seen by the fans. That's not always the case.
The White Sox will have to fire Ozzie at some point. Ozzie wasn't as good as Ryno, but still a fan favorite when he was here. Who knows how that will go over?
The Bears Hired Da Coach, then lost him for good after that since the Bears have little contact with him now. If not for his businesses, he could be in another city full-time by now.
The Cubs are better off with a Girardi, Torre or Trammell. They have good baseball sense and will be respected by players and fans alike.
More names will follow and there is plenty of time to take a good long look.
First, get rid of Hendry. Then let Hendry's successor pick the manager he wants. That's the way it's supposed to be, if you trust the GM you put in place! Everyone wants Sandberg because he was a great Cub player. Now what they need is a great Cub manager. The two don't necessarily mesh. I like LaRussa.
My #1 choice would be Ryno. Second would be Steve Stone.
Hi, just sitting here drooling on myself again.
how about Mark Grace or Rick Sutcliffe too.... throw their hats in the ring
time to clean house an dthat includes Hendry..... my vote of teh names I've heard so far... Ronnie Woo Woo
Forget RHYNO , hes boring.. The Cubs need a comminicator and someone that has seen the cubs all year... BOB Brenly is THE Man.. Hes got a worls series ring and his comments on TV are right on.. He wont go with the Vets like LOU .. He will play the best guys and NOt wait 1/2 year to say I guy should sit like LOU last year and Fontenot, Soto, Sorry and the relief pitcher that was so bad..
Bob Brenly has the experience GET him..
or Bobby Valentine or Girardi ...NOT Sandberg please
Ronnie Woo Woo is the ONLY GUY for the job !
Be honest. Girardi? Torre? And Sandberg has how much experience?
Alan Trammell has studied with the best and he's available.
Who cares who they hire, this team won't be north of .500 for a mininum of the next 4 years.
First off it's M-A-D-D-U-X. Maddux was a pitcher and Maddox was a Steelers quarterback, why do so many have a hard time spelling his name.
Three most-thankless jobs in sports: HC of Notre Dame football, HC of Montreal Canadiens; Mgr of Cubs.
We need to hire Giradi, based on the fact that he is a proven winner and knows what its like to win it all. Hire Sandberg to be a bench coach or a base coach since he's alot of experience doing it in the minors and keep Trammel as a coach. Let Rothschild go and hire somebody that these kids with the good arms can relate to. Let Hendry go and hire Maddox as GM if he wants to get in baseball full time, if not get someone else. Go Cubs. Keep Fukodome, ship zambrano out and resign Lilly.
Longhorn, everyone hustles in the Minors... then they get to the bigs and get multi-million dollar deals and forget how they got those deals. I am not sold on Ryno yet, I think he needs a year or two as a bench coach in the majors first, maybe under Brenly or someone more established.
southsider on July 20, 2010 3:26 PM
I love how you Cub fans think Girardi is going to leave New York after winning a World Series and owning the best record in baseball....
_____________
Actually, cubsessed one, Paul Sullivan, the clown who wrote this, is a Sox fan.
Nice try, though.
It HAS to be Ryno! I watched him manage the I-Cubbies in Round Rock, and he is a terrific manager. Those kids hustled, they were serious about their job, and they play fundamental baseball which the guys on the big club have no idea what that means!!
Ryno has paid his dues, why go with anyone who does not bleed Cubbie blue?
I love how you Cub fans think Girardi is going to leave New York after winning a World Series and owning the best record in baseball for the most prestegious and historical team in American Professional Sports. The Cubs may be able to land him in 6 years after a long tenure for the Yanks but to think he is going to come after this offseason shows the narcisism of Cubdom. No matter who you hire, it is a 3 year rebuilding program.
As long as Jim Spendry is the GM, it doesn't matter who you hire as manager.
He has had over seven years to right the ship, and all he has to show for it are numerous lengthy, bloated contracts given out to untradeable, underperforming, hot-dogging brats and crybabies. Spendry must be fired. He has been out of control from day one, and is totally incompetent.
Really need to get rid of Hendry as well. He made some atrocious decisions on contracts and personnel over the past fews years.
It's always about the manager with this always pathetic team. Hey, how about Brenly? That would be great if in their primes Randy Johnson and Curt Shilling came with the deal.
Why isn't Bobby Valentine on the list as a possibility? He was successful with the Mets for the most part and has come back from Japan. He already took his name out of contention for the Orioles job, which makes it seem like he doesn't want to manage a complete loser team. I think he'd be a good fit.
Brenly if the Cubs stay with veterans... Sandberg if they go with youth.
Yeah, hire Ozzie Guillen. If the Cubs suck with him as manager it would be entertaining to see who has a cardiac first, him or Zambrano.
Huh, Ronster... when exactly did Girardi win a WS with FL? The last time FL won the WS was 2003, and Girardi was still playing, his last season before retiring.
Hire Tony Larussa as manager then Lou's final act as Cubs manager is showing Tony all the best bars in Chicago.
Good luck with getting Ozzie, but I think he already managed in the minors at one time
Maybe Reinsdorf will buy the cubs and make them the White Sox minor league affiliate
If you want to enjoy a nice day in the sun at a great outdoor bar, go to wrigley.
If you want to watch baseball, go to the Cell.
LaRussa.
Girardi is the ONLY choice! Managed the Yanks and won a WS with veterans and won a WS with the Marlins with primarily kids. He can handle both, is from Peoria, a former player and one hell of a manager.
By doing this now, Lou gives the Rickett's a chance to replace Hendry before starting the search for a new manager. You can't allow Hendry to be involved in the search for a new manager that he may never work with. Another name from outside the organization that has not been mentioned is Freddi Gonzalez. He did a good job with the dirt poor Marlins, until the goofy owner fired him. He might be a favorite for the Braves job, but if not they should at least talk to him.
Ryno has been coahing in the Cubs farm system from Tennessee to Peoria and now to Iowa. He has earned his stripes. He will have coached all of these kids that will be coming up in the rebuilding years to come. There is not a better choice out there. Coming from a sox fan that sees how successful it can become from a winning and PR standpoint, do the following:
Head Coach: Ryne Sandberg
General Manager: Greg Maddux
Do it now and save some face. I would even give you guys a lil cheer if you did something that made sense like that.
Joe Torre is too old? That I disagree with. Bobby Cox is still going although he's retiring soon too.
The one name this 45 plus year Cardinals fan fears to hear - not mentioned. Don't expect me to raise your ACT composite score!
I would do all I could to hire Girardi. But I definitely agree, I don't think Hendry realy would want him. Hendry's past hires, (Dusty and Lou), indicate he looks for experience. And Profile. Just like his 'free agents', they usually are high profile guys, who make a lot of money because of their reputation. Hendry has no guts to take a chance on an unproven commodity - which shows he doesn't trust his instincts - if he has any.
Brenly wouldn't take it, with his son in the farm system.
Sandburg, I'd only hire him ; IF they let him manage for the rest of THIS YEAR, as an 'audition'. But thats not gonna happen, either.
So Girardi would be my choice. But still, Hendry should NOT be allowed to fill the position.
any chance the cubs sign Ozzie as their skipper?
I think sandberg is the fan favorite but it seems like the cubs are going to undergo a youth movement in the next 2-4 years. They need a manager who can deal with young guys and has a good feel for the game.
Like Maddux, don't assume Sandberg would be a good manager just because he was a good player.
torre is a 70yr old man who has no life left in him.
I take that back about Torre.
If they can get Torre (even though he's old) to manage the team for a couple and have him show Sandberg the ropes and eventually hand it over, then that might not be a bad idea either.
Either way, if your a real Cubs/baseball fan, there is no way you want Sandberg managing the cubs next year. Not enough experience(as a coach). Don't you want to at least give the guy a chance at being successful managing in the bigs? I wouldn't throw him in the fire just yet.
Mr. Obvious and fans,
I don't think Hendry is going to last much longer with this organization. The Ricketts might just go ahead and pull the trigger on Hendry this month or wait it out until the season's end, but no matter what, Hendry won't be with this team after the season. This team is in serious need of new blood and fresh ideas and Hendry has done nothing but cripple this organization with those horrible contracts and no trade clauses. The Ricketts will buy his last two years out and call it a day. Lou retired to avoid the embarrassment of being fired by the Ricketts today. One down, a few more to go and we all know Hendry is shitting his pants right now. Ricketts need to explain themselves.
I agree with Mr Obvious - It's time to replace Hendry, too. Ricketts needs to finish cleaning house. This is the right time to do it.
First choice - Girardi
Second choice - Brenly.
Ryno is a good choice for bench or even hitting coaching. Torre, if he's available, would make another great coach. It's his time to let someone else take the lead.
What a staff THAT would be!
Brenly would be a wise choice, as a paid observer he probably knows the team better from watching them flounder that last few years. With Ricketts' trip to the fields in Iowa I wouldn't be surprised to see Sandberg back on the bench in Mesa next spring. I think Girardi is a longshot though...
Hire Ozzie away from the Sox. Seriously. It would be good for the Cubs and drive the Sox fans totally nuts.
Pick me. Pick me. If I could handle being the club house manager, I can handle managing the Cubs.
Trammell as Manager and Ryno as bench coach. Sure it isn't the 'flashy' hire. But Alan knows his stuff.
You guys better lock up Girardi or look forward to more years of nothingness.
Sandberg is not the answer. He needs more time. (If you don't land Girardi Rickets will have him coaching....sad)
Torre is too old to put the time in to make this team a winner.
Brenly might be ok.
I wouldn't even put Trammell's name in conversation.
Good Luck. I hope you find someone that can bring the cubs out of the hole they are in.
Please don't let Hendry make the decision. Mr Ricketts take a clue and show Hendry the door and start over. I'm afraid Hendry would hire one of his "old buddies" and we are back to square one. One down and one to go...it's a start.