This is barely breaking news, but Cubs skipper Lou Piniella has announced that he will retire following the 2010 season. I think the story was originally broken by a New York writer, but the first place I saw it was from Paul Sullivan on Chicago Breaking Sports.
Despite the lack of playoff wins during his tenure with the Cubs, Piniella has done a good job in Chicago. He led the team to back-to-back division championships for the first time since 1907-08, and the Cubs had three winning seasons in a row under him (2007-2009). Depending on how the 2010 season ends, he could end up with four winning seasons in a row (although I would not bet on it).
Of course, the speculation on who the Cubs manager will be starting in 2011 started even before Piniella officially announced his retirement. Ryne Sandberg seems to be the fans choice. Sandberg is probably my favorite Cubs player of all time (I celebrate Ryne Sandberg day every June 23), but there’s a big part of me that hopes he isn’t the next manager. Sure, I have some concerns about Sandberg’s ability to lead a big league club. But more than that, I don’t want to see him fail. Ryno has a spectacular reputation among Cubs fans and I would hate to see that tarnished in any way.
Another potential managerial hire is Joe Girardi. I have a lot of respect for Girardi. I also have the tangential connection to him through my in-laws (I’ve explained this before, but my wife grew up with Joe and their families were friends for years, although not so much now). I think he would do as good of a job with the Cubs as anyone, but I seriously doubt he’ll leave the Yankees. Maybe his connection to the Cubs is stronger than I think it is, but I just don’t see him giving up the managerial job with a perennial winner to take the same job with a perennial loser.
Cubs announcer Bob Brenly is also in the discussion. I appreciate the fact that he has spoken his mind concerning the Cubs poor play this year, but I wonder if that might not hurt him. Even if it doesn’t hurt him with the front office, it just might hurt him with the players.
Alan Trammel’s name has also been thrown into the mix. The Cubs bench coach is certainly familar with the ball club, but I wonder if his association with Piniella might not hurt him. With Piniella leaving, I would think the club would want to make a clean break from the past. Keeping Trammel around sort of just continues the coaching philosophy of the past three plus years. Plus, for what it’s worth, Trammel does not have a particularly inspiring track record as a manager.
Paul Sullivan also mentions Joe Torre as a possible replacement for Piniella. Torre’s contract with the Dodgers is up at the end of this year and he has mentioned his desire to manage the Cubs in the past. Personally, I don’t see it. I’m not sure that it is a good fit and I wonder how much the 70-year old Torre still has in the tank. Of course, it’s hard to argue with the success Torre had in New York and to a lesser extent in Los Angeles. Even so, if I was a betting man, I’d bet against a Torre era with the Cubs.
Finally, a dark horse candidate might be Pat Listach. He a former Cubs minor league coach and the current third-base coach for the Nationals. He was well-liked while he was in the Cubs’ organization and he’s well-respected throughout baseball. Even so, I don’t think he has the big name brand equity the Cubs will likely be looking for.
So who will the next manager be? Perhaps a better question is, who will be hiring the next manager. Jim Hendry is on the hot seat and he very well may not be back next year. Will Hendry do the hiring? Will a new GM do the hiring? Will Tom Ricketts make the decision on the next Cubs manager regardless of who is sitting in the GM’s chair? It should be interesting.
UPDATE: Paul Sullivan at Chicago Breaking Sports has an update on the Lou Piniella press conference. In addition to confirming that Piniella will retire at the end of the season, Cubs owner Tom Ricketts said that he plans on retaining Jim Hendry and that Hendry will be making the decision on a new manager. To me, that’s a little surprising, but it is probably a good idea to get it out of the way now rather than fueling speculation for the rest of the year and going into the off-season.
There’s no doubt that Hendry has his detractors and some of what they say when they complain about him is true. Hendry has made his mistakes. But who among MLB GM’s has not made similar mistakes. Theo Epstein in Boston is often held up as the perfect GM, especially by the Sabermetric crowd. But Epstein has made his share of mistakes. Under his direction, Boston has released players who were still owed big money (i.e. Julio Lugo) and are in a position right now where they want to pay someone to take Mike Lowell off their hands. Brian Cashman and Billy Beane are two other GM’s who are often lauded, but who also have a mixed record.
In order to be a successful GM, you have to take some risks. And when you take risks, sometimes you lose. It’s the nature of the game. If you look objectively at Hendry’s record (something that is hard for Cubs fans to do, including me), you find that at the very least, he has done a respectable job. I can’t say I’m thrilled that Hendry will be leading the Cubs into 2011 and perhaps beyond, but I’m not going to lose any sleep over it either.
With Hendry coming back, I think the odds of Sandberg being the next manager just increased a bit. Sandberg has done everything Hendry has asked of him, and he has done it well and with success. He’s climbed the coaching ladder within the Cubs organization and I think it will be tough for Hendry not to choose him as the Cubs next manager.
In fact, let me make a prediction. In the near future, I predict that Sandberg will by moved up onto Piniella’s coaching staff to get a little big league coaching experience before taking over the team next year. It’s just a guess on my part, but remember, you heard it here first.
