Well, this week he thinks someone else may very well be the manager next season.
Joe Girardi.
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| Is he really thinking about leaveing New York? |
Gammons thinks that Girardi may very well be looking to bail out on the Yankees and go to Chicago. Gammons’ insiders have indicated that over the last few months Girardi has noticeably lost weight, and appears to be considerably stressed out with his current situation.
I’m not sure what’s going on in New York right now…I don’t follow American League baseball all that much, but if Girardi is sick of dealing with the stress of New York, he isn’t going to find much relief in coming to the Cubs. As FrankS has pointed out here a number of times, though, if he were to come to Chicago, he would be back home which could count as a big plus in Girardi’s book. If Girardi has become stressed out over the last month, it very well could be that it is because he is taking the possibility of moving back to Chicago seriously.
I have maintained all along, if Girardi were to be available, he would be the best guy for the job. I never believed he’d leave New York though. I still don’t.
Now with all that said, what guarantee is there that if Girardi leaves the Yankees, he would come to the Cubs? Why do I pose that question? Well, I think the likelihood of Ozzie Guillen leaving the White Sox after this season has escalated over the last few days. Could the White Sox make a strong push to get a top of the line manager like Girardi?
And, yes, I’ve heard the mentions of the possibility of Guillen coming to the Cubs next year. My response…shut up. Why even bother mentioning that. Tom Ricketts and Jim Hendry will not hire Ozzie Guillen.
Ok, so back to the Gammons-Girardi thing. Honestly, after Gammons was indicating Erik Wedge had a great shot at getting the job last week, bringing up the Girardi thing really has to make you wonder whether to take any stock in what he has to say. I’m sure next week Gammons will say that Davey Johnson is looking more likely to be the next Cubs manager.
To me, it appears to be a two man race. Honestly, I have decided that it will make little difference to the team when looking at the two picks…Sandberg and Quade. Reports about Don Wakamatsu being lined up to interview for the job appear to be false according to Carrie Muskat. In the end, very little has changed in the manager search no matter what Peter Gammons or any other reporter has to say.
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And any of you that were panicking about Greg Maddux leaving Chicago to be the pitching coach of the D-Backs…relax. He’s going to stay in Chicago. Jim Hendry stated that he fully expects Maddux to stay in 2011. Hendry also said that he spent Tuesday and Wednesday interviewing Ryno. I think everything is on track for the Cubs to name a new manager by the middle of the month of October.
