Via Twitter (take with a grain of salt): Quade to be manager and Sandberg is bench coach

Will Carroll of SI is tweeting that Mike Quade will be named manager and that Ryne Sandberg will be named bench coach. 

Carroll is a somewhat reputable source...so I suppose this could all be true.

Anyway, Carroll has posted that the announcment could come some time next week.

This goes against what much of the Chicago media has been reporting the last few days.

Paul Sullivan and Gordon Wittenmyer have reported that the Cubs were to wait a little while before making a discision on this as long as Quade and Sandberg are not being persued by any other teams.  The wait would be, persumably, to see if Joe Girardi would become available after the Yankees are finished with their season. 

If true, I'm sure a number of other sources will soon be moving on this story.


Update:

Carroll has posted another quip on Twitter saying that a source he has close to the Cubs has told him he is wrong.

For Hendry, this time it’s different

We pretty much know who is on the sort list of managerial candidates right now.

Pat Listach was stiffed the rose from the Cubs front office thus leaving three candidates. Three candidates…yep. And we know that all three have now all met with Tom Ricketts.

Ryne Sandberg, Mike Quade and Eric Wedge.

I know...you are as surprised as I am that I didn't make the cut. I guess my resume just wasn't as impressive as Eric Wedge's.


Anyway, this is Jim Hendry’s third managerial pick.

Not many GMs get the chance to hire 3 managers. At the same time, Hendry hasn’t really had to fire any managers. He was brought in at the same time Don Baylor was fired, and I don’t think dismissing Bruce Kimm really counts. Both of Hendry’s previous managers finished out their contracts and left on there own terms.

Wedge just looks like a jerk.  I like it!

Hendry’s two previous choices, Baker and Piniella, were superstar managers. They were hot commodities. They had proven track records of success.

Mike Quade, Ryne Sandberg and Eric Wedge are neither superstar managers, or have a proven track record of winning at the major league level. This is a departure for Hendry. Now, with that being said, unless you count the joke that is Bobby Valentine, there are no superstar managers available out there unless Whitey Herzog comes out of retirement. Jim Hendry doesn't have much of a choice but to hire a lesser name this time around unless he waits to see if Joe Girardi becomes available.

Of the three finalists, Wedge is the one with the most experience, and believe it or not, has a resume that isn't all that bad include three seasons in Cleveland with a record of .500 or better, and a Manager of the Year award in 2007 (and has won the award more recently than Joe Girardi).

"I will destroy the enemy just by looking at them! Let me demonstrate on Paul Sullivan!"

Jim Hendry, in choosing managers, has been much different than any of his predecessors since John Holland was GM in 1966 when Leo Durocher was hired...and even that was probably more of an ownership decision. With the exception of the Jim Frey hiring, which was a somewhat impressive selection (Frey won the ALCS in 1980), the Cubs have, for 30 years, hired no-name managers who, at best, showed potential. That changed with Dusty Baker.

In 2002, the Cubs waited for Dusty Baker. It was actually quite an impressive coup. Baker, coming off a World Series appearance, was alienated by the owner of the Giants, and decided to part ways with that organization. Hendry popped in and got him to come to the Cubs. I didn't particularly like the hiring, but he was immediately popular and "In Dusty we Trusty" was born.

Sandberg has the name, but not the resume. Quade has, well, the support of the players, but might not be able to handle the "thing" that is being the Cubs manager. Wedge has a little bit of a resume, a bit of an attitude, and youth, but might not be able to stay around longer than 2 or 3 years before getting fired.

What a pansy.

None of these guys brings any bit of a boost of confidence that this team is moving in the right direction. Dusty was a consistent winner in San Francisco. Piniella was a legend. Sandberg brings a 16 year career of failure as a player. Quade brings baldness. Wedge failed to turn around a franchise that currently owns the biggest World Series championship drought in the American League.

In the end, who is manager of this team isn't going to make much of a difference; it will be the other moves made by Jim Hendry. The sooner he gets this manager distraction out of the way, the sooner he'll be able to start fixing this joke of a roster.

And that might be a good thing...because the last two guys Hendry brought in may have done more in distracting people from the bone-headed signings he made (Soriano anyone?). No more gimmicks. No more "winning attitude". We've all heard that crap before. Now it's time to get good players who are winners. Good players who can play ball the right way and who don't choke under pressure.

But 2002 could repeat itself. Hendry could decide to wait for Joe Girardi. He's the superstar manager and has the respect and much of the same fan love as Sandberg.

Hendry isn't likely to take that risk this time for two reasons.

First, in 2002 when he hired Baker, there wasn't an immediate 2nd choice out there. If Baker decided to do something different, the selection process would have continued and the Cubs would have hired some no name. But Hendry wanted to make a big splash. There was little risk in waiting for Baker. This time around, waiting for Girardi runs the risk of losing out on Sandberg, Quade and Wedge. All three of these guys have been mentioned as candidates for jobs in Pittsburgh, Seattle, Toronto and Milwaukee.

Second, Baker was Hendry's first ever pick for a manager as a GM. Very few GMs ever get the chance to make 3 selections. This time, Hendry's job is on the line. He won't get a fourth selection. If the Cubs flounder the next two seasons, Hendry and possibility his manager will be shown the door.

This is your last chance, fatso, so make it a good one.

It's different this time. And for the first time since 2002, we are going to have a manager with a limited resume. That's ok. Let's just hope that the organization can fix the real problems that exist with the team after that guy is hired.

update:

Carrie the Muskrat is reporting that Bob Melvin has also been interviewed by Tom Ricketts and is on the final list of candidates.

Melvin was the manager of the D-Backs after Bob Brenly was fired. He led the Snakes to a playoff sweep over the Cubs in 2007.

I personally don't like Melvin very much and hope the Brewers hire him instead.

What's going to happen if Sandberg doesn't get the job?

According to numerous sources, Ryne Sandberg will be interviewed by Jim Hendry for the manager position sometime in the next 10 days.

Phil Rogers has now thrown his worthless $.02 into the pot today by saying he thinks that Ryno should get the job. (and, no, I'm not going to link to that story) That pretty much means that every columnist (and beat writer…but in this city, that is the same thing) has thrown his (or her) support behind Sandberg for the job.

Among the likely candidates (Sandberg, Gonzalez, Wedge, Quade, Listach), I think most of the bloggers feel the same way as the professional writers do (except me…and you all know where I stand on this issue).

 "Say that again...and speak into my good ear this time."

Assuming Girardi is not coming (give it up, folks…it isn’t happening), I think most fans believe that Sandberg should be the choice to be manager.

While Hendry has been pretty careful at tipping his hand about this, it is assumed that Sandberg isn’t necessarily his #1 guy. This gives the very real possibility that Hendry will not choose Sandberg (if, indeed the Rickettses don’t have a say in the process).

So, what happens if Sandberg isn’t chosen as manager?

The fans, which have already stopped coming to the games, are going to be disappointed.

The columnists are going to rip apart the team and Jim Hendry.

The bloggers are going to be upset.

And Sandberg will likely be offered a job with another team.

It is obvious that the Cubs management is hoping for a quick turnaround for this team after this joke of a season, but, unlike after the 2006 season, they don’t have the financial resources (or the ‘win at all costs’ directive) right now.

Why do I bring this up? Well, keeping fans interested is at least somewhat important in the minds of the Ricketts family, even if they publically aren’t saying that. With the exception of the unlikely picks of Joe Girardi, Tony LaRussa or Joe Torre, the Cubs aren’t likely to get any public relations boost by hiring anyone other than Ryne Sandberg. After the disaster of the 2002 season, the Cubs did decide to go the public relations route and hired Dusty Baker. Heck, that hiring was one of the reasons I got my season tickets. I didn’t necessarily like Dusty all that much, but it told me that, for the first time since Jim Frey was brought in, the Cubs were serious about bringing in proven winners to manage and coach the team. It was a different attitude. But that’s a discussion for another time.

After 2002, the Cubs still had a rather popular Sammy Sosa on the team. Kerry Wood was healthy. Mark Prior was just getting settled in his big league uniform. There was a lot Cubs fans had to look forward to before they even hired the manager.

 Ryno didn't take the news well when he found out I didn't want him as manager.

The Cubs don’t have that this year. Starlin Castro has hit well for average, but has been less than stellar in the field, been stationary when on the bases, and really hasn’t driven in that many runs. Tyler Colvin might lead rookies in homers, but has demonstrated a number of flaws as well. Among the veterans, there really isn’t much to get overly excited about. The Cubs have no players that could compete for a Cy Young or an MVP next season. That is quite different than when Dusty Baker was hired.

This is why so many people are screaming for Sandberg to be hired. I suppose I don’t blame them. Everyone has talked him up so much, at this point, that it seems that only Sandberg could get the job.

If the Cubs decide to offer the job to someone else, unless the Rickettses make some ridiculous offer to him (like giving him 50% ownership of the team to stay as a bench coach), Sandberg is going somewhere else. If the Dodgers don’t hire Mattingly after Joe Torre walks away, I think Ned Colletti would love to bring Sandberg in. If Dusty leave Cincinnati, the Reds could be a good place for him. If Fredi Gonzalez doesn’t go to Atlanta, the Braves would be a good fit. Hell, even Milwaukee would work, though I think Bob Brenly would be a better fit for the Brewers. (And yes, I believe Ken Macha is finished after this season.)

 See you later, Cubs fans!

Would Tom, Todd, Laura and Pete be willing to take a public relations hit like that? Do they have the guts to do that? I doubt it. While trying to maximize the return on this ballclub, they have been very careful to keep as many people happy as they possibly can (outside of the rooftop owners).

Not hiring Sandberg has the following effects on the Cubs.

• Season ticket turnover will be extremely high. (Over half of the people that I know personally who have season tickets are not renewing next year)
• Single game ticket sales will be relatively soft in March.
• The PR department will have to work hard to try to promote one or more of the players in order to drum up excitement for the team going into 2011.
• An outcry of complaints will occur when they raise ticket prices another 10%.
• They will have a hard time gaining support for a costly stadium renovation plan for which they are going to require extra sources of renew for.

The only way to counteract this stuff is for the team to become successful in very short order. I believe Fredi Gonzalez can do that as well if not better than Sandberg. Girardi the same, though he’s not coming here, so don’t even bother asking. Disinterest in the Cubs is at its lowest since the mid 90’s. I could decrease even more if Sandberg isn’t hired unless something else is done. And if the Rickettses aren’t willing to take the PR hit by not hiring Sandberg, they will have to deal with at least a full season of the Cubs being a blip on the radar while the team rebuilds on the field.

Could the Cubs risk letting a legend like Sandberg go?

The Blackhawks did (getting rid of Denis Savard as head coach) and less than two years later they won the Stanley Cup and are now more popular than they have been in almost 20 years.

Just say no to Sandberg!

He was my favorite Cub when I was a kid. He played hard, did things the right way, and was someone that I could look up to. He is not selfish. He works hard. He’s paid his dues. He’s been successful. He should be a major league manager.

But not with the Cubs.

I respect Ryne Sandberg. I really do. I respect him so much that I don’t want him to be the Cubs manager.

For Major League managers, the Cubs job is like the call of the Sirens. The beauty of the ballpark, the lure of leading this long lost franchise to a championship and eternal glory is irresistible. And that call draws in these foolish men and they get to Chicago becoming shipwrecked along the shores of Lake Michigan.

Eventually, these once great men leave town a shell of who they once were…defeated, beat up, and completely demoralized by the beautiful song that lured them to Wrigley.

Lou Piniella just could resist her song.

It is obvious the Ryno has heard the song being sung by the Sirens at Wrigley Field. The lure is there. No man is strong enough to resist it. That is why we, Cubs fans, should be helping Sandberg’s ship veer away from the rocky cliffs that exist around Clark and Addison.

Sandberg is going to be a successful manager as long as he doesn’t cave into the song of these Sirens. Let him take over the Yankees when Girardi leaves. Let him go to LA to replace Joe Torre. Heck, Dusty Baker might not return to Cincinnati…that’s a great baseball town.

I respect Sandberg too much to wish the fate of so many other managers upon him. Could he do it? Could he actually lead this team to a World Series title? Yeah…possibly. But I don’t want to take the chance that the job would destroy him.

There are plenty of other very good candidates out there (not Joe Torre) to choose from during this offseason. Let one of these other guys give it a shot. Let one of these guys take a risk at losing everything. I don’t respect any of them as much as Sandberg. If Fredi Gonzalez fails, fine? It won’t devastate me or many other Cubs fans.

But if Sandberg fails, it’s going to crush us all. We are all on that same ship as Sandberg right now, and if he approaches that shore where the Sirens sing, we are likely all going down with him.

 Dusty Baker's ship almost made it...but it sank as well.

So please refrain from crowning Sandberg as our savior. Let him save someone else because he is as likely to fail here as all the other sailors who have come to the rocky cliffs of Wrigley Field.