When the Cubs brought in their four managerial candidates it really seemed like they had a three in four chance of getting it right. The first candidate was current Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin. He did a great job as an interim manager for the Reds in 2006 before they decided to shred their pitching staff by giving Dusty Baker the full-time job in 2007. After that Pete went to the Phillies where he makes most of the actual in-game decisions while Charlie Manuel sits around being all folksy.
Next they brought in Dale Sveum. Dale appears to be mildly retarded. He was such an incompetent third base coach during his tenure in Boston that the fans there actually pined for the days of “Wavin'” Wendell Kim. When Ned Yost’s sphincter started to collapse in on itself during Milwaukee’s 2008 playoff run, Doug Melvin fired Ned with just over a week to go in the season and turned it over to Sveum. Even after getting the Brewers into the playoffs, they gave the job to the exciting Ken Macha. Then they fired Macha and gave the job to…Ron Roenicke. Clearly, Dale made quite the impression in Milwaukee.
The third candidate was Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux. He wowed the media, and he got nitwitted bloggers all excited about the prospect that he might bring his brother along to be his pitching coach. Maddux is, by all accounts, the best candidate and seems to be the guy the Cubs would like to hire. But, he has undisclosed “family issues” that could very well lead him to take himself out of the running. Even beyond whatever those issues are, he made a point of talking about how nice it is that his entire family resides in or near Dallas after spending a couple of years with some there and some back in Milwaukee.
The final in-person interview was with Sandy Alomar Jr. Alomar is going to be a manager someday. He was impressive as a player and team leader where ever he was, and is a highly respected coach in Cleveland. He lives on the north side of Chicago, and think of the money the Cubs could save by not having to reimburse him for moving expenses.
If you were ranking the candidates it would probably be:
1. Maddux
2. Alomar
3. Mackanin
4. Sveum
Rumors about Wednesday night that the Cubs are zeroing in on their choice.
Guess who it is?
Sigh.
Some things never change, do they?
So they’re going to hire this guy. Let’s hope Todd can find the “pancakes house” for him:
Otherwise…
Somebody is going to have to break this to the Chevy guys who are used to locking in the Cubs manager to an endorsement deal:
