From the Saturday, Oct. 5, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …
Seeking their fourth manager in four seasons, the Chicago Cubs have a sales job on their hands this fall.
But is what they’re selling something that anyone actually wants to buy into, or is it nothing more than a chance to become yet another fall guy?
Ever since Cubs president Theo Epstein refused to give manager Dale Sveum a vote of confidence two weeks before ultimately firing him as franchise’s scapegoat for its 197 losses since 2012, rumors have swirled around the Windy City that the North Siders want Yankees skipper Joe Girardi as its next leader.
On Thursday, the Sun-Times’ Gordon Wittenmyer reported that multiple sources have said that the Cubs are indeed focused on hiring Girardi and making him one of the two highest-paid managers in baseball along with the Angels’ Mike Scioscia, who earns $5 million annually.
“Girardi, who fielded a contract-extension offer Wednesday from the Yankees, has said publicly and told those close to him privately that family considerations will play a large role in his decision to return to the Yankees or field other offers,” wrote Wittenmyer. “In other words, talking to the Cubs about an offer, sources close to him say.”
Now, I’d love to see Girardi – a World Series champion manager, an Illinois native, a former Cubs catcher and one of the classier ballplayers I’ve seen during my lifetime – come to Chicago. But if he does, I can’t help but think that he’s also a little crazy to do so.
Or a lot.
After all, Girardi isn’t the skipper of just any old ball club, he’s the manager of the NEW YORK YANKEES, perhaps the most glamorous coaching job in all of professional sports. And while the Yankees are clearly on a downswing, having failed to make the postseason this year for only the second time in the last 19, the franchise is still going to strive to win every year and spend accordingly.
One can’t say the same in Chicago.
With the Cubs, Girardi would be inheriting what’s still a massive rebuilding job entering its third year of the Epstein Era. The job at Wrigley Field also comes with about as much pressure as the job at Yankees Stadium – maybe even more these days – and also involves management that already has said that it again won’t spend significant money this winter to upgrade its MLB roster.
Oh, on top of that, that same management just fired a manager after only two seasons during which his bosses gave him almost nothing work with on the field, and repeatedly traded away what little talent his roster did have.
So, yeah …
I don’t know about you – or Joe – but that just doesn’t sound like a very appealing job to me. Especially when you again consider that Girardi has the option of staying with the YANKEES, who probably will match whatever the Cubs might pay him.
Now, what the Cubs job of course does offer is baseball immortality if a manager can actually lead the team to a World Series championship. But to do that, a manager needs talent, and right now the Cubs right aren’t in a position to compete for third place in the NL Central, let alone a title.
If Girardi does ultimately take the Cubs job, the best thing about it might be that it could signify that Epstein is actually going to start putting some respectable talent on team’s big league roster instead of just continuing to throw minor league talent out onto a big league diamond.
The former tactic could perhaps attract a skipper from the Bronx, the latter will just evoke another Bronx cheer.