Jim Hendry is out as GM

[southsider2k5]

SI_JonHeyman Jon Heyman

ricketts had 9-min conf call w/ #cubs employees. no further shakeup. hope is wilken/fleita stay. seek young, analytical gm

 

[kitekrazy]

Funny how writers such a Rodgers calls this a lucrative job. I can't see that at all. You have bad contracts. Then there's other things like the weather, cost of living, ect. that I wouldnt' consider it lucrative. The organization is so synonymous with losing that they are used in non sports documentaries with it comes to the word losing.

[LittleHurt05]

Funny how writers such a Rodgers calls this a lucrative job. I can't see that at all. You have bad contracts. Then there's other things like the weather, cost of living, ect. that I wouldnt' consider it lucrative. The organization is so synonymous with losing that they are used in non sports documentaries with it comes to the word losing.

 

-After next season, you have one bad contract left.

-You have a team that's capable of sustaining high payroll in the future

-A "fanbase" thats loyal and keeps attendance high (Even during this awful season, they still have a relatively decent attendance)

-cost of living? weather? It's still the city of Chicago, not Cleveland, it's an attractive destination

-the franchise may be synonymous with losing, but if you do win it all, you became an absolute legend forever

 

I'd say it's a pretty lucrative job

[southsider2k5]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/page/rumbli...-loaded-closers

 

We've heard a lot of talk about the Cubs pursuing a bunch of marquee names to be their next GM. But the planets don't appear to be lining up quite the way they had in mind.

 

Andrew Friedman? People within the sport who know him well say he's so close to Rays owner Stuart Sternberg and team president Matt Silverman, they have a hard time imagining he'd leave Tampa Bay unless he found nearly the perfect situation. There has been speculation elsewhere, in fact, that Sternberg could offer him a small ownership stake.

 

Theo Epstein? May be fascinated by the possibilities, but he's under contract through next season, with no indication that the Red Sox would allow him to leave. Epstein also seems unlikely to uproot his family at this stage of his (and their) life. Baseball men who are friendly with him say he may look for a new challenge a few years down the road, but the timing doesn't appear to work now.

 

Brian Cashman? An official of another club says that despite what's been written about him, Cashman wants to stick around and, in fact, has "an understanding" with the Yankees that he isn't going anywhere.

 

Billy Beane? Friends say he has legitimate interest. But even those who believe he's tempted say, in the next breath, that he has tremendous freedom in Oakland to juggle team-building with all his other passions, and remind themselves that he also owns a piece of the team in Oakland.

 

So one longtime friend of team chairman Tom Ricketts predicts that, in the end, he'll hire a young, creative, sabermetrically inclined executive willing to try a whole new approach to curse-busting.

[southsider2k5]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...,7791615.column

 

Home > Sports > Chicago Cubs

Ricketts willing to wait on Epstein

Some baseball insiders believe Red Sox GM is intrigued by Cubs vacancy

 

6:40 p.m. CDT, September 11, 2011

Theo Epstein is bored in Boston. Brian Cashman tires of having Yankees President Randy Levine and two Steinbrenner brothers tell him what to do.

 

That's what Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts is hearing when he asks about the possibility of bringing Epstein or Cashman to Chicago. Along with the chance to explore the interest of the Rays' Andrew Friedman and possibly the A's Billy Beane, it's why the Cubs' search for a general manager is ambling along, no end in sight.

 

Ricketts is a patient guy. That's why he took almost two years to decide Jim Hendry wasn't his cup of cappuccino. He views his stewardship in terms of decades, not seasons, so he's comfortable waiting until November to have Hendry's replacement in place.

 

Around baseball, there's a belief Ricketts might hit a home run, possibly even persuading Epstein to leave the Red Sox after nine seasons and two World Series parades. It's easy to see the downside with an organization that last won it all in 1908, but the perception outside Chicago is different.

 

"People in baseball talk about it like it's the Holy Grail right now,'' one major league executive said. "You have a chance to break a curse that's longer than the one the Red Sox ended. You can distinguish yourself in ways that aren't available elsewhere.''

 

Epstein is 37, and he essentially already has done it all for the Red Sox. Does he want to stay in his hometown and try to operate an assembly line for fans who become more demanding with each playoff trip? Could he be seduced by the chance to do it again at Wrigley Field?

 

That's what Ricketts is waiting to find out, and some close to Epstein believe he's intrigued. Epstein has said he's "completely focused on the Red Sox of 2011'' but has not dismissed Ricketts' interest.

 

"Something like that, I can't even contemplate it long enough to comment on it,'' he told Boston reporters. "I'm all Red Sox, all the time.''

 

As he should be. But expect Ricketts to call Red Sox owner John Henry or Epstein a day after the Red Sox's season ends.

 

Ricketts knows a good business model when he sees one. He looks at how the Red Sox changed their fortunes in the last decade behind Henry, Larry Lucchino, Sam Kennedy (corporate sponsorships), Janet Marie Smith (Fenway Park renovations) and Epstein, and envisions himself duplicating that success over the next decade.

 

"I see the Red Sox in 2002 and the Cubs now as being the same challenge,'' said Padres general manager Jed Hoyer, an intern with the Red Sox when Epstein took over. "Obviously they don't have Pedro (Martinez), Nomar (Garciaparra) and Manny (Ramirez), but they have some talented players. With good baseball decisions, some ballpark improvements and Wrigleyville-type stuff they can expand on, there's no reason they can't be the next decade's Red Sox.''

 

Landing Epstein, Cashman, Friedman or Beane would be complicated but not impossible. Ricketts isn't going to hire someone on his "B" list before he explores the big names, and he probably has to wait until the season ends to talk to any of them.

 

The secondary list is believed to include White Sox assistant GM Rick Hahn, MLB executive vice president Kim Ng, former Dodgers assistant GM DeJon Watson, former Dodgers GM Dan Evans and Diamondbacks assistant GM Jerry DiPoto. But it's Padres assistant GM Josh Byrnes who has the Red Sox ties that captivate Ricketts.

 

Along with Hoyer and current Red Sox assistant GM Ben Cherington, Byrnes worked under Epstein at the beginning. The Red Sox hired him away from the Rockies in 2002 to be Epstein's right-hand guy, and the Diamondbacks hired him as GM in 2005.

 

His Diamondbacks went to the playoffs in 2007 and probably would have gone back if not for Ramirez's steroid-fueled run with the Dodgers late in '08. Byrnes was fired in June 2010 but is getting credit in some circles for the Diamondbacks' resurgence this season. It's easy to see how Ricketts could sell him as Theo Light if he can't land Epstein or another big fish.

 

"God forbid they ever win a World Series,'' said Hoyer, who believes history can be recreated. "They would equal Boston for the impossibility of getting a ticket.''

[southsider2k5]

David Kaplan

I saw all of the speculation about Jocketty and LaRussa. Tony has told me repeatedly that the one team he would never manage is the Cubs.

 

David Kaplan

That is out of loyalty for his relationship with Jerry Reinsdorf. No chance LaRussa comes here and no chance the Cubs pursue Pujols.

[southsider2k5]

http://www.chicagonow.com/cubs-insider/201...ding-to-source/

 

Sources continually told me that Jim Hendry wouldn’t be back. Now a reliable one tells me that you can add Cubs President Crane Kenney to that list. He says Kenney will no longer be President at the conclusion of the season.

 

It wasn't made clear if Kenney would stay on in another position, but it didn’t sound likely. The source says Tom Ricketts wanted to approach the Cubs takeover as most smart business people do by observing first and not making hasty moves.

 

Now it seems Ricketts is poised to make changes.

 

I was under the impression Ricketts thought the Tribune holdover provided the business side with some stability and connections to continue leading the charge on projects like the "Triangle Building".

 

“They milked Kenney and Hendry for what and they were worth” The source tells me.

 

Now the question in my mind is could a move like this open the door for a more powerful GM? Maybe even one with the title of President attached?

 

Could this set the stage for an enticing offer for one of the big guns out there like Theo Epstein, Andrew Friedman, or Billy Beane?

 

Either way, Rick Hahn's name keeps coming up and it did again from this source. He says as much as Jerry Reinsdorf doesn't want to see Hahn end up a Cub, he can't stop it, and Hahn wants it.

 

It seems obvious to some that Ricketts wants to be the baseball boss, and he also wants to separate the business side from it. That was made even more apparent by his hire yesterday of Julian Green to a newly created position of vice president, communications and community affairs. Peter Chase will continue to handle the communications on the baseball end.

 

It seems Ricketts is ready to shape his Cubs organization the way he wants it, extensions and all.

 

Stay tuned for more.

[Balta1701]

But with the Ricketts family opting to keep player personnel director Oneri Fleita and scouting director Tim Wilken, it's apparent they felt Hendry had the right people in place to turn the organization around, even if they didn't believe Hendry was the right man to steer the ship.

 

Chairman Tom Ricketts and President Crane Kenney will now be the ones responsible for finding the type of general manager they crave — someone who espouses the recent trend of favoring numbers-crunching over scouting. Coincidentally, the Cubs announced Tuesday that longtime Hendry adviser Gary Hughes won't return in 2012.

 

Hughes, who has been involved in professional baseball for 44 years, joined the Cubs in 2002 and was the team's top talent evaluator. He was also instrumental in Hendry's decisions to bring in manager Dusty Baker and give Quade a chance to replace Lou Piniella last summer.

 

"I just decided it was time to do something else," Hughes said by phone from Los Angeles, where he was scouting a Dodgers-Giants game. "This is the longest I've ever been with anybody in my life."

 

Efforts to reach Ricketts for comment were unsuccessful.

 

Hughes said he was confident Ricketts is surrounding himself with the right people, and had nothing but praise for him. He also pointed out the Cubs went to the postseason three times from 2003-08, an accomplishment he was proud to be part of.

 

"That's something that hadn't happened here before," he said. "With all the changes in ownership, things got a little difficult. It was tough to know what to do."

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