Orioles President Andy McPhail, of the royal baseball McPhail lineage (grandpa Larry, dad Lee) had a chance to snag another ex-Cub and went another direction today by hiring non-nonsense manager, Buck Showalter. Recent speculation by Tribster, Steve Rosenbloom, had Sandberg on Andy's speed dial but it seems it wasn't so. The O's beat writer for mlb.com said the short list was former O's catcher Rick Dempsey, former Indians manager Eric Wedge and Bobby Valentine, who has recently volunteered his services as the next Cub manager.
Sandberg did add some fuel to the speculation when he was quoted in the Des Moines Register back on June 16th:
“The last time I talked to Andy was during the winter meetings, when we
were on a committee together,” Sandberg said before Monday night’s
Pacific Coast League game against New Orleans at Principal Park. “But
I’d listen if someone called, for sure.”
Since shedding the official Tribune Tower sweatervest worn as the Cubs President at the conclusion of the abysmal 2006 season and finding refuge in the tender clutches of Oriole owner Peter Angelos in June 2007, Andy has stocked the Orioles with ex-Cubs like the Statue of Liberty says (paraphrasing now):
"Give me your near retired, your poor fielders,
Your huddled masses short of breathe rounding third,
The wretched refuse of your teeming minors.
Send these, the homeless once Cubs, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the Orange Oriole door!"
We've all enjoyed his accumulation of cast off ex-Cubs. I shall list the names with Cub ties from the McPhail (Cub) era: Front Office: John Stockstill (Scouting/Farm director, previously O's Director of International Scouting); Manager/Coaches: Dave Trembley (former O's manager, minor league manager for the Cubs 1994-2002), Rick Kranitz (pitching coach), Alan Dunn (bullpen coach); Players: Steve Traschel, Corey Patterson, Felix Pie, Rocky Cherry, Scott Moore, Caesar Izturis, Paul Bako, Jake Fox, Luis Montanez, Will Ohman, Rich Hill.
Could you imagine the Chicago media frenzy if McPhail had named Sandberg as the next Oriole Skipper? If one imagines standing in the room where Tom Ricketts puts the phone receiver to his ear, while on the other end of the phone call, Jim Hendry tells the new Cub owner that beloved Ryno's gone orange. THUD.
Comments
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
Well if he's not good enough for Andy McFail...
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
Capps to Twins, Ramos to Washington.
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270...
Sure would be nice to receive a future MLB player in a trade this season.
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
Great poetic & dramatic post, Cubster.
While reading the list of cast off ex-Cubs, I was reminded of the old LP record "Great Moments in Chicago Cubs History", narrated by the late, great Jack Brickhouse. At the end of the album, he intones the names of Cub greats (with lots of reverb added) while dramatic music swells in the background: "Cap Anson. Frank Chance. Johnny Evers. Joe Tinker. Rube Waddell...." etc. I was imagining Jack reading the names of the Cubs cast offs with the music swelling in the background and Jack finishing up by saying, "another championship can't be too far away for our own wild, wonderful, and unforgettable... CHICAGO CUBS!" (music ends, with horns giving a dramatic flourish). As a side note, that record was produced following the 1970 season. Exactly what would Jack have considered to be "too far away"?
Anyway, thanks for taking me back. I haven't thought about that record for several years now.
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
A friend of mine has that record. Fun stuff.
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
new picture up to go with the post.
Thanks for the recollection Pepi. I loved (and have) that album somewhere, now I just might be motivated to digitize it.
Re: I just might be motivated to digitize it.
Please post a link to your digital version.
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
I have the album in vinyl and have a usb turntable to digitize albums on my puter...but I'm filing this under projects to do when I'm unusually bored.
The album is currently availible on ebay for $14.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Jack-Brickhouse-Great-Mom...
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
Great pic! Yeah, that's the one. Of course, now I notice how I screwed up the title of the record.
I always had the feeling that the record was originally conceived and largely put together during the 1969 season to coincide with the pennant that the Cubs largely had in the bag. When that fell through, they put it off for a year in hopes that the pennant would come in 1970. When THAT fell through, I think they just said, "The heck with it. We'll just put out what we've got now -- enough people will still buy it." And guess what -- we did!
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
Rosenthal/Morosi buzz post...
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/MLB-latest...
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
What a damning statement about Blake DeWitt.
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
DeWitt as part of the deal??
edit:
Bruce Levine radio report says Dodgers not in on Theriot. Mentions Theriot for Kelly Johnson of D-Backs.
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
If I were the Cubs, I'd take that deal. You lose one year of club control in Johnson over Theriot, and Johnson will surely get a decent raise in arbitration after this year, so he will cost more next year than Theriot or a youngster from AAA. But Johnson is 2 years younger, and is the better player.
They are strangely similar in that both have really 4 full seasons 2007-2010. Of those four, Theriot has had WARs of 1.7, 1.8, 1.0, and -0.7 this year. Johnson basically had one really bad year, last year, where his WAR was 0.9, otherwise it was 4.3, 3.5, and 2.0 so far this year.
Based on their past performance, I would guess Johnson has an average OPS of around .800 for the next few years, about a 100 points or so above what Theriot will put up.
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
Yeah, that's a really easy deal to take for the Cubs. I'm guessing there's more to the story.
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
There does seem to be more to the story...
From Bruce Levine:
The Cubs also have a possible deal with Arizona for second baseman Kelly Johnson. The Diamondbacks have asked for Ryan Theriot --AND-- left-handed pitcher James Russell in return.
http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/i...
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
I would do that deal. I wonder how much less we'd get from the Dodgers if they only got Lilly?
I guess I think Kelly Johnson is a better option right now at 2B, but DeWitt has more years under club control. So I would guess that the Cubs would rather take the chance on DeWitt with a lower salary
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
could have had johnson for nothing at beginning of year
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
So? I never understand that argument. It's like not drafting someone and then trading for them or signing him later in their career. Yes, you could have had them for basically nothing earlier, but you didn't know their value then. Now you do. Why would Hendry have signed him after last season with the idea of Theriot-Fontenot/Baker this season at second and with Johnson coming off of a bad year? Now we have Castro, and Theriot has continued to slip at second, and Johnson has rebounded. It makes more sense now than then.
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
Why would Hendry have signed him after last season with the idea of Theriot-Fontenot/Baker this season at second and with Johnson coming off of a bad year?
just pointing out that he could have been had at the beginning of the year for very little if Hendry/Lou had some balls to throw Fontenot/Baker to the curb.
Just a player I've always liked and had some knee injuries the last two years to explain his slump and his 2008 wasn't even that bad.
No biggie, Russell and Theriot seems fair to me, but as I said, I like Johnson.
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
Agreed. I didn't like the Fontenot/Baker platoon idea either. We needed a starting second baseman. As I said above, I'd be fine with this trade. I'd try to replace Russell with another (or maybe another two or three) of the less talented Berg-Atkins type guys, because I think he will probably end up being a decent reliever over his career, but I'd still pull the trigger if I had to.
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
I read a few days ago teams were calling the Dodgers about DeWitt. Maybe the Dodgers have another deal in mind to create a need for an infielder. The latest rumor says the Dodgers are talking about Lilly and a Cubs position player, but it's not necessarily Theriot.
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
Nice job here, CUBSTER.
Bonne voyage!
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
I believe former Cub Rick Kranitz is the O's pitching coach. Add him to the list.
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
former Cub Rick Kranitz is the O's pitching coach. Add him to the list.
---
so noted. Thanks. Also that lead to the following two additions:
Alan Dunn (bullpen coach) and former O's manager, Dave Trembley
http://mlb.mlb.com/team/coach_staff_bio.jsp?c...
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
and in the front office, former media relations director for the Iowa Cubs [Jeff Lantz] now works for the O's too...
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
You guys realize we will become the "Orioles West" in 2011 with our record and level of talent?
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
all the fears about immovable players is beginning to look pretty accurate.
Diamond up for Lilly?
Miles says Diamond was on a pitch count last night at Iowa - 64 pitches. He speculates that hey may get the call to take Lilly's spot in the rotation after a trade.
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
speaking of pitch counts...holy kerry wood, batman!
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/2010...
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
The scouting report will read: “Get to him early. His second 100 pitches are stronger than his first 100.”
Re: Andy McPhail snubs Ryne Sandberg
This won't sound very "old school", but I think that was incredibly irresponsible. Irresponsible of the pitcher and irresponsible of the manager for not stepping in and doing something.
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