On the Managerial Candidates; & Mark Grace and Steve Stone May Return Home

October 2, 2006 by cubsnet

Phil Rogers weighs in on with his speculation on who will be the next Cubs manager: "My guess is the job is [Lou] Piniella's if he wants it, and he probably does."

There's no indication that Rogers has any inside information. Outside of his three years in Tampa Bay, Piniella does have a good -- though not great -- track record.

I do think that Rogers is right about one thing for sure: Jim Hendry will not be hiring Fredi Gonzalez, even though he likes him. Hendry is under pressure to win now. He will make a safe pick. A safe pick does not include someone with no managerial experience (and likely not Joe Girardi either). Plus, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Mike Berardino reported on Monday that the Marlins are likely to move quickly to hire Gonzalez after they dismiss Girardi on Tuesday.

Dave van Dyck says that the main candiates are Piniella, Gonzalez, Girardi, Bob Brenly, and Mets third base coach Manny Acta. Paul Sullivan reports that Hendry wants a manager in place before free agency begins in November. The Cubs won't hire anyone before the World Series ends.

If there's any doubt about whether Brenly wants the job, van Dyck quotes him as saying, "Yeah, I would be interested to at least go in and talk to Jim and see what the future holds for the organization, see what direction they're going to go. Absolutely, I'm interested."

Meanwhile, a couple of alienated figures from the Andy MacPhail era are having their names show up in the Tribune. In the October 2 paper, Fred Mitchell reported that Mark Grace has interest in returning to the Cubs as either a manager (won't happen) or as color commentator (not likely, but plausible). And in the September 29 paper, Paul Sullivan wrote that "former Cubs broadcaster Steve Stone was seen dining recently with John McDonough, the Cubs senior vice president of marketing and broadcasting [and now interim president]. Sources insist it was just a social meeting between old friends, but if Brenly gets a managerial job, the door may be open for Stone's return to the Cubs' TV booth."

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