Chicago Sun-Times

Cubs need to land Joe Girardi for Theo’s sake

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 10:02:00 -0500

Maybe a homecoming by Joe Girardi is exactly what the Cubs need two years into this 197-loss rebuilding process.

Why would Joe Girardi want the Cubs’ job?

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 09:56:00 -0500

RICK MORRISSEY: Next victim, please. The Cubs axed manager Dale Sveum on Monday, presumably because they have somebody bigger and better in mind.

Dale Sveum’s undoing: Mixed signals to young stars

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 02:21:17 -0500

Dale Sveum stood in the Wrigley Field parking lot Monday, saying two weeks ago he “never would have imagined’’ his job as Cubs manager would be over. That was when team president Theo Epstein first publicly said Sveum was being “evaluated’’ before his final contract year, setting off a wave of speculation about his possible firing. “It got the ball rolling’’ about doubts for his future, Sveum said. But Epstein said, in fact, the front office began having doubts about Sveum in the first half of the season. That was when Sveum made statements about young stars Anthony Rizzo and …

Cubs’ next manager — Joe Girardi? Mike Maddux?

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 10:00:25 -0500

JOE GIRARDI Girardi, 48, was a Cubs fan growing up in Peoria, going to games as a youth and while in college at Northwestern. He was drafted by the team in 1986 and played with them for seven seasons in two stays. “It would be an advantage knowing the idiosyncrasies” of the “gantlet” that is the Cubs, Epstein said Monday — something he admitted he and his team didn’t fully grasp until going through the last two years. “Maybe we understand more now what we’d look for,” he said. Girardi was National League manager of the year with Florida in …

Cubs fire Dale Sveum; Joe Girardi interested

Mon, 30 Sep 2013 14:20:08 -0500

Let the Joe Girardi talks begin. Only two years into Theo Epstein’s overhaul of the Cubs organization, the team president fired Dale Sveum on Monday.

13 Cubs moments to forget in 2013

Mon, 30 Sep 2013 13:21:31 -0500

The worst summer in Chicago baseball history ended, naturally, with losses by both the Cubs and the White Sox — the Cubs fell 4-0 in St. Louis on Sunday — for 195 combined losses in a season with no shortage of lowlights. Here are 13 from the North Side: ◆ April 6: Five games in, $20 million closer Carlos Marmol blew a save and lost the closer job. On June 25 he was designated for assignment and later dumped in a trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The symbol for season-long disarray in the bullpen, Marmol has a 2.53 ERA with …

For Sveum and his staff, only thing to do is wait

Sun, 29 Sep 2013 21:43:56 -0500

CARDINALS 4, CUBS 0 CUBS AB R H BI BB SO Avg. St.Castro ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .245 Watkins 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .211 Rizzo 1b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .233 Schierholtz rf 3 0 2 0 0 0 .251 d-D.McDonald ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 .302 Sweeney cf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .266 Do.Murphy 3b 2 0 0 0 0 2 .255 Bogusevic lf 3 0 0 0 0 0 .273 Boscan c 3 0 0 0 0 0 .222 Samardzija p 2 0 0 0 0 1 .113 H.Rondon p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- b-Lake ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .284 Strop p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- Rosscup p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- Totals 31 0 5 0 0 5 St. Louis AB R H BI BB SO Avg. M.Carpenter 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .318 Jay cf 3 1 2 1 1 1 .276 Beltran rf 2 0 0 0 0 1 .296 Chambers rf-lf 2 0 0 0 0 0 .154 Ma.Adams 1b 4 1 2 0 0 2 .284 Y.Molina c 0 0 0 0 0 0 .319 T.Cruz c 4 0 1 1 0 1 .203 Descalso ss 3 1 1 1 0 0 .238 c-Kozma ph-ss 1 0 0 0 0 1 .217 S.Robinson lf-rf 3 0 1 1 0 0 .250 Wong 2b 3 0 1 0 0 1 .153 Westbrook p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .176 J.Kelly p 2 1 1 0 0 0 .152 Choate p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- a-B.Peterson ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 .077 Ca.Martinez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Siegrist p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Totals 31 4 9 4 2 8 CUBS 000 000 000 — 0 5 0 St. Louis 001 200 01x — 4 9 0 a-walked for Choate in the 7th. b-flied out for H.Rondon in the 8th. c-struck out for Descalso in the 8th. d-singled for Schierholtz in the 9th. …

Cubs’ coaching staff in limbo stays upbeat

Sun, 29 Sep 2013 02:43:19 -0500

ST. LOUIS — Ever since team president Theo Epstein threw their futures into doubt last week, Cubs manager Dale Sveum and his coaching staff have been publicly trampled by fans and media in a rush to identify the next great managing hope. Whether any in the Joe Girardi, Ron Gardenhire or Mike Maddux fan clubs get their ways after a decision comes down Monday, the coaches under Sveum seem unified in their belief that much of the criticism is undeserved and that progress they see is worth staying the course. “As long as I’ve been in baseball, it’s one of …

Theo Epstein pays Dale Sveum a compliment

Sat, 28 Sep 2013 02:12:58 -0500

ST. LOUIS — As Brad Ausmus’ name made the rounds Friday as the flavor of the day in the name-next-year’s-Cub-manager media tournament, at least one often-overlooked name remained more likely than that: Dale Sveum. With barely two days before Cubs president Theo Epstein plans to announce personnel decisions involving his field staff, club officials insist the decision hasn’t been made on whether second-year manager Sveum will be back for the final year of his contract in 2014. In fact, Epstein, Sveum and general manager Jed Hoyer spent hours before Friday’s 7-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals meeting with individual …

Travis Wood struggles in one-inning start, but season was much greater

Sat, 28 Sep 2013 01:50:00 -0500

ST. LOUIS — If you didn’t look fast enough, you might have missed Friday’s sighting of the best success story the Cubs had to offer at the big-league level this year. Sitting on 199 innings as he entered his final start and nothing else at stake, the Cubs told their All-Star pitcher a few days ago that he would be allowed to pitch only one inning in his final start. A flurry of two-out hits tagged him with three earned runs and left him without the high-note finish he sought in the Cubs’ 7-0 loss to the Cardinals. “Just makes …

Cubs still worth wondering about, starting with Sveum question

Thu, 26 Sep 2013 22:40:25 -0500

Little doubt remains about just how bad and just how far from contending these Cubs are with three games left in their season. But plenty of questions linger: Are these the final three games of manager Dale Sveum’s Cubs career? Friday is Day 11 of the Sveum Hot Seat Watch. It began with team president Theo Epstein’s carefully worded, non-committal answer after specifically being asked if Sveum would return for the third year of his contract. Since then, potential star-power free agents Joe Girardi, Mike Scioscia and Ron Gardenhire have been linked by media speculation to a Cubs job opening …