Joe Girardi

[ChicagoIrish]

This could be a potentially huge offseason for our Cubs. I don't see Dale being brought back, this team is now getting closer and closer to making that move we've all been waiting for. And bringing in Joe Girardi only improves our chances.

Make it happen Theo/Jed!

 

[anotheridiot]

I cant see it happening after he was not picked over pinhead pinella. Girardi should get manager of the year consideration for the three ring circus he has put up with and still kept them in the hunt.

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

Pinella over Girardi was a whole different issue by a different front office. The reason I don't think they will go with Girardi is because of the philosophy of the front office. Girardi, from my understanding, is more of an old school guy and not into sabermetrics which is what drives the decisions of this front office. If they are philosophically different on how games should be managed then he won't get the job. However, I remember Girardi doing a great job with a young Marlins team that lacked a lot of talent so I think he is worth considering if they are going to get rid of Sveum. I think Sveum gets one more year then they replace him when Baez, Bryant, Soler, Hendricks, Alcantara, Vizcaino, etc will be on the roster or near there and they might be opening up the purse strings to add what they feel is a vital piece going forward.

 

[Villain]

Why doesn't Sveum coach the Cubbies next year?

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

There are some rumors that Sveum might get fired today (Monday). Giradi has been reported as saying he would like to come back to Chicago and manage which has led to some rumors. Girardi's contract is up and he is the biggest name out there for a manager. I could see Girardi leaving the Yankees who are in a similar situation to the 2010 Cubs in that they are getting old with no farm and the longer put off a rebuilding period the worse it will end up being. The Yankees need to let Cano go and repeat what they did in the early 1990s where they have a couple of top 10 picks and built a monster farm with guys like Jeter, Bernie Williams, Pettite, Rivera, Posada, etc.

I think the most appealing manager job that is open will be the Nationals. They have a lot of young talent already on the roster and the financial ability to keep their players and add missing players. They got hurt early in the season with a lot of injuries that kept them out of the playoffs this year, but they are definitely a playoff caliber team if they can stay healthy.

 

[Kevin12773]

I for one would love Girardi coming back to manage the cubs.
I think the reason they hired Sveum over Ryno in the first place was they knew it was a no win situation and didn't want a legend to fail. Now that Ryno is off the market Girardi is a logical choice.if anyone can get Castros head out of his ass its Joe.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Why doesn't Sveum coach the Cubbies next year?

Basically it came down to him not being able to develop Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro. These are two pieces of our future, and Castro has seen a sharp decline in the years that Sveum has managed.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

By the way fellas, we're one step closer to getting Girardi!

 

[Villain]

Basically it came down to him not being able to develop Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro. These are two pieces of our future, and Castro has seen a sharp decline in the years that Sveum has managed.

Is that really his fault, though? Castro was just overrated and Rizzo has only had one complete season.

Too early to give up on a guy, in my opinion. I'm sure Sveum will get picked up somewhere else.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Is that really his fault, though? Castro was just overrated and Rizzo has only had one complete season.

Too early to give up on a guy, in my opinion. I'm sure Sveum will get picked up somewhere else.

Rizzo is a good young player, and in his first full season he hit 23 homers with 80 rbi's. That's not too bad.

As for Castro, in my opinion, a lot of the blame is going to Sveum. Sveum had Castro change many aspects of his game, and changed his entire approach at the plate.

Remember, the Cubs are loaded in the minors with huge prospects, is Dale really a guy suited for developing all the young talent we're going to see over the next few years? I think those questions were answered.

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

The Cubs underperformed their pythagorean record. They also underperformed any projected record based on their statistical performance. That along with the significant drop off from Castro and Rizzo's struggles led to Sveum being let go. Sveum messing with Castro's approach probably had as much to do with it as anything else. A lot of people thought that Theo was the one behind messing with Castro, but as more information is coming out that seems to not be the case and it was something Sveum wanted to do and while Theo and Hoyer allowed it when it failed miserably they let Sveum go. If the Cubs can land Girardi and Tanaka this will be a very good off-season.

 

[Baseballnut77]

If they do sign Joe I am not sure how they will approach free agency this year. Last year they had a decisive plan in that they signed some guys for the sole purpose of trading them off for prospects. Obviously they did well in this regard as we added some nice pieces in arietta and strop. The bad part is the one guy we signed to keep around (Jackson) seems to have flopped at least this season. I am just not sure if you have hired Joe if you can play it the same way for one more season. Does this team go after a Ellsbury or a Choo knowing soler and almora are at least one more likely 2 years away? The F.A. market is more pitching heavy this year than normal and since we are not loaded with high end pitching prospects do we try to add another piece or 2 in that spot instead? Tough calls all around starting with the manager.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Cashman sitting down with Girardi's agent tomorrow. We should find out more on where Girardi is leaning.

 

[anotheridiot]

they supposedly did not exchange numbers. Scioscia gets 5 million, Joe was around 3. You gotta think it will take 5 to get joe, unless he just does not want to stay in new york.

It sounds like Ricketts family is pushing for Joe. Theo will make his decision. Might be strike two against theo.

 

[anotheridiot]

If they do sign Joe I am not sure how they will approach free agency this year. Last year they had a decisive plan in that they signed some guys for the sole purpose of trading them off for prospects. Obviously they did well in this regard as we added some nice pieces in arietta and strop. The bad part is the one guy we signed to keep around (Jackson) seems to have flopped at least this season. I am just not sure if you have hired Joe if you can play it the same way for one more season. Does this team go after a Ellsbury or a Choo knowing soler and almora are at least one more likely 2 years away? The F.A. market is more pitching heavy this year than normal and since we are not loaded with high end pitching prospects do we try to add another piece or 2 in that spot instead? Tough calls all around starting with the manager.

People are saying Cargo can be had before he gets Rios money. They want pieces we have as 2B, SP, 1B like Pierce, Alcantara, Vogelbomb. I dont think they will settle for just those three, but maybe they feel they owe us a little for Stewie, but maybe adding no chancers like Vitters and BJax might sweeten it up enough.

I dont like the move, but his contract will be up when Almora and Soler are gonna be ready. Then its seeing who is gonna make it at third, Baez, Bryant, Olt, Villanueva and who else ends up in the outfield or who ends up getting moved if the marlins decide Stanton can go. If they start going with Cargo and Stanton not really a chance for the guys we expect to be in the outfield because of the rebuild and we wont get the Blackhawk growth plan of doing it all in house..

 

[ChicagoIrish]

People are saying Cargo can be had before he gets Rios money. They want pieces we have as 2B, SP, 1B like Pierce, Alcantara, Vogelbomb. I dont think they will settle for just those three, but maybe they feel they owe us a little for Stewie, but maybe adding no chancers like Vitters and BJax might sweeten it up enough.

I dont like the move, but his contract will be up when Almora and Soler are gonna be ready. Then its seeing who is gonna make it at third, Baez, Bryant, Olt, Villanueva and who else ends up in the outfield or who ends up getting moved if the marlins decide Stanton can go. If they start going with Cargo and Stanton not really a chance for the guys we expect to be in the outfield because of the rebuild and we wont get the Blackhawk growth plan of doing it all in house..

I wouldn't mind bringing in Gonzalez, but I don't want Stanton.

I'm also wondering if we're going to pursue guys like McCann, Ellsbury, or Choo. It's going to be an interesting off season.

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

I can't imagine we'd pursue McCann with Castillo already here. Reports are that Choo is looking for a $100M+ deal which would probably rule out the Cubs because there is no way I'd want to give Choo a deal that long, 5+ years. Ellsbury would be interesting depending on how you think he will decline and how many years he wants. If you could get Ellsbury on a 3-4 year deal I could see it as possible, but I expect he'll want 6-7 years and someone will give it to him.

The CarGo rumors are interesting. I don't see them doing it with Alcantara as the primary piece though, but something like Almora, Arrieta, who they have been rumored to be interested in, and Alcantara might get it done. They would still need to do more this off-season is they are looking to contend next year. They would still need to do something else if they wanted to contend next year. Paying the price for Cano would be a big step, but I'd hate to give him an 8 year deal, much less the 10 years he wants.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

I can't imagine we'd pursue McCann with Castillo already here. Reports are that Choo is looking for a $100M+ deal which would probably rule out the Cubs because there is no way I'd want to give Choo a deal that long, 5+ years. Ellsbury would be interesting depending on how you think he will decline and how many years he wants. If you could get Ellsbury on a 3-4 year deal I could see it as possible, but I expect he'll want 6-7 years and someone will give it to him.

The CarGo rumors are interesting. I don't see them doing it with Alcantara as the primary piece though, but something like Almora, Arrieta, who they have been rumored to be interested in, and Alcantara might get it done. They would still need to do more this off-season is they are looking to contend next year. They would still need to do something else if they wanted to contend next year. Paying the price for Cano would be a big step, but I'd hate to give him an 8 year deal, much less the 10 years he wants.

I don't want to sign any of these free agents for 5,6, or 7 years, that's just too long for us at this point.

I think Ellsbury for 4 years would be nice, or better yet making a move for Gonzalez. Then signing a guy like McCann for a couple years (I'm not too high on Castillo). Then adding Tanaka, In addition to bringing in Girardi. All this could make us contenders while giving the guys in the system one more year. I know this is all wishful thinking, but it's all we have right now.

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

I don't want to sign any of these free agents for 5,6, or 7 years, that's just too long for us at this point.

I think Ellsbury for 4 years would be nice, or better yet making a move for Gonzalez. Then signing a guy like McCann for a couple years (I'm not too high on Castillo). Then adding Tanaka, In addition to bringing in Girardi. All this could make us contenders while giving the guys in the system one more year. I know this is all wishful thinking, but it's all we have right now.

I don't think Ellsbury would consider a 4 year deal. This is going to be his big payday and he's going to be looking for a longer and bigger deal then Bourn got. What's wrong with Castillo? I'd like for them to bring back Navarro as the back-up on a 2-3 year deal and have Castillo and Navarro as the catchers for a while. The Cubs had the 4th best fWAR at catcher in baseball this year. McCann has seen his games played drop three straight years. Castillo was a better player this year and McCann turns 30 before next season starts and has a lot of wear and tear on those knees.

If they can add Tanaka or Girardi I'll consider it a solid off-season. If they can add Tanaka and Girardi I'll consider it a good off-season. If they can throw in CarGo without giving up any of the big 4 prospects I'll consider it an outstanding off-season. I'm just not sure if they are ready to pull the trigger on a move like CarGo at this point. I can see them being ready to make that type of move next year after Baez is up with Bryant and Soler knocking on the door and them having a clear idea about where they will all play. The problem becomes if Bryant can't stick at 3B, which was a concern even before the draft, then what do you do with CarGo, Soler and Bryant when they all need to play LF or RF? You can't just throw one of them in CF.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

The problem becomes if Bryant can't stick at 3B, which was a concern even before the draft, then what do you do with CarGo, Soler and Bryant when they all need to play LF or RF? You can't just throw one of them in CF.

Which is why Soler is dealt to Colorado for Gonzalez.

I'd much rather hold on to Almora than Soler. Gonzalez is only 27, and he's a do it all player. I would package a deal involving Soler and Alcantara in a heart beat, No question about it. The guys in our system that I wouldn't trade would be Bryant, Edwards, Hendricks, Almora, and Baez.