ON THE HOT SEAT

Jim Hendry, Cubs: Speculation persists that owner Tom Ricketts might hire Hall of Fame inductee Pat Gillick as club president. In theory, Gillick could retain Hendry, and the two could work together to fix the club. But the entire idea seems far-fetched; Cubs fans want change, and both Hendry and manager Mike Quade seem likely to be replaced.

The real intrigue would begin once Ricketts began his search for a new GM.

White Sox assistant GM Rick Hahn is generally regarded as the game’s leading GM candidate, but many in the industry believe that the Cubs’ job also might draw interest from some of the game’s top current GMs.

Good news. Of course, this won't change much. The current organization is screwed so hard it will take a few years to get out of this mess.

I hope Ricketts replaces the entire baseball operations dpt. From the GM to the scouts. Get rid of all of them.

"The fact is, I have 100 percent confidence in Jim," he said. "We're just going forward right now. We'll see what the off-season looks like. We're comfortable with Jim. I'm confident in his ability to keep us moving forward."

The dreaded vote of confidence. Or not. Knowing Ricketts he's probably going to keep Hendry, Kenney, and Quade for at least this year.

Please post all your Albert Pujols discussion here.

Good

Interesting considering that starting pitching is the least of the Cubs' worries. They already have five quality starting pitchers and a couple more talented arms to call on in the minors.

Article also mentions how the Cubs went after Jon Garland before he signed with LA.

Maybe a trade is in the works?

This is an insider blog, but the it talks about how KC has a bunch of really good young guys coming up through the system, and by the time Greinke's contract runs out, the Royals probably won't be in contention.

This is one of the rare times where the Cubs have a legitimate chance at having a really good, young ace to anchor the rotation.

How about a Vitters/ (Moustakas is not going to stay at third) Chris Archer/Jay Jackson deal. That may seem like a lot, but there are not going to be a lot of opportunities to get that high quality of a pitcher.

This has basically been assumed all along. He probably declined the interview with the Cubs because he had been ensured the job. This also has to be one of the fastest hirings ever, MLB can't be too happy about that. Seems like a solid hiring for a good, young team with guys like Heyward, McCann, Hanson, and Freeman. He probably would have been one of the top candidates on Hendry's list.

"I think the Dodgers are interested in signing Ted back. Ted has interest in signing back," said Lilly’s agent, Larry O’Brien of Full Circle Sports Management.

"I’m just not sure the Dodgers at this point are going to get to a range that will be very easy for us to achieve come December. I’m pretty confident that there’s a minimum three-year deal out there for Ted."

Lilly, 34, is a combined 9-12 with a 3.71 ERA for the Cubs and Dodgers this season. He is scheduled to pitch the Dodgers’ season finale on Sunday, increasing his total of 186 2/3 innings.

After Cliff Lee, Lilly will be one of the top starting pitchers available in a thin-free agent market. He is coming off a four-year, $40 million deal that included a salary this season of $12 million."

The market is set up perfectly for Lilly. Just like like Randy Wolf last year, Lilly will be the second best pitcher easily in free agency. There's no doubt someone's going to pony up and give him a lot of money.

Considering the Cubs' situation, I doubt they can resign him over the winter. Besides, a three year deal covering Lilly's age 35, 36, and 37 seasons doesn't really seem like a good deal. Oh well.

Nothing shocking, but a couple of interesting bits:

"The only confirmed expanded interview that Hendry has completed so far is with former Cleveland manager Eric Wedge."

Not exactly a thrilling choice. He had a couple of good seasons with Cleveland and took them to the playoffs. Never really struck me as a great tactical manager, although he does seem to work well with young players

Also, Shawn Dunston on Sandberg
"I hear he gets thrown out of games," Dunston said. "He never got thrown out when I played with him. That's kind of funny, right there, because he'd only say three or four words a day when we played together."

"When we sat around when we were young, we all knew Joe Girardi would be a manager, we knew Ryno would be a Hall of Famer and we knew Andre [Dawson] and Greg [Maddux] would be Hall of Famers. But no, I never envisioned Ryno being a manager."

Not sure how to take that. It sort of sounds like a compliment. Maybe as Ryno's aged he's become more hands on and more vocal, which is a good thing. He's got to be the frontrunner right now.

It says Hendry wants a manager with big league experience, which I really can't blame him for.

Sandberg would be a fine choice, but there's much better options out there. This does not say Sandberg won't get the job, or has no chance. Renck seems to think Sandberg, as his first big league job, wouldn't want to be thrown in to a bad situation.

The Mariners, who also have had a poor season, have interest.

I think Sandberg would make a good manager, but I don't think he's clearly the best choice.

I'm not really sure why he's undecided. It seems like an easy choice to me. Although, with the team being bad, maybe he does want one last long term deal. But for a guy who's been on the DL for extended time the last two years, I'm not sure what team would give him one.

He also seems really skeptical about the current state of the team:

"They don't know what they're going to do at first, or second," he said. "I'm sure they'd like to add a couple relievers in there, probably another starter. They have more things to worry about than me right now."

"It doesn't matter," he said. "I don't think a $6 or $7 million manager is going to make any difference. You've still got to have good players. That's the key."

It sounds like he's genuinely torn; 16M for one year, or chance at contention with another team.

As a Cub fan I think I would be happy if he doesn't exercise the option. He's done really well since the All-Star break, but he's obviously breaking down. His strikeout rate is the highest it's been in his whole career. His wOBA is the lowest of his career.

In the end I would probably expect him to exercise it.

This couldn't have happened to a nicer team. Rasmus denies the report, but then La Russa confirms the report.

Albert calls Rasmus out, saying that they don't need that kind of player there. Yeah, who would want a cost controlled, five tool center fielder who's OPSing over .800 right now. Oh wait, I forgot, Tony La Russa runs the team.

From the looks it seems like this will be La Russa's last season. The Cardinal fans seem really upset with him. La Russa, for some unknown reason, was benching Rasmus, this lead to him asking for a trade.

This is what happens when you have four good players on your roster. This is what happens when your infield consists of Pedro Feliz, Brendan Ryan, and Aaron Miles/Skip Schumaker.

It feels so good to see the Cardinals fall apart, so good.