MacBail and Phaker: So Far, So Good

Heads are rolling in Wrigleyville. All it took was a $95 million payroll and a last-place finish.

With Andy MacPhail stepping down and Dusty Baker not being renewed, the Cubs made more progress in 24 hours than they did in the past two years. Now the marketing guy, John McDonough, takes the title of Interim President. I like the word “Interim” there. It leaves a door open.

We know McDonough is capable as an executive. Needless to say, if there’s one thing the Cubs have been doing right it’s marketing. Three-point-one million tickets sold for the third-worst team in baseball. Does it make him a good club president? Maybe we’ll see, maybe we won’t.

And while I’m not familiar with the working relationship of VP/GM Jim Hendry and MacPhail, Hendry for the interim is no longer a baseball man answering to a baseball man. He won’t have to answer to a Guy Who (once, a long time ago) Won Two World Series.

Hendry’s own job appears safe for now. He’s had a good tenure overall, but failing to cut Baker loose while the ship was sinking in May was a big mistake. The clubhouse needed a new attitude and stronger leadership when the NL was still up for grabs. But that’s mercifully behind us.

So the managerial hunt begins tomorrow, according to the Cubs. Tomorrow... another interesting word choice there. Any coincidence that Joe Girardi is supposedly becoming available tomorrow?

And one would assume that a new managerial regime would also involve replacing members of the coaching staff. Larry Rothschild has to be at least partially to blame for Wood and Prior time-sharing the Disabled List. All Gene Clines accomplished was cutting down the strikeouts, which was as much Hendry's doing. I’ve been saying Vince Coleman belongs in the box at first since long before I started blogging here, at least it would provide a familiar face to all the young Cubs who won’t be forced back to AAA by, ideally, a spending spree worthy of George Steinbrenner this off-season.

McDonough set the bar pretty high by announcing he wanted to win the World Series. It’s time the Cubs walk off with two or three of the pre-eminent free agents. It’s time the Cubs quit shopping in the bargain bins hoping next year’s version of Wade Miller will get into a game before September, or that Jacque Jones is the key to a title, or that the only thing separating the Cubs and a ring is setup relief.

It’s put up or shut up time.