Lou Piniella Will Retire As Manager Of Cubs Following 2010 Season

Ryne Sandberg, former Cubs second baseman and MLB Hall of Famer, told ESPN 1000 that he is ready to take over for the retiring Lou Piniella next season according to a report from ESPN Chicago.

“[After] four years of managing at the minor league level, I’m ready for a major league job, and I’m ready to win,” Sandberg said. “The reason I went this route was to manage, not to coach.”

Sandberg has been the manager of the Cubs Triple-A affiliate Iowa Cubs for the past four seasons.

“Things have gone very well here in the minor leagues. We have a good minor league system, as we can see with the younger players coming up. I believe I know these players as well as anybody, I’ve been around them, I’ve coached them, they’re moving up the ranks,” Sandberg said. “There are guys here at Triple-A and Double-A knocking on the door to the big leagues. I believe I know the system very well. It’s been a great experience, and I’m ready for that next step.”

While Sandberg seems very confident in his managerial skills, he wouldn’t go as far as to say that he expects the job to be handed to him next season.

“I don’t go that far,” he said. “I understand there’s a process. I wouldn’t say I would expect it, but I sure would like to be considered, and hope that’s the case.”

Gordon Wittenmyer at the Sun-Times runs down some of the candidates, in addition to Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who played for the Cubs and is a native of Peoria:

Other than Class AAA manager Ryne Sandberg, who has spent four seasons rising through the club’s minor-league managerial ranks since interviewing for the job Piniella got, Hendry says he doesn’t have a firm start to his list of candidates.

Hendry said he’ll consider members of the coaching staff, which means bench coach Alan Trammell is certain to get an interview and probably also third-base coach Mike Quade, who interviewed in 2006.

Dodgers manager Joe Torre and even Cardinals manager Tony La Russa have been popular names for early speculation, but those celebrity managers don’t fit the Cubs’ stated mission of a long-term hire even close to as well as Girardi does.

Also, Cubs owner Tom Ricketts made it clear that GM Jim Hendry would be staying and would make the choice:

The bigger issue, and I put it to Tom Ricketts directly, is the future of Jim Hendry. Tom was as direct in return, saying that Jim would lead the charge for new manager of the Cubs and would be the GM going into 2011. All indications were pointing that way, what with Ricketts being very pleased with Hendry hires Tim Wilken and Oneri Fleita, who have worked with the scouts to rebuild the minor-league system.

And one of the reasons that Sandberg or Girardi might be a good choice, knowing what it’s like to be a Cub, is, as Rick Morrissey writes, that Lou didn’t know what he was getting into when he came to Chicago:

’’It’s a bigger job than what you think coming in,‘’ Piniella said Tuesday during an exclusive interview with the Sun-Times. ’’It’s a more demanding job than what you think coming in. It really is. … Here, it’s a big challenge.’’

This from a man who cut his teeth as a manager working for George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees.

‘’They won,’’ Piniella said of the Yankees. ‘’They had a winning history to bank on. That’s the big thing.’’

Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella announced Tuesday afternoon in a press conference that he plans to retire at the end of the season following a career that spanned 40 years in Major League Baseball as a player and manager.

During the press conference, Piniella mentioned that he had talked with former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre and current Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox, both of whom also had successful managerial careers before announcing plans to retire during their last season.

Piniella also alluded to the fact that managing the Cubs was a "unique challenge" in that Chicago is "a big market town, big market team and people want you to win."

"They haven't won here in a long time, and you can't blame them for that," Piniella told the press, "But at the same time, everybody's trying. Sooner or later, they'll break that barn door down and win a world championship here."

Paul Sullivan at the Tribune has some thoughts, including the usual names Sandberg, Girardi and Brenly.

He also mentions the names Joe Torre (likely too old at 70) and Alan Trammell (seems like more of an organizational, bench coach type) as possibilities.

Sandberg, who has managed the last four years in the Cubs’ farm system, would be the fan favorite, and by all reports has worked hard and worked his way up from the lowest levels of managing, something unprecedented for a Hall of Fame player.