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He's Fredi and waiting
Out of work but still in demand, Gonzalez could be next manager
BY GORDON WITTENMYER gwittenmyer@suntimes.com
Don't be surprised if former Florida Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez winds up a leading candidate to replace Lou Piniella within the next few weeks.
Sources say that Gonzalez is at the top of general manager Jim Hendry's wish list in the early stages of the process and that he prefers a manager with major-league experience -- with Class AAA manager Ryne Sandberg considered the strongest, if not only, serious candidate without that.
Gonzalez's communication skills with Latin players he has managed, as well as his swift and decisive handling of Marlins star Hanley Ramirez's loafing earlier this season, are considered significant strengths in his favor.
Gonzalez, 46, has a strong relationship with Hendry that goes back three decades and included time together in the Marlins organization.
Reached by phone Tuesday night, Gonzalez would neither confirm nor deny interest in the job or contact by the Cubs.
''I don't have anything I can tell you,'' he said, ''except Jim and I go back to my high school days. He coached one of the opposing teams when I played. And we worked together with the Marlins.''
Asked specifically whether he had interviewed or expected to, he declined comment. But indications are he's in the first group of candidates on Hendry's interview list.
Hendry confirmed last week that he had interviewed former Cleveland Indians manager Eric Wedge.
And this week he's on the road with the Class AAA Iowa Cubs in Albuquerque, N.M., where he was expected to complete Sandberg's interview.
Interim manager Mike Quade, who is 5-3 since taking over for Piniella last week, is the only other confirmed candidate, although a team source confirmed the Cubs also would have interest in New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi if he becomes available when his contract expires after this season.
Gonzalez, who was fired by the Marlins in June, about a month after a showdown in which he benched Ramirez, could require a strong sales pitch to ownership for Hendry to hire him. He lacks a blow-you-away resum1/8© and the Cubs have quality in-house candidates in Sandberg and Quade.
But Gonzalez is widely considered among the best and brightest of the rising young managers in the game today -- enough that Gonzalez, Bobby Cox's former third-base coach in Atlanta, is thought to be the leading candidate to replace Cox after this season, especially if Cox has much to say about it.
Gonzalez has lived in Atlanta since buying a home there while he was a coach with the Braves.
At least one source close to the Braves said that while public perception has Gonzalez as Cox's heir apparent, the Braves have not given Gonzalez any such indication -- which would seem to leave a wide-open path for Hendry to pursue.
Gonzalez went 276-279 in 3½ seasons with the Marlins, including winning seasons in 2008 and 2009 with teams that got younger and less experienced each year.
Many baseball insiders view his firing in Florida with little more than a shrug since it involved what many believe to be one of the worst owners in the game, Jeffrey Loria -- the same guy who fired Girardi after his Manager of the Year season not long after Girardi was forced to get in Loria's face during a game for yelling at the umpire.
Hendry, who has declined comment on any specific plans or directions in the hiring process, said only that he plans to conduct a thorough search of outside candidates. And he plans to have a new manager hired by the Cubs' annual organizational meetings, just after the World Series.
Out of work but still in demand, Gonzalez could be next manager
BY GORDON WITTENMYER gwittenmyer@suntimes.com
Don't be surprised if former Florida Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez winds up a leading candidate to replace Lou Piniella within the next few weeks.
Sources say that Gonzalez is at the top of general manager Jim Hendry's wish list in the early stages of the process and that he prefers a manager with major-league experience -- with Class AAA manager Ryne Sandberg considered the strongest, if not only, serious candidate without that.
Gonzalez's communication skills with Latin players he has managed, as well as his swift and decisive handling of Marlins star Hanley Ramirez's loafing earlier this season, are considered significant strengths in his favor.
Gonzalez, 46, has a strong relationship with Hendry that goes back three decades and included time together in the Marlins organization.
Reached by phone Tuesday night, Gonzalez would neither confirm nor deny interest in the job or contact by the Cubs.
''I don't have anything I can tell you,'' he said, ''except Jim and I go back to my high school days. He coached one of the opposing teams when I played. And we worked together with the Marlins.''
Asked specifically whether he had interviewed or expected to, he declined comment. But indications are he's in the first group of candidates on Hendry's interview list.
Hendry confirmed last week that he had interviewed former Cleveland Indians manager Eric Wedge.
And this week he's on the road with the Class AAA Iowa Cubs in Albuquerque, N.M., where he was expected to complete Sandberg's interview.
Interim manager Mike Quade, who is 5-3 since taking over for Piniella last week, is the only other confirmed candidate, although a team source confirmed the Cubs also would have interest in New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi if he becomes available when his contract expires after this season.
Gonzalez, who was fired by the Marlins in June, about a month after a showdown in which he benched Ramirez, could require a strong sales pitch to ownership for Hendry to hire him. He lacks a blow-you-away resum1/8© and the Cubs have quality in-house candidates in Sandberg and Quade.
But Gonzalez is widely considered among the best and brightest of the rising young managers in the game today -- enough that Gonzalez, Bobby Cox's former third-base coach in Atlanta, is thought to be the leading candidate to replace Cox after this season, especially if Cox has much to say about it.
Gonzalez has lived in Atlanta since buying a home there while he was a coach with the Braves.
At least one source close to the Braves said that while public perception has Gonzalez as Cox's heir apparent, the Braves have not given Gonzalez any such indication -- which would seem to leave a wide-open path for Hendry to pursue.
Gonzalez went 276-279 in 3½ seasons with the Marlins, including winning seasons in 2008 and 2009 with teams that got younger and less experienced each year.
Many baseball insiders view his firing in Florida with little more than a shrug since it involved what many believe to be one of the worst owners in the game, Jeffrey Loria -- the same guy who fired Girardi after his Manager of the Year season not long after Girardi was forced to get in Loria's face during a game for yelling at the umpire.
Hendry, who has declined comment on any specific plans or directions in the hiring process, said only that he plans to conduct a thorough search of outside candidates. And he plans to have a new manager hired by the Cubs' annual organizational meetings, just after the World Series.
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