Obsessive New Manager Watch: Renteria Still Favored, Lovullo Interview Uncertain, Me Rankled

Nov 05, 2013

In some ways, the Cubs’ managerial search has been far too boring since Joe Girardi returned to the Yankees, so it’s nice to have a little drama injected. I kid, mostly.

Although the Cubs are still awaiting the opportunity to interview Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo, but sources tell Dave Kaplan that a resolution should be coming, one way or another, over the next couple days. In the interim, the Cubs could head back out to California to meet with Rick Renteria once again, and Kaplan believes that Renteria remains in the lead for the job.

As I’ve thought about the latest Cubs/Red Sox dust-up, I’ve gotten more and more rankled. Even if it’s true that the Cubs and Red Sox had a hardline agreement that the Cubs would not hire any Red Sox personnel for three years after Epstein came to the Cubs, Lovullo was not a member of the Red Sox organization at the time that agreement was made, meaning that he was not the kind of employee whom the Red Sox were worried about losing when the agreement was contemplated in the first place. You make these kind of non-compete agreements so that the leaving party doesn’t exercise undue influence over his former compatriots – were a specific connection not required between the leaving party and those other employees, all teams could simply request of all other teams that they not hire away any employees. That’s not in the spirit of a fruitful and progressive MLB, and I’d like to think that MLB would take issue with the Red Sox trying to enforce this agreement in this manner.

Separately, I’m really, really rankled by Red Sox ownership and president Larry Lucchino, if they are indeed withholding permission in the way that has been reported (i.e., partly because of a wounded relationship between those men and Epstein). The organization is seriously going to forbid an employee from the opportunity – what might be a literal once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – to manage the Chicago Cubs because of some personal animosity that has nothing whatsoever to do with that employee? How can anyone in the Red Sox organization support that kind of thing, especially when they know it’s not like Lovullo is going to be promoted in-house any time soon? How can they expect Lovullo to just be a good soldier and say, “Yes, sirs, I understand that you’re preventing me from this life-changing opportunity because of some BS you had with Epstein two years ago when I wasn’t even a part of the organization. Thanks for thinking of me!” It’s disgusting, and I would be appalled if the Cubs were pulling something like this. Here’s hoping the Red Sox do the right thing, grant permission for the interview, and we subsequently learn that this was all just a big misunderstanding …

Dave Kaplan says he fully expects Chris Bosio to be retained as the Cubs’ pitching coach, regardless of the managerial decision, and the Cubs may look into bringing Henry Blanco on board as a coach, as well.

written by

Brett Taylor

Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

Obsessive New Manager Watch: Renteria Still Favored, Lovullo Interview Uncertain, Me Rankled

Read More

more cubs news

Latest News

more cubs news

Most Popular

Most Popular

Latest News

Most Popular

Most Popular