A couple more data points on the Chicago Cubs’ managerial search this afternoon …
Ken Rosenthal reports, in support of Peter Gammons’ earlier report, that “all signs point to [Rick] Renteria” getting the Cubs’ job tomorrow. The Score’s Matt Abbatacola gets more specific, saying that he’s heard now from a couple sources on the Padres’ side that Renteria is getting the Cubs’ job. Abbatacola goes on to say that the primary reason for the delay in hiring Renteria, who has long been seen as the favorite, was his hip surgery. That put him out of commission for a while, and I suppose I could see why the Cubs would want to wait until they could bring Renteria to Chicago for a formal introduction.
… that said, if it were always, definitely Renteria all along, and the wait was just about his surgery, why the Torey Lovullo dance?
I suspect the Cubs have been keen on Renteria for a while, and maybe the surgery did complicate things. But with Joe Girardi returning to New York, and maybe a sense that Renteria’s preference was to come to the Cubs, too, the front office could take its time and be very deliberate with their choice. I expect that they did just that, taking their time fully vetting every candidate, and coming back time and time again to Renteria. That doesn’t make him a fall-back option. It makes him a very carefully, deliberately-selected option.
We’ll see if that’s the case tomorrow, when it’s expected that Renteria will be named the new Cubs manager.