Starting tomorrow, the Chicago Cubs will host the St. Louis Cardinals for three games in what will be the final regular season series at Wrigley Field in 2016 (can you believe were here already?)
The last time these two teams met (September 12-14), the Cubs took two out of three, Kyle Hendricks nearly tossed a no-hitter, and the Minnesota Twins asked and received permission to interview Cubs Senior VP of Amateur Scouting and Player Development Jason McLeod.
With an opening in their highest office, the Minnesota Twins were long expected to ask for the Cubs’ permission t0 interview McLeod, who has been an up-and-coming target around the game for a while.
Now that they’ve been granted that permission, we’ve been waiting for word of a possible interview, and about how it may have gone.
Apparently, the answers are “it happened” and “very well.”
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At least, according to Buster Olney (Twitter):
Sources: Cubs VP Jason McLeod has done well in Twins' interview process, and is said to be well-regarded, well-positioned in MIN discussions
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) September 22, 2016
Given how tremendous we already know McLeod to be, this is not a surprise.
There is still a long way to go and a number of other promising, talented candidates … but it’s hard to ignore the signs. McLeod has supposedly passed over two similar jobs in the past (so he’s highly sought-after), he was an early-rumored candidate for this job in particular (in other words, the Twins may want him, specifically), he has already interviewed for the role (so he must at least have some interest in taking it), and he’s thought to have done well.
We may not want to accept the reality of the situation, but here we are.
We knew the day would come when a number of the Cubs key front office personnel would start leaving for other jobs, promotions, etc. (although, I wouldn’t expect Jed Hoyer or Theo Epstein to go anywhere just yet). There is simply too much talent to ignore – especially given the obvious and very loud success they’ve found on the field. You just have to be happy for them and, of course, thankful that the Cubs got them during their cheap, prime years.
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