Future Cubs' GM

[Bob Sacamento]

The big talk around Cubbyland is about adding an established new age guys but my money is on one of their assistants instead. The recent resigning of Oneri Fleita to a four year deal as such a critical role as vice president of player development points to a lesser and younger GM taking the reins. We're going to go more like Ben Cherington (BoSox) than Theo Epstein, more like Rick Hahn (ChiSox) than Kenny Williams. Other assistants that the Cubs are looking at include Kim Ng (former Dodgers asst. GM), J.J. Picollo (KC Royals), Thad Levine (Rangers), and Michael Hill (Marlins). Personally I'm all for Cherington in the GM role with Hahn a close second.

[The Uncoach]

I'd like more info on Levine if you happen to have it.

[Bob Sacamento]

I'd like more info on Levine if you happen to have it.

MLBtraderumors.com did an interview with him, here are the main excerpts:

Levine, who turns 40 this fall, joined the Rangers in 2005 after working for the Rockies and Dodgers.

On being brought in as Jon Daniels assistant GM:

[Daniels] somewhat surprisingly called and asked permission to interview me. I’d always thought he and I had very similar skill sets and that he would view me as being somewhat duplicative to him. But in practice it’s been a tremendous relationship.

On Stats vs. Scouting:

When I walked in the door in Colorado and even in Los Angeles I felt that there was a lot more questions that could be answered by doing statistical analysis than I feel today. The more you work with players and the more you work with coaches, our products are human beings and there’s a lot of volatility when it comes to human beings. So I might even say I’ve more now on the continuum swung back toward scouting and player development.

On early career deals with the Rangers and Daniels:

We had been on the job [in Texas] for a year and a half or two years at that point and it took us that long to really embrace where this franchise was, where the assets were, where we were strong and where we were weak. Fortunately we had an owner [Tom Hicks] who was supportive through this even though we made significant mistakes early.

[Boston Boxer]

looks like Theo is going to be the president of baseball operations and he will hire a GM

[Bob Sacamento]

looks like Theo is going to be the president of baseball operations and he will hire a GM

which he looks to hire his friend and Padres GM Jed Hoyer who is a huge saber fan but also someone who incorporates old fashion scouting.

[Boston Boxer]

both great hires IMO.

[Shakedown]

both great hires IMO.

I am very excited to see what Epstein, Hoyer and McLeod do in Chitown. I hope the next step is hiring Sandberg as coach. He has done a superb job in the minors as coach and I think he deserves a shot and obviously he is loved in Chicago.

[The Uncoach]

Wouldn't it be awesome if the Cubs brought in Theo and his crew to put together a WS winner and Sandberg happened to be the manager? I didn't really mean to get off track, but Sandberg will be managing a MLB team this year. Hopefully, it's the Cubs.