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| New Cubs manager Dale Sveum |
Just a few hours after the Red Sox said they were getting close with Sveum, the Cubs officially offered him the job. Sveum allowed time for the Red Sox to counter but ultimately took the Cubs job, which will have him manage the Cubs for at least three years. His only other major league managing experience came with the Brewers in 2008, a team that won the wild card. Sveum replaced Ned Yost with only 12 games to go in the season because the Brewers were scuffling terribly in September and Milwaukee needed a fall guy. I don't think it's fair to judge him on his 7-5 record from that nor their three games to one disposal from the NLDS by the Phillies. So even though Sveum was the only candidate with previous Major League managerial experience, it's hard to call 16 total games much experience.
Like I've said before and often do, I'm not going to pretend I know a bunch of stuff you don't about Sveum and how his tendencies to do this or that will affect the clubhouse. I like what I see and hear from others who have spoken in recommendation of him, however. I kept hearing about he's a big believer in each player being responsible for fulfilling their duty as being part of the team, and he talked about that a lot in his introductory press conference. He specifically used the word 'accountable' a few times, in the context of players being accountable for running out ground balls and playing a full nine innings. According to his recommendations, he's not going to have any problems doing that as he will get players to run out grounders or not play them.
He may not seem like the type (I didn't think so), but according to an analyst on MLB Network, Sveum is actually a 'new-school' type, sabermetrics believer manager. That definitely can't be a bad thing for the Cubs, but it probably was the deciding factor in whether or not Theo & Co. gave him the job or not. Theo and Jed Hoyer wanted a guy who would buy into their system and found one.
From what I can tell, I like the move. Obviously Mike Quade was not going to be the guy who would lead this team to accountability, and the Cubs have a lot of holes to fill before they do. Their chances are increased by Sveum, though, and that was shown in the press conference. He didn't make any bold predictions or crack-the-whip clichés but that's not what the Cubs and fans should want. Gone are the days of the Cubs hiring the 'celebrity manager' which they did in Dusty Baker and Lou Piniella, both of whom were already storied managers in the Majors and had won a World Series as manager.
In this current era of a few years we're in, there is a lot of manager turnover, as we've seen some of the most legendary of skippers call it quits. Tony La Russa, Bobby Cox, and Joe Torre, ranked third through fifth on the all-time managerial wins list, have all retired in the last 14 months. Even Lou Piniella, ranked 14th, is out for good. In are the days of the young, former player, sabermetric-believer in shape guy. That fits the description of Sveum pretty well.
I think he'll do well. I was told he wasn't going to be a rah-rah guy who ignites the clubhouse positively, but rather a more reserved, do-your-job-the-right-way-and-I'll-respect-you kind of manager, oddly similar to Lovie Smith. If there's one thing for sure, it's that this was a move that needed to be made. Quade completely lost the clubhouse down the stretch because he failed to assess the team for what it was. Sveum will not take that. And for the record, it's pronounced 'sWEHM' (no, you weren't the only one who struggled with that).
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