Get It While It’s Hot

I’m going to warn you all now, that Cubbies Crib will probably feature daily updates on the Cubs general manager. The fact of the matter is that new candidates for the position are being revealed daily. So far the big names on the list are Theo Epstein, Brian Cashman, and Andrew Friedman. But Josh Byrnes and Rick Hahn also are towards the top of Ricketts’ list of candidates. Speaking of Byrnes, I am beginning to reconsider the former Diamonbacks’ general manager. I know most of you who live in the Arizona area would emphatically deny that Byrnes is good general manager, but, even though Kevin Towers is now charge, most of the Diamondbacks’ success this season can be attributed to players

For now at least, lets take a look at the lastest additions to list of candidates to replace Jim Hendry as the Cubs general manager.

• Billy Beane, currently employed as the general manager of the Oakland Athletics: Beane joins Epstein, Cashman, and Friedman as the “big name” general managers on the list of candidates to be the next general manager. In fact, you could argue that Beane could potentially be the most popular general manager of all the candidates. Beane has been featured in a video game, and is currently the subject of new move, “Money Ball”, where Beane is played by actor Brad Pitt. In case you are not going to see the movie, the reason why Beane is so popular–or unique–is because the system of which he operates under. Beane’s “Money Ball” concept puts the emphasis on On-Base percentage and Slugging percentage, instead of the traditional RBIs, home runs, and batting average. Beane also is a big believer in Sabermetrics. In a nut shell, Beane is the complete opposite of Hendry; and would seem to fit what chairman Tom Ricketts is looking for in a general manager. The only issue is that while Beane is known for developing top-flight pitchers through the Athletics’ farm system, he is not known for developing positional players. Either way, Beane and his philosophy would be an interesting fit as the Cubs’ general manager.
• Larry Beinfest, currently employed as general manager of the Florida Marlins: Beinfest has a good reputation among many major league front offices because of the job he did in building the Marlins’ farm system and consistently fielding a competitive team despite having a payroll around $60 million. I am not a big believer in Beinfest. For one the Marlins have not been as competitive as some baseball