Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2014 17:28:57 GMT -5
The Chicago Cubs today that Charlie Root would take over as manager of the Cubs. Stan Hack was let go after a disappointing season last year. The 58 year old Root will be leading a club for the first time in his career. Root, who pitched 17 years, 16 of those spent at Wrigley Field, has 201 career wins and was on four different Cubs World Series teams. "We're excited to have Charlie leading our team" said Cubs GM Matt Andersen. "He's helped us the last number of years at spring training, working with our young arms, and we just felt like maybe our young pitchers will benefit from having a different voice. Also, he's a proven winner. He knows what it takes to pitch at the level that we're trying to get to, and we think there's some value there." The Cubs continue to try to develop their young arms and focus on pitching. "We feel like we have put together a pretty solid core of young hitters and they are starting to arrive. Banks, Cash, Altman, Robertson, Kravitz.............we're excited about the type of lineup we'll be able to field for the next number of years. Mazeroski and Solomko should be joining them soon, and we've got a lot of bats at the lower levels that we really are high on as well. We have to get to the point to where our young pitching is able to complement our hitting. Joe Stanka and Curt Barclay are going to start the season with the big league club this year. We don't feel they really have anything left to prove in AAA. Our last 2 drafts we've really tried to focus on building some pitching organizational depth. Yoneda, Pappas, Bacque.............these guys along with Bob Thorpe and Tom Cheney...........we anticipate all of these guys contributing within the next year or two. We think Charlie can help speed up their development and help us be able to compete on a regular basis. We're excited about the future and excited to have Charlie be the man to lead us to where we are going".
It was widely speculated that the Cubs would try to bring in another fan favorite after their was some discontent over the firing of fan favorite Stan Hack. Many felt Bob Scheffer or Lon Warneke would be the next Cubs skipper. At the end of the day, experience may have been the overwhelming factor. Warneke would have been one of the younger managers in the bigs and the Cubs felt like a voice with a little more experience might be able to command a little more attention in what will be a very young clubhouse.
It was widely speculated that the Cubs would try to bring in another fan favorite after their was some discontent over the firing of fan favorite Stan Hack. Many felt Bob Scheffer or Lon Warneke would be the next Cubs skipper. At the end of the day, experience may have been the overwhelming factor. Warneke would have been one of the younger managers in the bigs and the Cubs felt like a voice with a little more experience might be able to command a little more attention in what will be a very young clubhouse.
