The Commish Online www.thecommishonline.com
BLOG ARCHIVE: 11/01/11 - 11/30/11
11/17/11
Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw were the deserving Cy Young winners for 2011. The real challenge will be Verlander attempting to win the AL MVP. My guess is it won't happen as some voters refuse to vote a pitcher as MVP regardless of the performance.
Elsewhere, the Cardinals and Cubs named their managers, Mike Metheny and Dale Sveum respectively. With no NBA on the horizon, the Hot Stove figures to get more press than usual.
11/08/11
The Cubs continue their managerial search after letting Mike Quade go, and with Theo Epstein and his new hires on board, it seems like they are going about it the right way, interviewing a handful of candidates and trying to find the best match for the best.
On the south side of Chicago, GM Kenny Williams took no time in finding a replacement for Ozzie Guillen as skipper of the White Sox, simply skimming through his roster of former Sox players from the '90s (Guillen, Walker, Baines, Cora, Raines, etc.) and settled in on Robin Ventura. Ventura, who has exactly zero managing and coaching experience, picked up the phone and said yes without even planning on managing. As much as I think American League managers have very little effect on the outcome of a season, Ventura's place on the hot seat will be an interesting one, especially considering Triple-A manager Joe McEwing appears well liked by the team but was only given the third base coaching job and was never interviewed for the managerial position.
That ought to raise a few jealous eyebrows in the clubhouse. If you think McEwing isn't ready, that hasn't stopped St. Louis from interviewing him to potentially replace Tony LaRussa. No problem for Williams though - if McEwing lands a job elsewhere, rumor has it that Ray Durham is on his couch and ready to coach third base if needed.
