The end of the Chicago Cubs' miserable season brought the resignation of CEO Andy MacPhail. Now, manager Dusty Baker was to meet with general manager Jim Hendry to see if his run was over, too.
``My head's kind of spinning,'' Cubs outfielder Jacque Jones said Sunday after MacPhail ended his 12 years in charge of the club by resigning after a 66-96 season, the worst in the NL.
Baker's future was next up. He nearly took the Cubs to the World Series in his first season in Chicago when they fell five outs short in the 2003 NLCS and compiled a 322-326 record in his four seasons.
Hendry was scheduled to appear at a news conference Monday. There was no word if Baker would be there.
Baker told the Chicago Tribune after Sunday's season finale that he wouldn't be back.
``I'm gone,'' he said. ``If they wanted me back, I would have heard something by now.''
Jones said Baker was the main driving force behind him signing as a free agent last off-season.
``He was the main reason that I came here. He called me and he really wanted me to come over here,'' Jones said. ``I asked him if he was going to be here for my whole three years and he said, `Yeah'. So it will be disappointing if he's not back.''
Hendry received a contract extension in the spring. Baker was in the final year of a four-year worth between US$14 million and $15 million.
``It's not like I'm walking death row or something. You're always relieved when you know the direction,'' Baker said. ``Not only in my baseball career but in life period.''
Baker, known for his toothpicks and wristbands while managing from the dugout, played some ball with his son Darren in the outfield before Sunday's game. On his way back to the dugout, he stopped and signed autographs for 10 minutes along the left-field line, not far from where a fan's interference on a foul ball in Game 6 of the NLCS led to the Cubs' downfall three years ago.
Leading the series 3-2, they squandered 3-0 lead in the eighth inning. Florida went on to win the game, the pennant and then the World Series. It is the inning that will always be talked about when Baker's time in Chicago is discussed.
Baker said he had no regrets about coming to the Cubs but wished he'd been the one to turn the longtime losers around. That's what he expected upon his arrival following 10 seasons as skipper of the San Francisco Giants where he was a three-time manager of the year and led the Giants to the World Series in 2002.
``It's been a great experience. I've learned a lot about myself, about people and everything, about the importance of winning and losing,'' said Baker, who was booed during Sunday's game.
``The town's starving for a winner and I feel poorly that I wasn't able to quite get it done.''
Neither was MacPhail, who comes from a big baseball family. Both his grandfather and father were executives and are now in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
After leading the Minnesota Twins to a pair of World Series titles, MacPhail came to the Cubs in 1994, but the team managed only two playoff appearances since then.
``This is the first thing I've ever done in baseball that I didn't have a high level of success at,'' MacPhail said, his voice cracking at the end of a news conference.
The Cubs haven't been to the World Series since 1945 and haven't won one since 1908.
MacPhail is the latest victim of that long run of losing. He acknowledged the Cubs hadn't developed position players as well as pitchers. He also pointed to the team's uncanny stretch of injuries and poor health.
Oft-injured starters Mark Prior and Kerry Wood have been out most of the season as has 2005 batting champion Derrek Lee. Catcher Michael Barrett needed surgery after being hit in the groin with a foul tip and pitcher Glendon Rusch is taking blood thinners after a clot was discovered on his lung.
But MacPhail offered no excuses.
``The clock on the MacPhail-o-meter has run down to zero,'' he said, adding that he broached the subject of resigning during a team review in mid-season. ``It's not just that we had a terrible season. I've been here 12 seasons and only two post-season (appearances) and to me that's not what I came here to do. Obviously, I've not been as effective as I wanted to be.''
