It was overcast most of the day, but in the sixties. Long about mid-afternoon the sun poked through, so I took a ride, about eight miles. Now my legs are sore, and I'm tired.
The Dodger GM situation seems to be going nowhere fast. Early favorite Pat Gillick opted for the Phillies. The Dodgers then received permission to talk to John Hart of the Texas Rangers, who is either interested or not depending upon what day it is. As
Steve Dilbeck noted in the LA Daily News:
Normally this should be one of the most desired jobs in baseball and all professional sports. Experienced GMs on other teams should be leaking word of their desire to relocate to Chavez Ravine, should be lining up along Elysian Park Avenue.
Instead they flee like the Dodgers carry the bird flu. Are the beautiful high school girl ducking down the hall when she fears a nerd is about to invite her to the prom.
How far have the Dodgers fallen on the sporting landscape when California native and USC grad Pat Gillick would rather take the GM job in Philadelphia than in Los Angeles? The two other major candidates are Theo Epstein and Kim Ng. Theo is, of course, the former Red Sox GM, whose abandonment of his position has aroused great hue and cry amongst Red Sox Nation. I've even heard people who really ought to know better (and have at least some grasp of perspective) refer to it as a betrayal, likening Theo to the prodigal son. @@. Pitiless Theo has told Frank McCourt that he'll get back to him.
So far Ng is the only person who's been interviewed. She's been assistant GM in LA for four years, and is reportedly a contract and waiver rules expert. Before that she was Brian Cashman's assistant GM with the Yankees. Cashman and DePo both recommend her highly. If hired she'd be the first woman, and first Asian-American GM of a major league baseball team. That'd be cool, but I suspect the odds for that happening would be sufficient to get the Heart of Gold from here to Andromeda.
Then there's Orel Hershiser. Will he be manager, GM, something else? Most scenarios have him as GM in waiting, assisting whoever does get the job. That would work fine with Hart (who Orel assisted for a year in Texas), and probably Theo, but would be terribly awkward for Ng. Meanwhile, life goes on. Somebody in the front office was smart enough to re-sign Jose Cruz, Jr., who had a pretty good stretch with the Dodgers after coming over from a not so good stint with the Sox.
Edited to add: Wow, as I went to bed we got hit with a pretty substantial thunder storm. In November!