Nobody saw this one coming.
The Cubs have selected Jim Deshaies to replace Bob Brenly. Deshaies had been the analyst for the Houston Astros, where he was a long-time pitcher.
From Paul Sullivan in the Chicago Tribune:
“It was a very tough choice,” Deshaies said of leaving the Astros’ booth. “The Astros have been very good to me and I’ve spent the lion’s share of my life here. As an Astros guy, I was very hesitant to leave. As a baseball guy, going to the Cubs and watching games at Wrigley Field, I look at that job as the best in the game.”
Later, Sullivan wrote:
While Cubs business president Crane Kenney made the final call, Kasper was instrumental in pushing for Deshaies, a source said. Deshaies spent an inning in the Cubs booth with Kasper and Brenly near the end of the season.
It’s an interesting choice considering Deshaies name never came up in any of the speculation. People were focused on the ex-Cub factor in writing about Eric Karros, Dan Plesac, Rick Sutcliffe and others.
But as the Cubs showed in bringing in Brenly, who never played for the team, the ex-Cub thing wasn’t a priority.
Mr. Sherman,
A simple Google search will show a number of articles back around November 18 that mentioned that he interviewed with the Cubs and was in the running for the job. I remember reading some of these at the time. I’m not sure where you got the idea that his name never came up. I enjoy most of your articles, but this is a big fail.
Thanks for noting. Must have missed it.