Tom Ricketts after firing Jim Hendry is looking for a new General Manager. He is looking for someone who knows his way around a computer, knows how to scout and develop players and comes from a winning atmosphere.
If I could add to that it should also be someone who is young and experienced at the position. If the Cubs are going to compete soon, they need someone who will be in it for the long haul. This would knock a guy like Pat Gillick out.
This guy will do it with less than 200 million dollars and that will knock Brian Cashman out. Although I like and respect Cashman, I would prefer to go in another direction.
My choice would be Andrew Friedman. He is young enough to run your whole operation from top to bottom until everyone has been hard wired in what he wants for the organization. He has been through this process before, actually currently, and has had no where near the money that Jim Hendry had access to in Chicago .
For a franchise that has not won in over a century, Ricketts needs a home run hire and Friedman is that.
A lot of local beat writers are touting White Sox assistant GM Rick Hahn. Hahn seems like a viable candidate, but the inexperience need not apply this time around. This pick is too crucial and it cannot go to a first time GM, no matter how much he may love the Cubs.
If Friedman was to turn it down then maybe, but if Friedman turns down the position then Ricketts will have failed. There should be no way he should turn down a job with great benefits, top salary and complete and absolute control of a major league franchise where you report directly to the owner.
Ricketts must put on a full court press to get Friedman if he wants this franchise to be a marquee franchise.