With buzz about the availability of soon-t0-be-free agent Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi, it was reported that the Chicago Cubs contacted Jimmy Sexton, the agent for University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban, to gauge interest in managing the ball club in 2014.
“Why not Saban?” a source close to the team said. “Cubs management already said they won’t sign any expensive free agents in the off-season. With the pile of goo we have coming back next year, Saban would be just as good as any of them.”
Saban has never coached or managed baseball. When asked why there is interest in the head of the 2012-2013 college football national champs, the source said Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer believe Saban can motivate highly paid underachievers Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo.
“The thinking is since Saban’s football players at Alabama have such a high graduation rate, 29 percent with just 37 percent being arrested for felonies, he’ll be able to get Castro and Rizzo to move their dead asses a few inches.”
Another source said the Cubs have reached out to former Bulls’ coach Tim Floyd, ex-Bears mentor Lovie Smith, LA Kings’ coach Darryl Sutter and Dennis Green, formerly of the Arizona Cardinals.
