Newly minted Chicago Cubs Manager Rick Renteria got his first chance to truly embrace the totalitarian state that is Cubs Nation today. Rick Renteria headlined a panel entitled “Meet the New Skipper” at the 2014 Cubs Convention and it was packed to the gills. Twas standing room only as Rick Renteria unveiled his new coaching staff in front of the biggest die hards in Cubbieland.
Here’s what Rick Renteria had to say.
First off I appreciate how Rick Renteria’s accent comes and goes without warning. So listening to him is interesting. Rick Renteria compared himself to a mouse during one of his analogies in the question and answer session. And last night he compared himself to a dog during an interview on CSN Chicago, so I do enjoy his Animal Planet metaphors. The question of third base came up. Since Aramis Ramirez left, that’s been a huge question mark in Cubdom.
From Ron Santo to Aramis, it was just an endless parade of you know what. Gary Scott was my favorite. He was this uber-prospect who was supposed to hold down the fort for many years. It didn’t work out.
So what about the combo of Valbuena and Murphy in 2014. “We got to look to match up with what we have,” Renteria said.
“When people complain about what they don’t have, let’s look at what we have, let’s work with what he have.”
Rick Renteria also said the hip feels fine and he referred to himself as a busy body, but he doesn’t “like micro -managing.”
I don’t really have a lot of soundbites from Rick Renteria. Sorry. He really didn’t say all that much.
Most of what he said was just grindiness and motivational jargon. He kind of sounded like a college football coach’s official Twitter account; with the pump-up phrases and cliches. I’m not the only one who thought Rick Renteria didn’t say much of note at CubsCon. Follow any of the Cubs beat writers on Twitter- they were covering the convention and tweeting anything noteworthy. Take notice that none of them tweeted a whole lot of Rick Renteria quotes.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the country; with regular weekly segments discussing: Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Bears and Bulls on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)