I think it's pretty obvious

Jim Hendry must have some sort of brain problems, because he's an idiot. First, this Cubs managerial search. It's obvious that whatever coach you choose is going to have a downfall. He could even be mildly successful, and people may not be happy. Of course, this is a Cubs team that should not be as bad as it is. And I blame that on Jim Hendry. But I digress.

So why is the managerial search taking this long? There are 3 other teams looking for managers and the Cubs really only have 2 candidates, at least that I would call legitimate. You've got Lou Piniella, you've got Joe Girardi. One is NL Manager of the Year, the other is a guy who has won just about everywhere he's been, but, to be honest, isn't really good with young talent.

However, an interesting article on chicagosports.com said that the Cubs may be interesting in bringing ARod into town, should he become available, which I think it's pretty obvious he will be.

First, having Piniella would probably help bring in ARod, since he played for Piniella in Seattle. Also, that team did really well, but they also had Ken Griffey Jr. and that was back in the 90's. There's no guarantee it makes it easier, it would probably just be easier to get him to waive his no-trade, which, in the past he's said he would waive it to go to Chicago (either team) anyways.

Now Joe Girardi may be a great developmental coach. However, conflicting reports out of Florida have caused me to rescind my call for Girardi to be manager hands down. One person said that they thought talent won out, causing the Marlins to perform so well. Now, sure they had a lot of top-level prospects, but that doesn't mean a whole lot. The Cubs have had plenty top-level prospects (ahem-Corey Patterson-ahem) and have gotten basically nothing out of them. So there has to be some effective teaching along the way. If we got ARod, I get the feeling that Girardi would be great because he still seems to favor veterans over young guys.

The sooner we bring in a coach, the sooner we can start negotiating with players like Aramis to extend his contract. Rumor has it they're close on negotiations for an extension, it's possible they're just waiting to see who the new manager will be. But you can bet Aramis will get a ton of offers if he opts out.

So why would we consider ARod a viable candidate to bring in if we let Aramis go? ARod is going to make $16 million a year for 4 years (roughly), and we'd have to trade for him. Who would we trade? Ideally, it would be Jacque Jones, Freddie Bynum and maybe a good prospect or 2. Now if we could get rid of those two shitholes and not lose anybody relevant to the system (Rich Hill, Felix Pie) then I'd be fine with it. However, the odds of that are terrible.

Of course, you could keep Aramis and get ARod to play short. That would be a potent left side of the infield. Also, if Aramis starts slow and ARod starts hot, they cancel out when ARod fades down the stretch and Aramis heats up, and their numbers are still similar.

But, don't forget, Jim Hendry is an idiot, and the Cubs may be sold, which would change the payroll greatly. So there's a chance that we couldn't afford that much payroll, although thankfully we're losing that $13 million that Kerry Wood got.

So maybe in Jim Hendry's mind it makes more sense to just bring in ARod, instead of keeping Aramis. That way we pay more, and we get to give up prospects for it, and also we can keep shitty Cesar Izturis at SS. Also, if we bring in ARod, that we force me to stop hating him, and right now that's something I don't know if I can do. That is, until the trade became official, then all hatred would cease. Much like the Nomar situation.

I hate how now, instead of hoping the Cubs will do something awesome, or perhaps make a smart move, I expect the dumbest possible moves and am surprised by anything more.