Between Ted Williams' death and yesterday's blockbuster trade, the management upset in Chicago needed to wait until today. Cubs' President Andy MacPhail chose Friday to relieve Manager Don Baylor of his duties and hand over his own GM duties to long-time GM-in-waiting Jim Hendry.

After MacPhail fired Baylor, he and Hendry jointly chose AAA Iowa Manager Bruce Kimm as interim manager of the Cubs. MacPhail was very clear about his reasons for both moves. He let Baylor go because the club's record did not reflect the talent on the field.

MacPhail is likely correct in that assessment. I've been hoping to see improvement in Baylor for some time and have been quite excited at a number of seemingly intelligent remarks. However, he continued to make poor decisions with the lineups and had lost touch with the team for whatever reason. While I'd support weeding the franchise of players opposed to playing for Baylor, that didn't seem to be a direction in which the Cubs were interested. MacPhail likely also wanted to give Hendry his own manager.

The decision to hand over the GM duties to Hendry coincided with the change in on-field management, as MacPhail felt it was important for the new GM to be able to pick a manager with whom Hendry could relate. MacPhail also felt that with his position on the labor relations committee, he would have less time to devote to the job than it deserved and wanted to make the move well before the July 31st trading deadline in order to give Hendry an opportunity to make immediate changes.

I understand that MacPhail didn't want to turn over the GM duties to Hendry and leave him to fire Baylor. However, I think the timing of this decision made little sense. If he couldn't make up his mind before the start of the Atlanta series, then he should have waited until the All-Star break to announce the change. Unfortunately, MacPhail, ever the baseball traditionalist, didn't want to "overshadow" the festivities, even though the MLBPA's executive board meeting, scheduled for tomorrow, will likely grab the spotlight for the week.

MacPhail also didn't leave Kimm enough time to get to Atlanta before the start of Friday's game, so bench coach Rene Lachemann managed the team for one game. If they were going to fire Baylor Friday and name Kimm as interim manager, the Cubs should have spent the extra money to fly Kimm to Atlanta in time for the game.

Both Lachemann and Kimm were without the benefit of Sammy Sosa in the lineup as he had to return to Chicago to be with his wife Sonia. She cut a tendon in her hand on broken glass and needs surgery to repair the damage. He won't be back for today's game either, but does hope participate in the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game.

Although he didn't have a long career, Kimm's yet another new manager who played major league baseball as a catcher, spending two seasons in Detroit where he caught "The Bird", one with the Cubs, and one with the White Sox. After two years off, he took a position with the Tigers as the manager of Lakeland in the A+ Florida State League. The following season he managed Cedar Rapids in the A Midwest League for the Reds. Kimm then took a 10-year break from minor league managing while he worked as a major league coach for Cincinnati from 1984-88, Pittsburgh from 1989-90, and San Diego from 1991-92. During that time he worked under managers Pete Rose, Jim Leyland, and Greg Riddoch.

In 1993, he returned to minor league managing, taking a position with the Braves at Greenville in the AA Southern League. He neither coached in the majors nor managed in the minors in 1994, but he was hired by the Cubs to manage their SL AA club in Orlando in 1995. Kimm won the Southern League Manager of the Year Award that year, staying with the team through 1996 before taking a position with Florida's major league coaching staff in 1997 in time for their World Series win. He remained in Florida through 1998 and then followed Jim Leyland to Colorado in 1999. After a season on the Rockies' major league coaching staff, he spent 2000 as a scout for the club. The Cubs hired him to manage AAA Iowa in 2001.

This change could work out well, but I'm pessimistic. Kimm sites Jim Leyland as a major influence on him, which isn't overly promising considering Leyland's pattern of abusing his pitchers. However, we can hope he didn't pick up that trait from his mentor.

The Cubs have said that while Kimm is an interim manager, he will likely hold the position through the end of the season. I don't object to the mid-season change as long as they intend for this to be a legitimate tryout for Kimm before deciding, based on his performance, if they want to offer the position to him for a longer period. However, if he's just a fill-in, they should have left Baylor in the position or switched to someone on the major league coaching staff.

I'm much more optimistic about Jim Hendry's potential. He's been groomed for this position for several years and is ready to take a more public position. Hendry has a good grasp of the Cubs' minor league talent and shouldn't be afraid to utilize those players.

If Bobby Hill isn't in the majors following the All-Star break, something's wrong. I understand Chicago's reluctance to concede the season, but bringing in their rookies could easily improve the team this year and definitely improves their chances next season, which is unfortunately again all that really matters at this point.