MLB Baseball News

New Cubs president Theo Epstein made his first big decision with the hiring of new manager Dale Sveum (pronounced Swaim), who spent the last three seasons as the Milwaukee Brewers hitting coach and was the third-base coach for the 2004 Boston Red Sox. Sweum interviewed twice with the Cubs and twice with the Red Sox, but ultimately decided to join Theo in Chicago.

“Whenever you got two places like that and you’re in the running, your head is spinning a little bit,” said Sveum. “I think what it came down to: this was just the better fit. … It doesn’t really matter what happened in the past. … The 103, 104 years blah, blah. It was that way in Boston, it was 86 years. We all know that, but the fact of the matter is when take the field the first day of spring training, it’s a whole new year.”

On Wednesday, Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was reportedly abducted by gunmen from his home in Venezuela, where he was playing winter ball. His Venezuelan team’s spokeswoman confirmed the kidnapping through her official Twitter account. As of Thursday morning, there has been no reports of contact from the kidnappers.

“We are still waiting for any news about Wilson Ramos,” the team spokeswoman tweeted. “All the authorities are working in the case. We need to be [patient] and pray.”

Meanwhile, the president of the Venezuelan winter league says that games will continue. “Suspending any ballgames will not help Wilson Ramos at all,” he said. “Turning the lights off is not a solution. We will keep Wilson present in our thoughts and prayers, but suspending activity won’t help.”

Ramos, 24, just completed his first full Major League season and made $415,000 in 2011. The Nationals acquired him from the Minnesota Twins in 2010 in exchange for reliever Matt Capp.

The Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs are both in the market for a new manager, and both teams seem to be working off the same shopping list. Theo Epstein recently stepped down as general manager of the Red Sox to become GM of the Cubs, and reportedly made a manager wish list before leaving Boston with his former assistant turned new Red Sox GM Ben Cherington.

The Cubs and Red Sox have both already interviewed Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin and Brewers hitting coach Dale Sveum. Cleveland bench coach Sandy Alomar, Jr. is scheduled to interview with the Red Sox on Wednesday and then with the Cubs on Friday. Alomar is the only minority candidate either team has interviewed so far, and baseball rules require teams interview at least one minority.

The Baltimore Orioles are expected to announce on Tuesday that they’ve signed Dan Duquette to be their next general manager. Duquette was previously the GM of the Boston Red Sox (1994-2002) and the Montreal Expos (1991-1994), but has been out of the majors since leaving the Red Sox in 2002. The Orioles haven’t had a winning record since 1997, and Duquette apparently wasn’t their first choice.

The Orioles reportedly offered the job first to Tony LaCava, but he rejected the O’s, preferring to stay an assistant GM with the slightly less awful Toronto Blue Jays, who haven’t made the playoffs since 1993, but occasionally finish as high as 12 games over .500 while fighting with the Orioles to not finish in last place in the AL East.