Ryne Sandberg Cardinals: Will St. Louis Cash in on Cubs' Slight of Former Star?

Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg has been working his way up the managerial ranks throughout the years, capped off by winning the Pacific Coast League Manager of the Year in 2010 with the Triple-A Iowa Cubs.

But when he was supposed to take over for Lou Piniella last season, he was instead passed up for Mike Quade.

Shortly after, Sandberg left the Cubs organization and became manager of the Philadelphia Phillies top minor-league affiliate, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

Now, with a chance to bring him back, new general manager Theo Epstein has made it clear Sandberg is not a candidate to replace the recently-fired Quade.

Tweeted Buster Olney of ESPN:

Sandberg appreciated the gesture, according to Olney, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a slight.

And the St. Louis Cardinals could reap the benefits.

After winning the World Series, longtime manager Tony La Russa finally decided to retire. It has spurned the Cardinals organization to start seeking candidates.

In my mind, Sandberg would be a good fit.

One of the reasons Epstein opted to go a different direction, or so he says, is because he wanted someone with managerial experience at the major league level. Sandberg didn't have that, so he was automatically disqualified.

But Sandberg has shown, evidenced by winning Manager of the Year, that he is a rising manager. Despite former Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona having managerial experience with the Philadelphia Phillies before getting hired by Epstein in Boston, his record was sub-par, and he was considered a wild-card hire at the time.

Sandberg is a wild-card hire, but he could turn into an ace like Francona did.

The easy way of doing things is to hire a manager with experience at the major league level and hope he's ready to take the next step.

But you also can't ignore budding managers, managers that appear to be on the cusp of realizing their full potential.

As Sandberg gets set to interview with the Cardinals, the Cardinals could look the other way. It would be quite the change from La Russa, after all.

Or they could take a risk that could pay off huge for them in the long run.