Boston Red Sox Lose Dale Sveum to Chicago Cubs

Take Dale Sveum off the Red Sox Christmas wish list.

Sveum, one of the front-runners to take the Boston managerial position, signed a deal Thursday to become the Chicago Cubs' next manager. 

It’s the second time in the last month that the Cubs have convinced a guy to forget about Boston and head to the Windy City as Sveum joins Theo Epstein in the daunting rebuilding project.

What does that tell you about the current state of the Red Sox?

The whole fried chicken, video games and beer in the clubhouse fiasco was brutal from a public relations perspective.  It has made the offseason a lot more difficult, which is the last thing Boston needs after their historic collapse. 

The latest report is that the Red Sox are “widening” their search.  Is that code for they can’t get a big name and are getting desperate?  If you read into the comments of team president Larry Lucchino, I think it’s a fair assumption:

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Different people are on different tracks.  The whole group is not going to proceed in unison.  It’s not that linear a process.  One of the steps was for Sveum to meet John (Henry) and Tom (Werner).  That was an important part of the process.

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Whoops.  Here’s what Lucchino said after hearing that Svenum is now a Cub:

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Let a thousand blossoms bloom.  The Cubs will do what they want to do, what they feel they have to do.  We’re trying to do our process with as much internal consistency as possible.  It's inevitable that (Sveum) would be a major-league manager someday.

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Sounds like a subliminal jab at his former GM to me.

Clearly, the organization isn’t on the same page with this search and it’s making them look like fools.  Right now, the main candidates are Blue Jays first-base coach Torey Lovullo, Tigers third base coach Gene Lamont and Indians bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr.  They haven’t ruled out interviewing Bobby Valentine, but that sounds like a pipe dream at this point.

It’s apparent that nobody with any managing experience at the major league level wants to go into the extreme pressure cooker that is Bean Town baseball.  It’s playoffs-or-bust every year.  It even took its toll on the incredibly smooth and calm Terry Francona.

Now the Red Sox are going to let a rookie manager help fans forget about the 2011 mess?

Yikes.