Introducing Dale Sveum

In my long-standing tradition (like a month or so) of over-analyzing important press conferences (see Doug Melvin Theo Epstein and MIke Matheny) today we turn to former Brewers hitting coach/interim manager Dale Sveum.

This should be fun


Of course, Sveum was asked the million-dollar question: What does he think about the Cubs' 103-year championship drought?

"The past is the past no matter where you are," Sveum said during an introductory news conference at Wrigley Field. "You're only as good as you are right now. It doesn't really matter what happened in the past."

You aren't very good right now either

Sveum was considered the leading candidate for the Red Sox job, when the team flew him to Milwaukee, where the general managers' meetings were being held, for a second interview.

"When it came down to it, this was a better fit and the arrow stopped on the Chicago Cubs," Sveum said Friday.

That arrow then killed itself

He mentioned "whining" more than once Friday during his introductory news briefing at Wrigley Field, which he plans to turn into a whine-free zone.

he was then reminded Mike Matheny got the Cardinals job, he will be managing the Cubs

Sveum takes over a Cubs team that finished fifth in the NL Central and is saddled with the big contracts of pitcher Carlos Zambrano and outfielder Alfonso Soriano.

lulz

"The thing that has to be addressed right away is playing the game the right way on an everyday basis,"

see previous sentence

You don't have control over striking out and giving up a home run or whatever

geez back off

You're doing your best. You don't want to be embarrassed, but you're embarrassing the rest of the organization, the people who pay your salary and the city that comes out 35,000 strong every game to watch you walk down to first base and not give everything you have

not only am I throwing you 2 under the bus, I'm driving it myself

"He just wants to win," Epstein said. "He's going to not get caught up with the trappings of the job. He's going to connect with 25 players. He's as comfortable in his own skin as anyone I've ever been around. That's a good sign.

well good, I'd hate to have him getting comfortable in someone else's skin

"When you have to deal with adversity, and in a market like this you have to deal with some form of adversity on a daily basis, you end up falling back on who you are and how you feel about yourself. When Dale falls back on that, he's going to like the answers he sees."

has he been put on suicide watch yet??

"It's got to go in another direction to play this game like it's the seventh game of the World Series every day."

Cubs fan: "What's a World Series??"

After Ned Yost was fired following a 3-11 slide in September, Sveum led the Brewers to their first playoff appearance in 26 years, winning six of seven down the stretch and capturing the wild card on the final day of the regular season.

Sveum's genius strategy: "Can Sabathia pitch today??"

Milwaukee then decided to hire a more experienced manager in the offseason and went with Ken Macha

more experienced=comatose

During his career, the low-key Sveum got to play under some of the marquee managers in the game, including Joe Torre, Tony La Russa and Jim Leyland. Each had an input on how he plans to approach his new job.

"I think the one common thread is the ability to motivate and none of them were screamers or yellers," Sveum said.

don't forget your managers while coaching in Milwaukee: Ned Yost and Ken Macha.

On second thought yeah go ahead and forget anything they ever said

Even though he says he hasn't read the book, "Moneyball," or seen the movie, Sveum is a proponent of statistical analysis favored by Epstein during his years in Boston, saying it gives the manager options when studying matchups and filling out lineups.

wait until he sees Soriano's OPS

The first task for Sveum is choosing his coaching staff. He spent part of Friday calling the holdovers from Mike Quade's staff.

**ring ring**
*Hello*
"Knock Knock"
"Who's there??"
"You're fired"

"I need to talk to them about their philosophies and get to know them a little better right now," Sveum said. "I don't know any of them well enough. I know (bench coach Pat Listach) enough, but I want to get to know about certain specifics."

Specifically how soon can you be out of here??

He wants a bench coach whom he knows well because they are bound to tangle during the season. But it won't be former Brewers Hall of Famer Robin Yount, whom he calls his best friend.

when contacted for comment Yount replied "who??"

"That's not going to happen," Sveum said.

"That's not going to happen," Yount said



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yeah I'm just opening myself up to stalkers I know

*crosses fingers*