While it pains me to cite Phil, he nevertheless was almost coherent Sunday.

In any case, Girardi's issues with his front office started long before Aug. 6, when he screamed at Loria, telling the owner to stop criticizing home plate umpire Larry Vanover from his front-row seat. The manager and the GM have clashed about how to use players, prompting some to compare Girardi to the controlling Buck Showalter.

Because he's a Peoria native and Northwestern graduate (industrial engineering, 1986) and spent seven seasons in two stints with the Cubs developing a rapport with some executives and reporters—not to mention the job he's done with a team given only a $15 million payroll—he would be the easiest choice to replace Baker.

General manager Jim Hendry made the transition from college baseball to pro ball with Florida and knows all about this messy situation. He will be on the spot if the Marlins make Girardi a free agent.

If the Marlins make a quick call, it could have other repercussions for Hendry.

While I have no idea what Phil means by his weird General manager Jim Hendry made the transition from college baseball crap(I mean really...only one non-sensical or factually incorrect item per article is actually pretty good for Phil), one thing really made me think.

Joe Girardi's a redass manager, evidently. His team's impressive play has allowed Joe to quickly climb the ladder from the Salvation Army to Macy's and he's hedging that his team's surprising relative success is enough for him to prove that he's a Big Time manager.

I'll leave for others to argue the numerous pros and cons of a Girardi managership around here, but I do know that Joe's red-assedness will be a turn off to many GM's, particularly the failing, flailing schlep who used to be Jim Hendry.

Meanwhile Morrisey actually also makes a good point. Yes. On the same day as Rogers, Rick M. churned out a decent column. I tried to not leave my house today after coming across such a hauntingly rare find.

Anyway, Morissey's point is that Florida's success is due, in large part, to their organizational effort. That's true. It's also a painful reminder of how incompetent MacFail Co. is when it comes to running a winning ballclub. Florida has stripped the house twice since 1997, winning two World Series, while Andy has stumbled and bumbled his way around 1060 West Addison in the same ten seasons, going 764- 851.

Joe Girardi has done a good job with these blue-chip prospects in Miami. One of the few times that Dusty actually had made sense this season was when--in another, of course, in an endless string of alibis and rationalizations-- he nevertheless correctly pointed out that the reason Florida has so many good youngsters is because they're trading off their veteran studs for other teams' top prospects. Exhibit A is Hanley Ramirez. Exhibit B is the guy who came to Miami from Boston along with Ramirez-- Anibal Sanchez. The Phish don't have the money to blow on Josh Beckett like the Cubs did on Kerry Wood, so they get TWO legit prospects to replace him.

Regardless, the Marlins have good young players and Joe's done a good job. Having already worked through this season with a chip on his shoulder by taking a job before the Marlin's fire sale had finished, which apparently sowed the seeds for Girardi's later outburst at Loria while the Florida Owner was sitting with some of his friends, Girardi's now decided that he's going to call the shots.

He is apparently not attempting to keep any bridges flame-retardant. He's rolling the dice that this is the time and place for him to go Big Time. And, it can be (and will be) pointed out that he did yeoman's work in Florida.

Girardi's 41. Remember--he's worked for the Cubs during each of their extremes--the smooth, well-oiled Dallas Green System into which a twenty-one year old Girardi was drafted in 1986, and the erratic, clueless and uncertain management era known as the Andy MacPhail Clusterfuck. Why would he want to work for these clowns?

You know what I'd like? I'd like for MacFail and Hendry to pursue Girardi, and get told by Joe to go take a hike. Fed up and annoyed with the all-out incompetence of the MacFail Trust that Dennis Fitzsimons didn't even hire in 1994, Fitz brings out the gas can, kicks the future commissioner to the curb, forcing Jim Hendry to see if anyone's hiring at Creighton, get Billy Beane on the phone, and give him the CEO/GM title for a bundle as well as the $95 million dollar payroll that the MacFail and Hendry Typhoon wasted.

Later, when the Tribune will have sold the Cubs (God, please--the sooner the better), their investment in Beane will have squeezed some more value into their club. Gotta always think about the bottom line, right Dennis?

Until that happens, I will remain a Cub agnostic.