Sandberg ready to take next step -- he just needs the opportunity

DES MOINES, Iowa - Until this year, you could fairly list the things Ryne Sandberg needed to do to become a major-league manager.

But one by one, he's checking off those boxes.

Ride the buses in Class A ball? Check.

Develop prospects in Double-A? Check.

Work with career minor-leaguers and up-and-comers at Triple-A and somehow keep it together? Check.

Oh, yes, and win, too? Check.

About the only box that remains unchecked is major-league managerial or coaching experience. Mention that to Sandberg, and you see a flash of combativeness.

"Well, how do you get a start?" he asked Monday before his Class AAA Iowa Cubs played Nashville. "Every manager that got an opportunity started somewhere. I'm in that boat. I'm waiting for that opportunity. I'm waiting for somebody to tell me that I'm ready.

"I don't think that's my decision. I can't hire myself. But I can work my way up the minor leagues, and I can be at Triple-A and have some success here and develop players.

"With what I've experienced at that level, and what I've experienced the last four years, I think that goes beyond being a coach at the major-league level, being a first-base coach, being a hitting coach, bench coach.

"I'm managing. I'm bench coach. I'm doing some infield. I'm doing some pitching. I'm doing some hitting. I'm doing some outfield. I'm working with the catchers. I think this has been perfect for me to learn the whole game and manage."

Sandberg is in his fourth season as a minor-league manager, and he has the I-Cubs poised to make the playoffs. He led Class A Peoria to a first-place tie in the second half of the 2007 season. He moved up to Class AA Tennessee in 2009 and guided that team to the championship series.

With Lou Piniella having retired as manager of the Cubs, there's a job open. Mike Quade, who has paid his dues in the minor leagues, is getting a chance to finish the year, and he will be a candidate for the permanent job. Other names will surface soon enough.

Sandberg is a special case. He's a Hall of Fame Cub who is enormously popular with the fans. He has done everything the organization has told him to do, even if some never thought a man of his stature would do those things, such as ride the buses.

Now, he says he's ready.

"I just feel ready because I've progressed up the ladder, and the next step is the major leagues," he said. "I feel like I've learned a lot here. I feel like I've dealt with issues here. We've had some success here. We've won some here."

That said, Sandberg was quick to say he's mindful of and sensitive to the huge job general manager Jim Hendry has in making such an important hire.

"Honestly, my focus is with these games that are yet to be played here," he said. "I'm not looking beyond that. But I understand there will be a process for the next manager that Jim Hendry will go through. I've been told that I will be a candidate. That is somewhat flattering, and I feel comfortable with that."

Sandberg, 50, went to spring training earlier this decade as an instructor under managers Don Baylor and Dusty Baker, and Piniella invited him after Sandberg got the Peoria job.

It was during those days, and in reflecting on what it meant to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005, that got Sandberg thinking he'd like to manage.

"To be honest with you, for about the first month, I felt like a fish out of water," he said. "One hundred forty games a year is a lot of games, and it's every day.

"I really started to apply myself to it, and I had a mind-set that this is something I wanted to do. It was no different from when I was a player. I came to the ballpark, and I still do every day, to learn something, to gain experience."

Having fallen short of a World Series while playing with the Cubs, Sandberg would love to do it as manager. And although he's issuing no ultimatums, he knows there may be other opportunities if the Cubs don't want him.

"Since I've done this at this level, to do that anywhere in the major leagues would be big thrill," he said. "I want to manage at the major-league level, somewhere. Somewhere. I think this has been a good year in a lot of ways to possibly open up some eyes once again, not for the players, but for myself."

<div class="infoBox">

<h1>More Coverage</h1>

<div class="infoBoxContent">

<div class="infoArea">

<h2>Stories</h2>

<ul class="links">

<li><a href="/story/?id=402873">Sandberg addresses Wrigley challenge <span class="date">[8/23/10]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=402884">Quade era starts with a bang as Cubs trounce Nats, 9-1 <span class="date">[8/23/10]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=402888">Quade showed leadership skills early at Prospect <span class="date">[8/23/10]</span></a></li>

</ul>

</div>

</div>

</div>