Miles: Big names don't always mean big results

The Cubs are back in the big-name manager business.

After four-plus years of Mike Quade, Dale Sveum and Rick Renteria — all good baseball men but hardly household names — the Cubs have a marquee name at the top step of the dugout in Joe Maddon.

It should be quite the news conference Monday, when Cubs President Theo Epstein introduces Maddon at the Cubby Bear, across from Wrigley Field.

The Cubs have been down this road before, with mixed results.

Over the last decade and a half, they hired Don Baylor to provide some toughness, Dusty Baker to bring a winning presence and Lou Piniella for many of the same reasons they hired Baker.

So whom does Maddon most resemble?

Well, he is said to enjoy a good glass of wine, much as Baylor does. He's well-read and multidimensional, as Dusty is. And he managed the Tampa Bay Rays, as Lou did.

So let's take a look at the recent history of the Cubs hiring big-name mangers, understanding that times and circumstances are different and that past performance is no guarantee of future results.

The Baylor years:

In the fall of 1999, then-team President Andy MacPhail and general manager Ed Lynch thought they were getting some toughness in Baylor after five years of gentleman Jim Riggleman.

The Cubs were horrid in Baylor's first year, going 65-97. But in 2001, they rushed out to a 21-12 start and held first place for much of four months before faltering down the stretch.

Baylor wasn't quite what the Cubs thought they were getting. He was more of a passive personality who never did quite connect with his players. The Cubs got off to a poor start in 2002, and Baylor was fired in early July.

Baker no Messiah:

General manager Jim Hendry thought he had the real deal after waiting for Baker to finish the 2002 World Series with the San Francisco Giants, who lost in seven games to the Anaheim Angels.

There was just too much from which to choose with Baker in the winter of 2002-03, from him proclaiming, “My name is Dusty, not Messiah,” to his handing out T-shirts with the slogan “Why Not Us?” printed on them.

I remember seeing Dusty in the hotel lounge before the season opener in '03.

“I'm not losing,” he said. “I am not losing.”

It all seemed like a magical ride until Game 6 of the National League championship series that season, when the Cubs came within five outs of the World Series before falling to the Marlins.

Dusty certainly contributed to the negative vibe on the 2004 team, which collapsed in the final week of the season and missed the playoffs after it seemed like the Cubs were a lock.

The Cubs went steadily downward in 2005 and '06, and Baker's tenure ended as a self-pity tour. Both Baker and MacPhail were swept out as the Cubs made big changes in the fall of 2006.

Sweet Lou arrives:

With money to spend on players and a manager, Hendry went big time again with the hiring of Piniella, who may have been looking to cement a Hall of Fame legacy if he could get the Cubs to the World Series.

One of Piniella's strong points was that he could size up talent. He quickly found out who could play and who couldn't, and he got rid of those he didn't feel could play.

Piniella, who played and managed in New York, nevertheless seemed awed and even shocked by the intensity of the Wrigley Field experience. After a poor start in '07, Piniella rallied the Cubs to a division title and then seemed to seize up in the playoffs when he pulled starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano after 6 strong innings in Game 1, hoping to save him for later in the series. That “later” never came, and the Cubs were swept out of the division series by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Cubs had the NL's best record in 2008, but they couldn't get out of their own way against the Los Angeles Dodgers and again found themselves swept out of the playoffs in the first round.

The Milton Bradley disaster of 2009 seemed to take the starch out of Piniella, and with the Cubs seemingly out of money, he grew tired and cranky in 2010, leaving late in the season as his mother's health failed. It was a classic case of the players quitting on Piniella and Piniella quitting on the players. Piniella once wore his Yankees championship ring to the park and made sure to let reporters know the players were eating caviar in the clubhouse.

So how will the Maddon era turn out? There's plenty of time for that. Clearly, he's considered one of the top three or four managers in the game.

So I suggest we grab a good book, pop the cork on a nice pinot and watch it all unfold.

• Follow Bruce's Cubs reports on Twitter@BruceMiles2112.