Cubs to move on without interim president

What a whirlwind Tuesday for the Cubs.

At about 9 a.m., John McDonough met with the front-office staff and surprised many by announcing that he had resigned as team president to take over as president of the Blackhawks.

"It was very emotional for me; it was very difficult," McDonough said after he finished a news conference at the United Center.

"John was choked up to a good degree," said Crane Kenney, the Tribune Co. executive who will oversee Cubs business until the team is sold as part of the overall plan to sell Tribune Co. "For most people, it was the first they heard of it so I think they were surprised to begin. But as John usually does, they were smiling him and congratulating him at the end."

An hour or so after McDonough finished his briefing on the West Side, general manager Jim Hendry and Kenney held a teleconference to say the Cubs were moving full speed ahead despite the departure of the dynamic McDonough and the impending sale.

"It's certainly business as usual for our baseball department," Hendry said.

Among the points hit by Hendry and Kenney:

• The Cubs will operate without an interim president until the team is sold, a process Kenney said could take until the middle of next year. McDonough, an Elk Grove Village resident, became interim president of the Cubs in October 2006 after Andy MacPhail resigned.

Kenney noted that the prospective buyers, Major League Baseball and Tribune Co. all control some aspects of the sale and that it "has gone a little slower than we thought it would, but we're also comfortable with the pace, and we think it will be a good outcome for the team."

• The player payroll will increase by an unspecified about, perhaps growing from the $100 million range of $115 million or slightly more.

"The resources are there," Kenney said. "We're going to get better quick, just like we did last year… The payroll will be higher than last year."

• Hendry said he feels comfortable about his future with the Cubs and said he would pursue, through trades or free agency, "a quality left-handed hitting outfielder" and a left-handed hitter for the bench or for "a versatile role in the infield, and we'd like to make sure our pitching remains strong."

While McDonough's move was surprising to the Cubs' staff, it was not a total shock, and all sides acknowledged that Tuesday.

The Cubs have been for sale since Opening Day of 2007, and as much as McDonough has been lauded for his work as marketing and broadcasting chief before becoming president, there were no guarantees any new owner would keep him. Upon taking over as president, McDonough stated it his goal to win the World Series immediately. The team fell short in 2007, but it made the playoffs, improving 19 games from the 2006 record of 66-96.

"It (the sale) played a role, but quite frankly, as I said, this was the right opportunity at the right time," said McDonough, who joined the Cubs in October 1983 and pioneered such events as the annual fan convention. "The Tribune Co. has been great to me, with the leadership of Dennis FitzSimons and Crane Kenney and the great things they've done this year to provide resources for that franchise. It's something I pondered a great deal."

Kenney said the ownership question didn't come up, but with McDonough getting a five-year deal from Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz, there wasn't much the Cubs could do.

"When John called me a little over a week ago to say he had been contacted by the Blackhawks - actually Rocky Wirtz had called me ahead of that call - John mentioned the great opportunity," Kenney said. "What was on the table for him there was a five-year contract with a sixth-year option. That was a long commitment from the Blackhawks to rebuild that franchise.

"It was a discussion more of what was in front of him and the length of time he was being given by the Blackhawks to accomplish it that was really the subject."