Former White Sox catcher Alomar interviews for Cubs opening

The field may be set for the Cubs' managerial derby.

“Quite probably, yes,” said general manager Jed Hoyer on Friday after Sandy Alomar Jr. became the fourth — and possibly last — candidate to interview for the job. “We're still going to make some phone calls. I wouldn't guarantee that it is, but we feel really good about the four guys we brought in.”

Since a week ago Friday, the Cubs have interviewed Pete Mackanin, Dale Sveum, Mike Maddux and Alomar, making each available to the media afterward.

Hoyer said the Cubs' brass, led by baseball president Theo Epstein, would regroup to assess what they've learned over the past week before moving forward.

The name still lurking is Terry Francona, who worked under Epstein at Boston. Francona has interviewed for the manager's job in St. Louis, but he may have interest in the Cubs. How reciprocal that interest is remains to be seen.

“Certainly, there are conversations that have gone on between Theo and Tito (Francona's nickname),” Hoyer said. “They've had a great relationship for a long time. I'd let Theo expand on those conversations. He's the one that had the GM-manager relationship with him”

Hoyer called each candidate “very well-prepared.”

Alomar, 45, a former big-league catcher who spent time with the White Sox, has been the first-base coach for the Cleveland Indians the past two seasons. He also worked with their catchers.

“It didn't start in Cleveland,” Alomar said of his desire to manage. “It started way before that, when I played my career, the amount of time I spent in postseason, playing for 10 different managers. I had a chance to play with good managers. When I came here to the White Sox, I spent a lot of time on the bench and realizing that this is what I could do in the future and started evaluating myself in that regard. Basically, 2001 is when I started thinking about managing.”

Alomar makes his home in Chicago, having played for the White Sox from 2001-04 and again for part of 2006. Even though the Sox hired Robin Ventura as manager, Alomar said he didn't feel slighted or that the Sox owed him anything.

As far as his qualifications go, Alomar said it relates to his overall experience. On top of that, his father, Sandy, was a major-league infielder, and his brother, Roberto, was a Hall of Fame second baseman.

“I think I bring a lot of things to the table that maybe some of the other guys don't bring,” he said. “But in regard to being a player, going through injuries in the past, spending a lot of time in the minor leagues as a player, having played in the postseason, going to the World Series, playing for 10 different managers and all participated in postseason. Seven of them went to the World Series. Three of them won the World Series.

“I played for winning people all my career. That gave me an opportunity to learn the values and how to take ability from other people and incorporate it to myself.”

Alomar is a native of Salinas, Puerto Rico, and he flashed a sense of humor of how he might handle pitcher Carlos Zambrano, who walked out on the team in August and was placed on the disqualified list. Zambrano's status with the Cubs is uncertain, but he has resumed pitching in the Venezuelan winter league.

“One of the things that Zambrano has is that he carries a lot of emotion on his sleeves,” Alomar said. “He's an emotional guy. A lot of people from Latin American countries, those emotions come from way back when you were a kid. The style of baseball that we played as kids in Puerto Rico, the Dominican (Republic), Venezuela, maybe in Mexico, when you're a kid over there, you have to win. You got to perform. As you grow, you think you have to bring that with you.

“When you become frustrated, sometimes you treat the game like you are still a kid. But you want to have fun. Those are things that have to be addressed. He's an emotional guy. Having conversations with him, try to get in his mind and see what's going and hopefully figure it out. Or otherwise, bring a stun gun myself.

“He's a pretty big guy. He's needed. He throws a lot of innings. He can pitch. Hopefully, he can come and do the things he can do.”