Chicago Cubs President of Business Operations Crane Kenney and Marquee General Manager Mike McCarthy met with the media today to discuss the departure of long-time play-by-play man Len Kasper, who also spoke with the media as he transitions to the White Sox radio booth.
Among Kasper’s remarks:
During media Zoom session, Len Kasper emphasizes that if Cubs were still on WGN, NBC Sports Chicago or any other former outlet, would have still made decision. “I could not pass up the opportunity of a lifetime.”
— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) December 4, 2020
Kasper emphasizes again that “The Cubs and Marquee did everything they could” to keep him, but he wanted to live out a childhood dream by moving into a radio booth.
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) December 4, 2020
Len Kasper says Cubs came to him with an offer that “blew me away.” But it only “crystalized the decision” for him. It showed him what his priorities were. In this case, the priority was to chase that dream of moving to radio. And that opportunity existed with the White Sox.
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) December 4, 2020
Len: “If this had involved leaving Chicago, I wouldn’t have considered it.”
— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) December 4, 2020
We’ll always have questions about how this played out, given that Kasper was with Marquee for just one year, but we do have to at least partially credit Kasper’s own words, right? He’s saying, unequivocally, that he just wanted to jump at the opportunity to do a radio gig in Chicago. Is he keeping it classy? Yeah, that’s probably part of it. But clearly, a big part of it truly was the chance to do radio, which he’s always loved and has never done. With the Cubs being tied to legendary radio man Pat Hughes, maybe it was unclear if and when that opportunity would ever come with the Cubs.
Kenney and McCarthy’s comments confirmed that a search process will take place to find Kasper’s replacement. That’s good, given that this is a crummy situation, but also an opportunity to find a great new fit to engage Cubs fans. It’s important to remember that Kasper was not a household name when he got this job 16 years ago.
The comments:
Crane Kenney on PxP hire: “It needs to be someone who fits with our culture. And I mean the Cubs culture, not ownership culture. Because the Cubs culture is very special and as you know something we cherish. So we have a lot of work ahead of us.” https://t.co/ZD5yATkz4U
— Russell Dorsey (@Russ_Dorsey1) December 4, 2020
Listening to Mike McCarthy and Crane Kenney talk about it, they’re saying all the right things about doing a thorough search to replace Len Kasper. Both say big names have already been reaching out about the opening.
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) December 4, 2020
Marquee boss McCarthy on search for Kasper’s replacement and Chris Myers as candidate:
“We have made no decisions on anything to do with who would replace Len from Chris on down.”
— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) December 4, 2020
Mike McCarthy: “We have made no decisions on anything to do with who would replace Len.” He and Crane Kenney both talked about an outpouring of interest in the position since news of Kasper’s departure.
— Maddie Lee (@maddie_m_lee) December 4, 2020
