Cubs Fire Manager Dale Sveum After Two Years, Looking for 'Spark'

The Chicago Cubs fired manager Dale Sveum after just two seasons, ending a run that "produced more losses than any other in the team's cursed history," The Associated Press said.

The team ended at the bottom of the National League Central for the first time in seven years.

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Adding that the team needed “that spark of a winning culture,” Cubs president Theo Epstein said it wasn’t just the win-loss record that outed Sveum, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Working with young players, decisions made during the game, how the roster was used, and his creation of “a culture of accountability, hard work and preparation, and the ability to develop a strong trust with his players,” were issues, the Tribune said.

Sveum was interviewed outside Wrigley Field.

“I got the news and obviously was shocked, like anybody would be,” he said on a Tribune video clip. “We talked for a good hour. You come in and you get a job like this and you want to see it through, so you’re very disappointed you didn’t really get to get anything started.”

Epstein said the baseball club will begin talking with candidates immediately and planned to be done by November, the Tribune said.

Tribune columnist Steve Rosenbloom, who last week posted a YouTube video listing reasons why the Cubs should fire Sveum, went on YouTube to applaud Epstein’s decision.

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“Theo Epstein firing Dale Sveum is Epstein admitting a mistake; Theo Epstein not firing Dale Sveum would be a bigger mistake when you see the future dying in Wrigley field,” Rosenbloom said.

Social media tackled the news of Sveum’s firing rather matter-of-factly, since speculation he’d be let go had been circulating, and most were already moving on whether the Yankees’ Joe Girardi will be tapped to take his place.

Joe Girardi Receiving Attention for Cubs' Manager Job After Chicago Cuts Ties With Dale Sveum http://t.co/qAsKp2OMwE

— NESN (@NESN) September 30, 2013

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