Hendry, Girardi Eat Six Meals Together; Girardi Gets One

CHICAGO--Cubs general manager Jim Hendry and former Cubs player and former Marlins manager Joe Girardi sat down on Monday and discussed the managerial opening of the Chicago Cubs.

Hendry and Girardi met over lunch on Monday. At Hendry's request, the two also met for afterlunch, lunch at two, pre-supper, supper, dinner, afterdinner, and snacktime.

A bloated Hendry said, “I’d say we had a solid meal. I enjoyed my food with him. I also had a lot of carbohydrates for him when he was here as a player. We ate a lot of meatballs. He’s a hungry guy.”


Hendry and Girardi get together over what Hendry called "A light lunch."

Between Tums, Girardi said that the meeting went well. "There were a few times I was a little nervous," Girardi said. When asked if Girardi was nervous about the meeting, he said, "Oh, no. I know my baseball, and I know I can help this team. I was nervous because there were a few times that my hands got really close to Jim's plates."

Girardi has been wooed by the Washington Nationals, who are searching for a manager after releasing Frank Robinson. Girardi spoke with the Nationals last week, but was not as well-fed as he was with Hendry.

"The Nationals were very interested in having me come aboard. They asked me about what I would do to make the team successful. You know. Things like that. Jim and I talked more about whether I like ham on my steak and whether I have ever gotten a sore throat from eating too fast. It was different."

Hendry made the announcement after the Cubs declined to resign former manager Dusty Baker that he would take some time to "digest" before making a decision on the new manager. The meeting with Girardi is expected to delay Hendry's decision making process until baseball's winter meetings at the earliest.