The Chicago Cubs are still looking for a replacement for color commentator Bob Brenly, who left the club last month to take the same job with the Diamondbacks. However, things are coming into focus for the club, and there are reportedly five finalists to replace Brenly: Dan Plesac, Rick Sutcliffe, Eric Karros, Todd Hollandsworth, and Gary Matthews.
Plesac and Sutcliffe are the two highest profile of the five candidates, but both have national contracts that could prevent them from taking the job. Plesac recently signed an extension with MLB Network, where he does a lot of studio work, particularly on MLB Tonight. Sutcliffe still has one year left on his contract with ESPN. I'm not sure either would be a great fit at this point in time for the Cubs, despite their passion for the franchise, due to the fact that it would be taking a step back on the national scale, although many Cubs games appear nationally on WGN. As for Matthews, he's a guy that the club should probably shy away from. He's simply not a very good broadcaster, and while he is a former Cubs player and coach, that should be a secondary factor to his actual ability at performing the job the team is hiring for.
That leaves the team with a pair of former Cubs in Karros and Hollandsworth, neither of whom light the world on fire with their commentary. At the same time, neither is actively awful at their jobs like Matthews. Karros is currently working for Fox alongside Thom Brennaman, and is reportedly not blocked from taking the Cubs job by his contract. The Cubs actually put feelers out to him after Ron Santo passed away two years ago to take Santo's place on Cubs radio broadcasts, but he wasn't interested at the time. With an opening in the TV booth, Karros could find that more to his liking.
Finally, there's Hollandsworth, currently serving as an analyst for CSN Chicago on the pre and post-game shows. He's the obvious in-house option that needs to be considered, and I think he's the favorite based solely on that factor. The Cubs could do a lot worse than him, and if they're looking to save money, he'd probably come the cheapest out of the whole bunch. I'm not saying money is a huge factor in these negotiations for the Cubs, WGN, and Comcast, but it's still on the board. Bruce Levine of ESPN Chicago says there's no timetable for a decision and Plesac and Karros are scheduled to interview for the job. With that in mind, Hollandsworth would essentially be the most straight-forward out for the Cubs, and I think the odds are in favor of either him or Karros getting the job.
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