Dale Sveum First Dealing

When Dale Sveum got his first dealing with job with the Altoona Challenge, the Double-A internet marketer of the Pittsburgh Angry, he was in his later 30s, just many years into pension from enjoying in the majors.

He used most of his time utilizing the players, one former person have been, but in his third period, he stored a left-handed pitcher’s job.

“ 'Sveumer' offered me to be able to develop it to the majors,” Bob Grabow said in a cellphone discussion Friday. “I was a beginning in Double-A, just treading water, when he came to deal with. He said I’d have a better potential for getting to the big leagues as a crusher. I was in the big leagues at the end of that period, and I’ve been in the big leagues ever since. If he never would have transferred me to the bullpen, who knows where I’d be.”

That was in 2003. Grabow begun 10 activities in Sveum’s first period as Challenge supervisor in 2001, and 27 in 2002, when he went 8-13 with a 5.47 ERA. He created the move to crusher in 2003, and frequency for the Angry at the end of period. He’s generated almost $13 thousand since as a crusher.

Grabow, of course, is the only person, so far, to toss for Lou Piniella, Robert Quade and Sveum. He believes it’s your best option and that Sveum’s individuality should fit with what the Canines need after a 71-91 period.

“You don’t need to be a cheerleader or a rah-rah guy,” he said. “But you have to show some type of emotion.”

As for Sveum’s predecessors, Grabow liked Piniella and has mixed feelings on Quade.

“With Lou, he communicated with the players, which sometimes wasn’t always good,” Grabow said. “But if you played well, he came up and told you so. He patted you on the back and said keep up the good work. If you had a rough patch, he stuck with you. He managed with his gut.

“Quade managed by the book,” he said. “Some players didn’t always agree with it. Quade didn’t communicate with the players a lot and players respond to that.”

Quade’s managing wasn’t why the Cubs dug themselves in a big hole, Grabow said. That was the fault of early injuries to the pitching staff and the slow start for the hitters. But it was clear that no one in the clubhouse was fighting for Quade to stay after so many guys vouched for him in 2010.

Conversely, Grabow believes Sveum will be the kind of manager who truly gets to know his players, and earns their respect. A personal touch means more than outsiders think.

“The biggest thing you’ve got to know is how to manage personalities,” Grabow said. “There are so many different personalities you need to interact with. In the big leagues, managers know how to manage games.

"That’s why they’re qualified for the job. But managing players and how players respond to you is a big deal."

For example: Telling a starting pitcher he has to go to the bullpen can be a tricky thing, but Grabow remembers Sveum handling it perfectly.

“When he told me to go the bullpen, he said, ‘Don’t look it as a demotion,’ ” Grabow said. “That’s a quality right there. He said, ‘Don’t hang your head on this. You’ll get to big leagues quicker.’ ”

Grabow is a free agent and unlikely to return to the Cubs. He said he “wishes things would’ve been better in Chicago” after Jim Hendry traded for him during the 2009 season.

“I never seemed to get on track right,” he said.

As for the Cubs, he said he’s familiar with the culture change philosophy. He did pitch for Pittsburgh, after all.

“When I was with Pittsburgh we always talked about a change of culture,” he said. “The guys on the team have the right mentality. Sometimes you have some distractions that bring the team down. If some of those distractions are not there, they might play a little better.”