Yesterday was a busy day at the corner of Clark and Addison, as three different news stories broke about the Chicago Cubs.

1) Word broke early in the day yesterday that the Cubs are set to name Rick (formerly Rich) Renteria as their new manager today.  Renteria most recently was the bench coach for the Padres.  The hope is that he will be able to better communicate with the rising Latin American prospects because he is bi-lingual.

I’m not sure what to make of this hire. It seems foolish to hang a hiring decision solely on what languages a guy can speak, but hopefully Renteria brings a little more to the table than that.

2) The Cubs notified WGN that they are opting out of their current television deal following the 2014 season.  The station has 30 days to agree to a higher rights payment determined by a third party consultant hired by both WGN and the Cubs.  If they do not, the Cubs are able to take the 70 game package to the open market.

There doesn’t seem to be much of an option on free TV other than the current setup, and their deal with Comcast Sports Net prohibits them from going to another cable channel, so the odds are that they re-up, at least until 2019.  At that point, the CSN deal will also be up and the Cubs can start looking at creating their own network similar to NESN or YES.

3) As if that wasn’t enough, word broke yesterday afternoon that Keith Moreland, who took over the color analyst spot on WGN following the death of Ron Santo, would not be returning for a fourth season.  In a statement released by WGN, Moreland said that he wishes to spend more time back home in Texas.

I must admit that I have not listened to a lot of Cubs baseball these past few years, but Moreland seemed like he was doing a good job, certainly a more competent one than his predecessor.  Reaction to this news on the Interwebs, however, would indicate that Cub fandom was not enamored with his work and are happy to see him go.