Joe Girardi would be happy to sit down and talk with the Cubs.
"When you look at managing in Major League Baseball, there are only so many jobs," Girardi said on the Mully & Haugh Show on 670 The Score on Wednesday morning. "So obviously anything that comes across your desk, you're going to be interested in. You can't just go to another city and say, 'I'm going to be an orthopedic surgeon here.' You can't do anything like that. So there's 30 jobs. There's obviously 10 teams in the playoffs, so those jobs probably aren't open. You start to look at the other job available, and obviously I have a lot of ties to Chicago. Any job out there is going to interest me, because I would like to manage again."
Girardi, 54, managed the Marlins in 2006 and then the Yankees from 2008-'17, leading them to a World Series title in 2009. His managerial record is 988-794 (.554). He currently works as an analyst, including for Radio.com Sports.
Girardi is a Peoria native whom the Cubs drafted out of Northwestern in the fifth round of the amateur draft in 1986. He played for the Cubs in seven of his 15 seasons as a big league catcher.
Girardi was a candidate in the Cubs' managerial searches after the 2006 and 2013 seasons ended. When asked directly if he has an interview scheduled with the Cubs, Girardi on Wednesday declined to answer.
"I've made it known that I would like to manage again, so you kind of wait and see what happens in this process," Girardi said. "There's a lot of jobs open (six), more than I remember in the past and there could be some more. So we'll see what happens."
The Cubs, Padres, Angels, Royals, Pirates and Giants currently have managerial openings.
Girardi was careful in some of his comments but did praise the Cubs' roster.
"There are a lot of pieces in place there," Girardi said. "And that's always a good thing. And they talk about retooling, and I think the Cubs in a lot of ways have the ability to do that. Some markets don't have the ability to do that, but the Cubs have the ability to do that. I think they'll be clever in the things that they do. They'll look for every piece that fits their roster better than a piece now and do whatever they can."