Chicago ? The Cubs fired manager Don Baylor on Friday and promoted Bruce Kimm from Triple-A Iowa as interim manager, team spokesman Jesse Navarro said.

Also, assistant general manager Jim Hendry is being promoted to general manager.

The team planned a news conference in Atlanta at 5 p.m. EDT to discuss the moves, Navarro said.

The Cubs lost to the Braves 5-1 Thursday to fall to 34-49, 12 games out of first place in the NL Central.

Reached at the team’s hotel in Atlanta, Cubs spokesman Chuck Wasserstrom said the decision to fire Baylor was made Friday morning, and Baylor was told a short time later.

Wasserstrom said Kimm would join the team Saturday, and a manager for Friday night’s game against the Braves had yet to be determined.

Hendry and Cubs president Andy MacPhail would address reporters at the news conference, Wasserstrom said.

Before Chicago’s loss Thursday night, Baylor sat by himself in his clubhouse office and readily admitted he didn’t have a relationship with any of his players.

He also bemoaned the fact that no one stood up for him last year when he forced pitching coach Oscar Acosta to resign.

Baylor’s job had been the subject of intense speculation recently in Chicago. The team had been expected to contend for a pennant, but many of its veteran players are having a poor season.

Baylor didn’t survive his third year as manager after the Cubs staggered out of spring training and played listless baseball.

By adding Moises Alou to bat behind Sammy Sosa and Fred McGriff, the Cubs believed they had strengthened their offense and created one of the most potent lineups in the NL.

McGriff and Alou struggled, and the Cubs had trouble scoring runs.

Pitcher Kerry Wood blasted his teammates early in the season, saying they were flat and playing as if they were 15 games under .500 in August. Baylor followed Wood’s comments with a closed-door team meeting, airing out the frustrations stemming from the lethargic play.

Chicago won 88 games in 2001 and led the NL Central most of the way until the final month. Houston and St. Louis tied for the division title with records of 93-69. The Astros won the division, the Cardinals got the wild card.

Baylor had a run-in with Sosa during his first season when the Cubs won just 65 games, but the two patched up their differences.

At the end of last year, Baylor infuriated his pitching staff when Acosta was forced to resign because of a personality conflict with the manager.

Opinionated and honest, Baylor couldn’t provide the spark that the so-called “Lovable Losers” needed.

Baylor, the 1979 American League MVP, holds the major league record for number of times being hit by a pitch – 267.

Baylor was with the Boston Red Sox in 1986, the Minnesota Twins in 1987 and the Oakland A’s in 1988. All three teams made the World Series.

After a stint as a hitting coach with the Brewers and Cardinals, Baylor became manager of the expansion Colorado Rockies in 1993.

When the Rockies went 77-67 two years later and made the postseason as a wild card, Baylor was named manager of the year.

Baylor’s relationship with Rockies GM Bob Gebhard deteriorated and after a 77-85 season in 1998, Baylor was fired in Denver.

He went to Atlanta as hitting coach the following season.

And after the Cubs fired Jim Riggleman, MacPhail selected Baylor to try to do something that few have been able to over the years – make the Cubs winners.

The Cubs haven’t won a World Series since 1908 and haven’t reached the Series since 1945. Chicago hasn’t had consecutive winning seasons in 30 years.

Ed Lynch was forced out as GM during the 2000 season and MacPhail, the CEO, took over that job. The promotion of Hendry ends that dual role for MacPhail.

The Cubs jettisoned veterans Eric Young, Ricky Gutierrez and Michael Tucker from the 2001 team, but this year’s team never duplicated the chemistry that had made the team a playoff contender.