The Cubs have played slightly better or at least with what seems like a little more heart under former third base coach and current interim manager Mike Quade, but going 9-6 isn't exactly turning things around is it? Ya, they swept the Washington Nationals...sorry Mike, no parade for that even though that was the Cubs first sweep since taking 3 straight from the lowly aforementioned AZ D-backs back in early July. Kind of came back to reality in losing 2 of 3 to Dusty's first place Reds. They bounced back to take 2 of 3 from the even more lowly Pirates and a sub .500 Mets. So color me not quite impressed. Even so, how would the season have turned out had Hendry had the guts to tell Lou to stay home during his first visit to see his ailing mother and stuck in Quade? I seriously doubt they could have overtaken the Reds for the division or contended for the Wild Card, but maybe they could have made it competitive instead of the total embarrassment this season has turned into.
Ricketts has come out saying that the team's payroll is certainly tied to attendance...well Tom, the attendance is certainly tied to the team's performance. Cub fans are stupid...no arguing that, but we aren't dumb. When the team quits on the season, that's when the attendance starts to drop. 4 of the 5 lowest attendance dates at Wrigley this season have come in the last 10 days. And the numbers reported are tickets sold, NOT butts in the seats because I can tell you the attendance numbers announced on game day are WAY higher than the actual number of people in the ballpark. Well, Ricketts still gets that ticket revenue right so what does he care? Well, if your butt isn't in a seat at the ballpark, you can't spend a ridiculous amount of money on the food including Ricketts' own bison dogs. THAT is where he is now feeling it in the pocketbook.
So while I was shocked he didn't fire everyone after a disappointing 2009 season ended with no playoffs, I just figured he's the new guy and wants to get his feet wet and see what's going on rather than just come in and clean house. I didn't agree with that philosophy as he was supposedly involved with the team prior to finalizing the purchase deal this past off-season and should have known this was coming like most of the rest of us. But after Lou announced he was retiring at the end of the season (didn't quite make it) and the team just tanked I thought that heads were definitely going to roll now. Nope, business as usual for the Cubs. Ricketts came out and said Hendry was the GM going in 2011 and there was no word at all on Cubs team president (who?) Crane Kenney (former Trib guy remained team president following purchase). I have NO CLUE what this guy even does, but I know as team president of a major market MLB team, he must be compensated pretty well (he's a lawyer you know).
WHY keep these two guys? They've had 9 years to break the curse and bring a World Series to the north side. Instead we got to watch the Red Sox break the "curse of the Bambino" ending their 86-year World Series drought and the White Sox celebrate on the south side following their 88-year drought during that time frame and still nothing with an absolutely mind-boggling 102-year drought...and now the team is in reverse at full steam with about $120 million in contracts for 2011 and no starting pitching (how's Dempster look as a #1 or even a #2 right now having given up 14 runs in his last 7 2/3 innings?) and no bullpen or 1st baseman (and WHY didn't they try Colvin at 1B knowing they still have 3 highly paid outfielders for 2011?). Zambrano seems to have figured some things out...where was the anger management last year when he was taking out Gatorade machines left and right? Was it Lou or Hendry that made the fateful decision to can the season back in April by sending Z to the bullpen? If it was Lou, Hendry should have put a stop to it - how in the world can you put an $18 million pitcher into the pen as a middle reliever after only 4 mediocre starts? Anyway, NOW is the time to dump them both. Why allow Hendry to make the ultra important new manager hire now? He had his chance and blew it TWICE with Baker and Piniella. Of course, I think the bigger mistake of the two was hiring an aging and nearly retired Lou ahead of the up and coming Joe Girardi back in 2007. How might things be different right now if Joe were leading the team in 2007 or 2008? If things go south with the roster (and it's hard not to think that right now), are you then going to fire the GM and put someone else in place who may want to bring in his own manager? Is that really going to be cheaper than cutting Hendry loose now, bringing in a new GM and letting that person hire HIS guy as manager to start with?
I'll reiterate what I said in late July...NOBODY has spent more money for less playoff wins in the last 7 years - total Cubs payroll from 2004-2010 was $769,201,597 for an average of nearly $110 million per season and ZERO playoff wins. What else is there to know really? The Cardinals fired their longtime GM Walt Jocketty following the Cards' 3rd place finish in 2007. What did they do in 2006? They won the friggin' World Series!!! That was their 2nd World Series appearance in 3 years and when they finished 3rd in the NL Central (the Cubs are friggin' 5th right now!) just a year removed from winning the World Series, they fired their GM! See Tom, good organizations don't tolerate losing...don't you want to have a good organization? So where is Walt Jocketty now? He was out of work for about 3 months before being scooped up by the Cincinnati Reds. He started as a consultant in January 2008 and was then hired as GM in April 2008. Just a quick refresher...the Reds are now in 1st place in the NL Central 6 games ahead of the Cardinals and 19 1/2 games up on our 5th place Cubs. The FIRST PLACE Reds payroll is less than HALF the Cubs payroll too!
What is it going to take to get this guy out of here Tom? If you want to change the culture of these no longer lovable losers, it starts from the top. Well, you bought the club so that's the very top; Lou retired so that's near the top...it is time to get rid of the guys between you and Lou...that's Hendry and Kenney.
Bring in a fresh perspective and let's win a World Series before I die and before you die too!
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