What is going on here?

I thought the Cubs new owner Tom Ricketts was supposed to be a real Cub fan. If so, WHAT in the world is he doing? Even if he isn't a fan of the Cubs like the rest of us, WHAT in the world is he doing? With the 3rd highest payroll in all of baseball only behind the Evil Empire NY Yankees and their arch rival Boston Red Sox leaving the Cubs with the highest payroll in the National League, how do you tolerate the 3rd worst record in the NL ahead of only the dismal Pirates and their MLB lowest payroll less than 1/4 that of the Cubs and the Arizona Diamondbacks who are far less than 1/2 the Cubs payroll? Oh, maybe because there are multiple people responsible for that dismal failure and its hard to put the blame on just one person...NOPE...one guy put this team together from top to bottom and that is Cubs 9-year GM Jim Hendry. He hired the manager (his second managerial hire in those 9 years), he signed all these guys to way over-priced and way over-extended contracts, and he traded/gave away some key personnel from the 97-win team from 2008 (DeRosa and Wood were replaced by Aaron Miles and Kevin Gregg). Hard to believe that was just 2 years ago, isn't it?

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!

WOW - Are They Bad!

The Cubbies suffered yet another 1-run loss - this time 1-0 in just another pathetic offensive display.  That makes them a staggering 14-30 in 1-run games...that's just insane!  The opposing Padres scored the lone run of the game on yet another questionable defensive play and I'm not even talking about the two errors the MLB's worst defensive team made tonight. With the bases loaded and one out, a grounder was hit to Xavier Nady who double-clutched and ended up feeding Randy Wells to get a force out at first allowing the only run of the game to score.  OK - so you're probably thinking, well, one run isn't going to win this game and while you'd be wrong in this case, that certainly isn't all that strange as you definitely want to be sure not to give up a big inning at that point of the game.  BUT, my problem is more with the total indecision by Nady...he didn't seem to know whether he wanted to go home, try to turn a DP, or take the play himself at 1st base. What exactly do these guys practice? The defense has been, well, indefensible ALL season long so what are the Cubs doing about it? Just like with everything else, they just stand pat and do nothing! Have they fired a single coach? Hired anyone else to help out with the D? Nope! They just stand by and watch as this season that started with such promise with a new owner (one of us;.an actual Cub fan!) continues to simply unravel right before our eyes.

The Cubs remain on pace to surpass 3 million idiots fans (myself included several times - splitting partial season tickets) passing through the turnstiles at the quite friendly (at least to the out-of-town visiting teams) confines - the Cubs are now 27-34 at home this season. Add that to their even worse 23-36 road record and they are now incredibly 20 games under .500 at 50-70. There are only 5 teams in the entire MLB that have worse records and Cleveland is just 1/2 game behind the Cubs. I mean, we're talking about perennial doormats that don't spend any money like the Orioles and Pirates, but the Cubs' record is even worse than other doormats like the Nats and Royals this year so they've really outdone themselves this time and with no key injuries to blame like they did last year with Aramis missing significant time. Nope, this year is all about underachieving despite what Lou is saying about the rookies being given the "opportunity of a lifetime" and "none of them want to step up". I know he is really calling out his GM for the lousy pitching staff he was given to manage this year, but really...this is the way to handle that...by calling out some kids that shouldn't be here anyway? What a total JERK!

It isn't even that the Cubs stink or the way they are losing some of these games (although they have been quite imaginative in that arena) that bothers me most of all...it's actually the way the organization (and I use that term very loosely as organized they are not!) is handling it. They're in the midst of going 4-15 over their last 19 games and what do they do? They serve caviar for the pregame meal just because they took 2-of-3 from the hated Cardinals. Now I'm always happy to beat the Cardinals, but caviar?!? Are you serious?!? What's next - $1000 bonuses for taking a walk? I guess we know where at least some of the revenue from the highest ticket prices in MLB are going, huh?

Again, no firings at all of any of the management! They sent Aramis down to Iowa for a few days with his "injury" (otherwise known as horrific slump) and they sent Zambrano to anger management...but what about the knuckleheads supposedly in charge of this mess? Managers are getting fired left and right; GMs too! How low do the Cubs have to go before ANYONE gets fired? I harp on this a lot and I'm sorry, but I just don't get it...how does a guy spending $145 million for a team in 5th place 20 games below .500 NOT get fired? What about the manager? Lou was asked today after his guys went 0-for-7 with RISP if they were a little anxious...picture the typical Lou grimace and then "Hmmm...I don't know...maybe". Were you there watching the game Lou? Jon Garland is just like Ryan Dempster...a lot of soft stuff and hardly any real strikes...he counts on the hitters' impatience to swing at the change-up or slider in the dirt to get guys out...he did that to perfection against a terrible team struggling to do anything right. You would think the prized pitching coach Rudy Jamarillo would whisper into someone's ear in the dugout - "hey, let's take a couple pitches in your next AB and see how that works". Nope - guys were up there free swinging like usual all the way to the end. Garland's line says 7 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs, 3 Ks, and 3 BBs on only 91 pitches. That's a line Dempster would be very proud of...too bad Garland was in the other dugout tonight.

Not that the guy on the mound for the Cubs was the problem tonight.  His line was very similar - 7 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 6 Ks, 3 BBs but on 122 pitches. How does one guy need 30 more pitches to allow 3 fewer hits with the same number of walks? Patience...working the count...oh ya, and 3 DPs (the Cubs turned one). Had Nady been more decisive (heck, I tell my 8-year olds on my daughter's team to "know what you're going to do with the ball if it is hit to you") back in the first inning, it could have been a DP and extra innings in a scoreless tie. The defense continues to hurt the Cubs!

Let's get back to the rookies and this supposed awesome pitching coach the Cubs have had seemingly forever. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it seems that when rookies come in, they seem to start like gangbusters and then start to fall-off the longer they're here. Is that the Cubs pitching coach? That is, the longer he works with these kids, the worse they get? Just for another example, lets look at Jeff Samardzija...he was nearly lights out when he first came up:
2008 - 26 games, 2.28 ERA (debut on 7/25/08)
2009 - 20 games, 7.53 ERA (first game 4/23/09)
2010 - 4 games, 18.90 ERA (first game 4/5/10) but 10-2 for AAA Iowa Cubs

Message to Tom Ricketts:

IT IS TIME TO START OVER! 

Lou Piniella is gone (he can go at any time as far as I'm concerned), Larry Rothschild, Jim Hendry and Crane Kenney MUST be next. Feel free to start wielding the ax anytime!