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!

Good Bye Granpda Lou!

Here I am again for the second straight post saying good bye to another Cub...this time Manager Lou Piniella after he announced his sudden retirement today. Arguably, he's been retired since last July when he gave up on a winnable division, but as of August 22, 2010, it is now official...Grandpa Lou is GONE!

There was a lot of irony or coincidences or as Lou called them, Cubby occurrences with today's festivities. Today was the day the Cubs chose to honor Braves manager Bobby Cox who is making his final appearance as a manager here at Wrigley Field (completely official now with the Cubs NOWHERE near the playoff picture). I don't know when the Cubs announced the fact they would honor Cox (is it weird that an opposing team would be honoring him while still managing against them?), but my guess is that it was quite some time ago when the Cubs had not yet been eliminated from the playoffs (actually, they still probably haven't been officially eliminated). Anyway, so the Cubs chose to honor the opposing team manager on a day when their own manager announced his own retirement due to personal reasons related to his mom's health. Many people, myself included were wondering why Lou didn't just stay down in Florida with his sick mother a couple weeks ago when he took some time off to be with her...why want a couple weeks and hang on watching (OK, maybe managing...) this lousy team? The GM is dumping his players left and right and he's "stuck" with all these rookies, so why come back? He had the perfect excuse with the sick mother...stay home and be done with this!

In a bit of pathetic irony, the Cubs lost today's game (I was there unfortunately) 16-5 to the Braves which gives Lou bookend losses to the same team by the same score to start and end his final season as manager. Some similarities between the two games were LONG bombs hit by Braves rookie Jason Heyward although he actually hit two dead into a 15-20 mph wind today. Heyward also had 4 RBIs in both games. One big difference was the Cubs' starting pitching...in the Opener, former #1 starter Carlos Zambrano gave up 8 ER in 1 1/3 innings while today it was primarily the bullpen giving up the runs (although Wells was charged with the first 2 runs as he started the 7th) as the Braves scored 11 runs in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. Did Lou really come back to manage a bullpen with guys like Justin Berg, James Russell, Tommy Diamond, and Marcus Mateo? Diamond was the diamond in the rough today only allowing 1 run but at least it was unearned. Berg was the victim of some more HORRIFIC Cubs' defense although somehow all 5 of the runs he gave up were deemed earned. Actually, he was on the mound or responsible for 8 total runs as he inherited bases loaded and allowed all three to score on THE worst defensive play of the season (and that's saying a LOT with this lousy team - more on this later). Mateo finished it off with 2 more runs in the 9th raising his ERA to 11.37. Lou came back to manage these guys?!?

The Braves have seemingly been inspired by knowing this is Bobby Cox' last season as they've pretty much come from nowhere (literally NOBODY picked them to finish higher than 3rd in the NL East) to lead their division right now. I don't think they'll have enough juice to hold onto their current 2 1/2 game lead with the Phillies getting healthy and surging up from behind them. Their big key is their ridiculous 44-17 record at home which leads the entire MLB. The Cubs were in the same boat this year with their manager almost certainly retiring at season's end and look what they've done - today's loss leaves them 21 1/2 games behind the Reds in the NL Central. Want some more irony? How about the fact that the first place Reds are managed by Dusty Baker? The Reds payroll is just a little more than half that of the Cubs. Irony can be so ironic...

Much of the ridiculously large crowd (announced at over 37,000 although take it from someone that was there, NO WAY - lots of no-shows!) seemed to be cheering Lou each time he came out of the dugout to make pitching changes including a fairly surprising double-switch in the 7th. I have to say I was NOT one of the idiots people cheering for Grandpa Lou. WHY would anyone cheer for this guy? His trip to Chicago was a complete and utter failure! I know he said he feels like he raised the bar, but WRONG again Lou...the bar was already raised when you arrived big guy. I know he recently came out and said he didn't really understand what he was getting himself into when he was brought in to manage the Cubs to a World Series win. What did we get instead? We did get a surprise visit to the playoffs in Lou's first year which ended quite unceremoniously with a 3-0 sweep against the D-backs in the first round of the playoffs...not to worry...we weren't even supposed to be in the playoffs in 2007. In 2008, Lou led the Cubs to the best record in the NL with 97 wins..NICE...but another 3-0 sweep ended that season much more abruptly and Lou's managing had a LOT to do with that sweep. How does Fukudome start game 1? How does Ted Lilly (a.k.a. Bulldog for his tenaciousness) NOT get a start in that series? How does Z get a start? Other than what proved to be a total fluke with a no-hitter on 9/14, Z had given up 5, 8, 3, 6, 5, and 9 runs in 6 of his final 8 starts heading into the playoffs...not exactly the run you were hoping for although he kept it "going" by giving up 7 to the Dodgers in game 2. Harden pitched well in LA, but no O finished off the Cubs. The team played very tight - Dempster walked 7 in less than 5 innings in game 1, the 4 errors by the entire infield in game 2, and 0 RBIs by their 3-4 hitters in Lee and Ramirez. Unfortunately, the 97 wins in 2008 was Lou's best "moment" as Cubs manager as he couldn't even helped the Cubs earn a single playoff game win, let alone series win or World Series ring. Lou's record as Cubs manager finished up at 316-292 which is above .500, but we were past that point weren't we? I thought so, but apparently Grandpa Lou didn't.

So now, the dreaded interim manager tag goes to Mike Quade. He has never managed in the bigs before, but he did manage well over 2000 games in the minors including 4 seasons at AAA Iowa. What happened to Alan Trammell? Hendry said he "made a decision in the process moving forward that Alan would not be considered for the managerial job after this year." Yikes! As I have mentioned before, NOBODY else "gets it" and it will take an ex-Cub to get this thing turned around. That leaves just Joe Girardi and Ryne Sandberg as I'm not aware of any other ex-Cub candidates. Bob Brenley won a World Series with the D-backs a few years ago and he would seem to know what he was getting himself into having been the Cubs television broadcaster for the last several years. I like what he has to say on TV and maybe out of any of the other candidates, he might actually "get it" so I'd throw him in there as the #3 candidate. As I've also said before, we've gone the "experienced" route with the last two disappointments...Girardi has some experience including a World Series ring as a manager and 3 more as a player ('96, '98, and '99 Yankees). He won the manager of the year award in 2006 while managing basically an entire minor league Florida Marlins team to a near .500 record and is now in his 3rd year as Yankees manager so he has proven he can coach young kids AND also handle big name, big money guys too...sounds PERFECT as that's just what the Cubs will have next year.

So the hope for me starts with Tom Ricketts firing EVERYONE ($145 million payroll is on pace for 96 losses and STILL nobody has been fired!) including Crane Kenney, Jim Hendry, and ALL the coaches. Then I hope the Yankees hold on to win the toughest division in baseball but fail to win the AL pennant again...then the Yankees don't renew Girardi's contract and the Cubs jump on that opportunity...he brings in Ryno, Mark Grace, and Greg Maddux to help him take this fairly young (all of a sudden!) team to the "promised land". Grace and Sandberg should certainly be able to work with this HORRIBLE defense (do you think Grace could help Colvin become a pretty good 1B?). Do you think Maddux could show Marmol how to throw strikes? What about teaching Samardzija a second or third pitch? What about Zambrano? The Cubs have him for at least 2 more seasons so lets try to make the best of a poor situation and it definitely starts with the coaching and atmosphere in the clubhouse.


What a TOTAL DEBACLE today at the "friendly confines"! Did it get off on the wrong foot by honoring a manager whose team has pretty much tormented the Cubs during his 25 years as Braves manager? Maybe...shouldn't knowing today's game was officially the end of Lou's tenure have made up for that though? If it did, it certainly wasn't obvious...Cubs starter Randy Wells gave up a lead-off HR to Omar Infante who would touch 'em all twice for his 5th and 6th bombs of the season (i.e. not exactly a power hitter folks). Wells was charged with 7 runs, but didn't get a lot of help. His defense was atrocious and the relievers did little to relieve anything as I mentioned above. I haven't seen worse 3B play than Aramis displayed since attending an Iowa Cubs game last summer and watched Bobby Scales look more like a matador than a 3B. Aramis was only issued with 1 error on a terrible throw on an easy DP ball right to him where he stepped on 3rd and threw a one-hopper to Xavier Nady at 1B. Another hard hit ground ball that went right at him was called a hit (nice for Aramis; not so nice for the pitching staff) but helped lead to 4 runs in the 7th for the Braves which broke open a 5-3 game. He also played matador when his old buddy D-Lee hit a ball to his right that he failed to get a glove on for a bases clearing 3-run double (Lee's first RBIs and first "hit" as a Brave). I mentioned above that the Cubs made the worst defensive play of the year in the 7th inning. With the bases loaded, Alex Gonzalez hit a flare to short LF...Cubs rookie 20-year old SS Starlin Castro broke back to the ball immediately while Cubs veteran LF Alfonso Soriano must not have because Castro beat him to the spot but neither player got a glove on the ball...it was a flare so it didn't go far, but Soriano overran the ball so Castro had to retrieve the ball...no communication at all on the infield as Gonzalez was frozen between 1st and 2nd while the runner from 1st rounded 3rd...Castro didn't know what to do with the ball and the hesitation cost the Cubs a run that even the scoreboard operator didn't get for a few minutes...they did get Gonzalez out for the 3rd out of the inning, but the runner from 1st scored before they got the out so that run scored too. So for those of you scoring at home...that's a 3-run single with no error!

So GOOD BYE AND GOOD RIDDANCE GRANDPA LOU! I for one will NOT miss you AT ALL. Enjoy your retirement...now you can wear your 1977 Yankees World Series ring all you want!

Good Bye D-Lee

If you have followed my blog, particularly last year, you know that D-Lee was the subject of my ire much of last season; he was a distant #2 to Jim Hendry for putting this mess together in the first place. Well, today I got my wish even if it happened a year late...the Cubs officially traded D-Lee. Surprisingly, they actually received 3 minor leaguers from the Braves in return including their 16th ranked player. With only 40 games left in the season, his last one of his big 5-year contract, it certainly works better that they actually received compensation beyond the the dreaded "bag of balls".

I'm a little concerned with the "cash considerations" phrase I keep hearing and reading tonight as I just don't understand that concept...it's not like the Braves are doing this huge favor, is it? Same thing with the Dodgers and Ted Lilly (now 3-0 with 1.89 ERA for them)...WHY are the Cubs paying ANY of the money owed to these traded players? Apparently, it's part of "the game" I guess as it seems to happen every time one of these trades happen so I know I shouldn't be surprised.

Here's a quick little history of D-Lee with the Cubs:

• D-Lee made himself right at home here in the NLCS while on his way to winning the World Series with his former team - the Florida Marlins
• D-Lee was "stolen" from the Marlins in an off-season salary dump trade to the Cubs for Hee-Seop Choi and a minor leaguer before the 2004 season
• With the addition of D-Lee and Greg Maddux, the Cubs were the overall favorites to win the World Series - didn't even make the playoffs as the folded down the stretch
• 2003-04 was the first time the Cubs finished about .500 in consecutive seasons since 1972 which was the 6th straight season they finished above .500
• D-Lee's numbers in 2004 were nearly identical to his 2003 Marlins number, with the exception of post-season numbers obviously
• The Cubs finished with a better record than 2003, but finished 3rd in the NL Central and watched the Red Sox break the Curse of the Bambino while winning their first World Series in 86 years
• Cubs non-World Series streak reaches 96 years
• D-Lee had a HUGE year winning his only batting title to date, nearly winning the MVP (finished 3rd behind Pujols who won and Andruw Jones who finished 2nd), making his first All-Star Game, winning his second Gold Glove and earning his only Silver Slugger (tough to beat out Albert Pujols)
• The Cubs were not very good finishing 4 games under .500 leaving them in 4th place while watching their cross-town rivals break their streak by winning their first World Series in 88 years
• Cubs non-World Series streak reaches 97 years
• D-Lee broke his wrist on a freak play when Rafael Furcal (who the Cubs very nearly signed that off-season) crashed into Lee near 1st base
• Lee played a career low 50 games which "helped" push the Cubs to 96 losses and led to Dusty Baker being fired
• Lou Piniella was hired to replace Dusty Baker (should have hired Joe Girardi who was unceremoniously fired by the Florida Marlins even though he won the Manager of the Year)
• D-Lee came back from the freak wrist injury but was not quite the same player at least from a power standpoint dropping from 46 HRs and 107 RBIs in 2005 to 22 HRs and 82 RBIs in 2007
• Cubs turned it around in Lou's first season winning the NL Central just as they did for Dusty in 2003
• This time, no "magic" in the post-season for the Cubs getting swept by the Dodgers in the NLDS
• D-Lee hit .333 in the series but had zero RBIs
• Cubs non-World Series streak reaches 99 years
• D-Lee nearly duplicated 2007 regular season numbers in 2008
• Cubs won 97 games earning the #1 seed in the NL for the playoffs
• This was the first time since 1908 that the Cubs made the post-season two seasons in a row
• Cubs were again swept by the Dodgers in the NLDS
• D-Lee his .545 in the series but again had zero RBIs
• Of course, this was the dreaded 100-year anniversary of when the Cubs last won the World Series
• D-Lee was about the only bright spot from last year's 2009 Cubs team finishing with a career high 111 RBIs while hitting 35 HRs and batting .306
• The Cubs did finish above .500 for the third straight season, but finished 2nd in the NL Central and missed the playoffs
• 101 years and counting for the Cubs last World Series title
• D-Lee REALLY struggled during this 2010 season from start to "finish"; combining with Aramis Ramirez' career worst year completely doomed the Cubs
• D-Lee finished his nearly 7-year run with the Cubs hitting .251 which was his worst since 1999
• Before hitting 4 HRs against the Cards last weekend (very timely as far as this trade happening), he was sitting on 12 HRs for the year having hit only 2 in the previous 8 weeks
• Of course in "typical" D-Lee fashion, all 4 HRs this past weekend were solo shots
• Actually, 10 of his 16 HRs this year were solo leading to a pathetic RBI total of 56 through 120 games

During his exit press conference, he said his "experience was nothing but positive" referring to his nearly 7 years in Chicago and that he "grew as a player, grew as a person" but he "didn't achieve the ultimate goal". D-Lee was a very respected player and considered a clubhouse leader...in that sense, he will certainly be missed. His anti-clutchness will not be missed...at least not by me. I don't know a way to figure out how to come up with the following stat, but I'd like to see where he falls in regard to RBIs per HR...his career 162-game average is 90 RBIs and 28 HR. While 28 HRs is a very respectable total (no, he is definitely NOT Albert Pujols - there's only ONE of those guys!) but barely exceeding 3 RBIs per HR just doesn't seem like a lot to me. Out of his 309 career HRs, 191 of them have been solo shots (62%) so it isn't like this year's performance (62.5%) is an aberration. I looked up a few other guys and this is what I found:
     Aramis Ramirez - 281 total HRs, 143 solo (51%)
     Sammy Sosa - 609, 326 solo (53.5%)
     Paul Konerko - 356, 212 solo (59.5%)
     David Ortiz - 343, 204 solo (59.5%)
     Carlos Lee - 322, 173 solo (54%)
     Adam Dun - 347, 196 solo (56.5%)
     Adrian Gonzalez - 159, 89 solo (56%)
     Alfonso Soriano - 309, 197 solo (64%)

I swear this is every single player I thought of and didn't leave anyone off the list that didn't help make my point. Paul Konerko has been brought up quite a bit lately as being non-clutch so I threw him in there. I find it interesting that Soriano is the only one with a higher percentage and was the closest to D-Lee's percentage since he was a lead-off hitter for so long.

Similar to how Mike Fontenot (not that there is any other comparison with these two guys) who was traded to the Giants while the Cubs were in San Francisco; D-Lee is traded to the Braves as they come to town this weekend. The Braves are hosting the Washington Nats right now with a game on Thu afternoon (get-away day!), but I doubt they'll have D-Lee fly out there just to turn back around and head back to Chicago right after that game.

So will the Cubs miss D-Lee? Most definitely; particularly rookie Starlin Castro and Aramis Ramirez who take the most advantage of D-Lee's Gold Glove ability to save them several throwing errors. The rest of the team will miss his clubhouse presence (except Carlos Zambrano maybe) and his quiet leadership. To me, it seems like he along with Aramis and Lou have all thrown in the towel already so I'd rather see him move on before passing on those thoughts to the rest of his young teammates.

So who replaces D-Lee at 1B for the next 41 games? I'd LOVE to see Tyler Colvin get a shot as I just don't think the Cubs really have anyone in the minors ready to step in (and don't say "what about Micah Hoffpauir?" because he's had his chance - he hit .239 in 105 games last year and is 0-for-7 with 4 Ks this year). The outfield remains set without Colvin as far as big contracts for 2011 - Soriano ($72 million for 4 more years) in LF, newly signed Marlon Byrd ($12 million for 2 more years) in CF, and Fukudome ($13.5 million for 2011) in RF. Fukudome may eventually be traded next year as he'll be in the last year of his contract, but it will take some time and you'd hate to have that much money sitting on the bench. BUT I have ZERO confidence the Cubs management "brain trust" will think even slightly out of the box so we'll probably see Xavier Nady over there instead...or maybe a combo with Hoffpauir. Now that Lee is gone, will the Cubs pull off the biggest coup EVER and nab The Machine who is a potential free agent and seemingly nearly unsignable by the Cards? If not, what about grabbing Adrian Gonzalez from the cash-stricken Padres?

After Lou ripped the rookie pitchers following Mon's loss, he basically apologized following Tue's loss. If you watched today (Wed) and you were paying attention, you saw 10 rookies play today including 6 pitchers and 4 starters against the NL's best team. What?!? Holy cow! Speaking of Lou, what was the point of Lou wearing his 1977 Yankees World Series ring? His Cubs are now 21 games under .500 and in 5th place in the NL Central 19 1/2 games behind Dusty Baker's Cincinnati Reds. They've already raised the white flag with the Lilly/Theriot trade at the deadline and the rumors were swirling about a potential Lee trade on top of that. So was the 1977 ring a "nah, nah, na-nah, nah - you'll never have one of these" things or what? Just like everything else Lou since last summer, I just don't get it.

Anyway, Good Bye D-Lee...regardless of everything, I wish you well and I'll see you on Sunday as I'm heading back to the Friendly Confines for the 8th time this season (yuck!). I'll be pulling for your Braves in the NL during Bobby Cox' last season but hope the Rangers win it all (I guess not if they have to face the Rays in the playoffs - yikes!).

GO BULLS!!!

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!

Would You Let This Guy Manage Your 8-year Old's Savings Account?

Well, I just can't sit here any longer without blowing my top about this lousy team and the lousy GM that put it together and has done ZERO to do anything about it. How can you get through the trade deadline with all the injuries around the league without doing ANYTHING to alleviate the payroll problem going into next year and beyond. The big move at the deadline was to dump arguably your best starting pitcher in Ted Lilly and starting 2B in Ryan Theriot along with $2.5 million of the $4.3 million owed to Lilly to the Dodgers for Blake DeWitt and a couple minor leaguers. Blake DeWitt does hit left-handed and is nearly 6 years younger than Theriot and the move probably did save the Cubs about $2 million, but the Cubs desperately needed something more than that.

Let's start with the fact that this team is AWFUL - NO OFFENSE, so-so starting pitching, shaky defense at best, and a similar shaky bullpen; the manager retired last August and is just adding to his retirement fund at this point yet no move there either from Jim Hendry. The O's are 6-1 since hiring Buck Showalter; had the Cubs made a move a month or so ago when Lou made it clear he wasn't coming back, maybe Ryne Sandberg could have lit a fire under this team that has not existed since early last year.

Yes, the team has tremendous payroll problems with $140 million in payroll and a 5th place club that is 18 games under .500 with ZERO injuries to blame but lets start with the manager situation. It would seem to me that if Ryne Sandberg were the lock to replace Lou for going into 2011, the Cubs would call him up now at a minimum to sit on the bench and see the team up close rather than starting blind come Spring Training. Alan Trammel is already on the bench; why not send Lou home and give him a shot at managing the team for the next month and a half to see what you may have there even though the way this team is playing may not really be indicative to how either will do in 2011? Since the Cubs haven't done either, it might be because they're doing their typical holding pat and never thinking outside the box or maybe they are holding out for Joe Girardi. Incidentally, I was begging them to pick up Girardi INSTEAD of Grandpa Lou 4 years ago who recently came out saying he really didn't know what he was getting himself into with this job. Joe Torre is in the same position Lou was before coming to Chicago...he's DONE so he's of no interest to me either. I REALLY think it is going to take an ex-Cub to turn this thing around as the rest of the world just doesn't get it. So to me, that leaves Girardi or Sandberg and I think that's the order. If the Yankees do resign Girardi, the Cubs should go with Sandberg in my opinion...they NEED some new, younger blood at the helm of this team...they've tried the experienced guy the last two times with Dusty Baker and Lou Piniella or three times if you throw in Don Baylor; it's time to go in a different direction.

Of course, most everything is going to come down to what the Cubs new ownership does with the GM...will they allow this knucklehead to continue to dump ridiculous amounts of money on middling teams or replace Hendry with some new blood and try to go in a different and fresher direction. Personally, I wouldn't let Jim Hendry manage my 8-year old's savings account let alone $140 million MLB payroll for my $850 million investment. Let's go back to the trade deadline from a couple weeks ago...what the heck happened there Jim? I know D-Lee said he wouldn't go to the Angels, but why not work some magic and do something with Fukudome, Zambrano, Ramirez, Dempster, Soriano, or Silva? There were so many moves to make and the one he did do made ZERO sense to help this team this year or in the future. I just don't get it Jim! Maybe he's on the same retirement plan as Lou started last summer. There's a good young group of players here now, but they can't keep hanging around with this bunch of losers for too long.

But everything you hear and read from Tom Ricketts indicates that Hendry will be back...my question remains WHY?!? What has he done to earn this respect and yet ANOTHER chance? He has been given TONS of money by the Trib and his team has NOTHING to show for it...just one playoff series win in his 9-year tenure and only 3 playoff appearances in a middle market division with a major market payroll. It's time for Jim to go! The sooner the better! Maybe that's why they haven't made a manager move...allowing the new GM to make that decision...hey, a guy can dream can't he???

By the way nothing to do with the Cubs, but I've got two names for Darrelle Revis - Al Harris and Todd Bell. Both of these guys were on the Chicago Bears and held out in 1985 following Pro Bowl seasons and BOTH missed the chance to play for one of the best teams in NFL history and went on to win Super Bowl XX that year. Harris and Bell both came back to the Bears in 1986 but lost their starting spots and the Bears didn't make it back to the Super Bowl for 21 years and obviously neither of those guys were on that team. Do the Jets have the talent without Revis to win the Super Bowl this year? I don't know, but I'd hate to be Revis and find out they are! Plus how do you skip a year in your short NFL career?

Is this THE year or just another "Wait til next year"?

Well, the Cubs did it again last night showing us a new way to lose a game. The bullpen blew ANOTHER chance for Randy Wells to earn his first MLB W. He left with a 5-1 lead in the 8th after giving up an HR to Garret Anderson and E-3 on "gold glove" D-Lee (not fair as this was only his 1st E of the season) as he just whiffed on a low throw from Theriot. Enter Marmol who promptly walks Francoeur on 4 pitches, gets a nice catch by Fukudome on a hard-hit liner to RF and then plunks the .129 hitting Norton to load the bases. Ya .129 so let's start him off with a slider low and in...perfect. He's not done yet...as he walks in a run with .250 hitting Kelly Johnson to get to the middle of the Braves order. A sac fly by Escobar made it 5-3 and then he gets Chipper to ground out to end the inning and the damage. By the way, at this point the Braves had all of TWO HITS and 3 runs.

Moylan throws an 8-pitch inning for the Braves in the 9th to lower his not-so-stellar ERA to 4.82. It started with a horrific "I've never faced an MLB pitcher before EVER" AB by Soto on a 3-pitch strikeout where he guessed wrong on ALL three pitches swinging (if that's what you want to call it) at the last pitch that was 2 feet off the plate outside.

This set the stage for Gregg's second blown save (not sure how that's possible with a Borowski-like ERA of 5.24). It started well enough with a harmless fly out to Soriano (does anyone else HATE that little hop?). The next batter is the key to why I am calling this a new way for the Cubs to lose. On a 1-2 pitch, Gregg throws a nasty slider that Anderson swings over the top of for strike 3 and the second out, but wait...Soto fails to block the ball in the dirt instead letting it get all the way to the wall behind the plate and Anderson reached on a dropped 3rd strike so there's still only one out and a guy on first bringing the tying run to the plate. Prado flies out harmlessly to Reed Johnson in CF for the real second out although the Cubs should be out of the inning with a rare road W.

Now someone needs to explain the Francoeur pitch sequence to me. You've got a guy in Francoeur they once called "The Natural" batting 7th in a not-so-powerful Braves lineup because the rest of MLB figured out he can't hit a breaking ball. He's up there representing the tying run and does have some pop in his bat and Gregor Blanco up next still looking for his first hit of the season. Again, the scouting report says he CANNOT hit a breaking ball. You just struck out Garret Anderson on a nasty slider so what is the pitch sequence to Francoeur? How about 4 straight (and I mean STRAIGHT) 4-seam fastballs measured at 92-93 mph with the last one going out faster than it came in to tie the game with a 2-run HR. Soto wanted low and outside and Gregg threw it belt high on the inner half ending Wells' latest attempt to get his first MLB W despite a sparkling 1.69 ERA. The Braves summary through 9 innings is now 5 runs, 3 hits, and 1 error.

So WHAT was going through Lou's head (I would say "brain" but I'm not sure there's one in there) in the 12th? I have to admit I stopped watching after the 10th, but just looking at MLB Gameday (is this THE BEST applet EVER?!?) I can see what happened. With 1-out, base hit by Escobar who then stole second for his 2nd SB of the season and 9th in his 3-year career. Come on guys! This was big as Chipper singled to LF to win the game for the Braves in the bottom of the 12th and complete the blown 5-run lead with 6 outs to go by the Cubs and probably worst loss of the season to date (there's still a LONG way to go for them to top this though). Anyway, so WHY does Lou pitch to Chipper with 1st base open? McCann was 0-4 for the game regardless of what he had been doing prior to this game so I just don't get it. Why was Soriano so deep in LF that he didn't even attempt a throw to get the winning run out at the plate?

So do I blame Lou for this loss? Fair or not, YES I do. Why pull Randy Wells after merely 83 super efficient pitches? The bullpen has proven time and again they can't hold a lead for this guy so why not let him try to finish it up himself? Would he have pulled him if Lee hadn't whiffed on the Theriot throw? Doubtful so why pull him after the E-3? The 83 pitches marked the LOWEST pitch count this season for Wells who threw 111 in his last start preceeded by 95, 97 and 84 in his three previous outings this season. Next...who is in charge of calling pitches and scouting reports? Why does Francoeur get 4 straight 4-seam fastballs when EVERYONE in MLB or watching at home knows he can't hit a breaking ball? Was Soto calling the game and worried about another wild pitch? Who cares?!? You had a 2-run lead so the guy on base means NOTHING.

Can't you just tell this season just has NO good vibe at all? Prized free-agent (prized by Hendry anyway) left the game with a strained calf in just his 33rd start this season (out of the Cubs 50 games) as it is including a suspension. Theriot, Fontenot, and Fukudome have as many HRs as Bradley and are only 1 behind D-Lee for second on the team with 5 apiece. Zambrano has been hurt and suspended; Aramis apparently nearly lost his arm with as long as he's been out. Soriano leads the team in RBIs from the lead-off spot with Theriot second! In 19 games in the entire month of May, D-Lee drove in 9 runs. Just to put that in some perspective for 1st baseman getting paid what the Cubs pay D-Lee, Pujols had 7 RBIs in ONE GAME back in April.

In conclusion...this is NOT the year! Sorry Cubs fans - "Wait til next year!" AGAIN!

I was going to say...

Well, after watching Lou leave Dempster in too long again I was planning to complain about it again, but now you see Lou's dilemma - the bullpen SUCKS! After playing a great game with a score of 3-2 going into the bottom of the 7th with Micah going deep with a 2-run, 2-out HR (did you see that D-Lee?) to bring the Cubs within a single run, Lou decided to leave Dempster in there even though he was over 110 pitches before the inning started. After getting the lead-off hitter in the 7th, Dempster gave up a bomb to Craig Counsell (ya, that's what I said!) on the first pitch followed by an even bigger bomb by Ryan Braun which went from chasing one run to chasing 3. Then it got REALLY bad as the bullpen was called upon to put out the fire, but all they did was pour gasoline on it instead. Neal Cotts is THE WORST left-handed reliever in the history of the game (well, maybe Jeff Fasero would have something to say about that) as he continues to SUCK against lefties - .308 BA with 6 walks including another one today. Did Lou bring him in to walk the left-handed Prince Fielder to then face the right-handed JJ Hardy? Don't think so, but that's just what he did. That's OK, he's an equal opportunity bad reliever - JJ Hardy stroked a single following the walk to Prince Fielder.

Today's relievers combined for 1 2/3 innings, 7 ERs, including 6 walks. Newly recalled (and hopefully even more newly demoted) Chad Fox (he now has a 135.00 ERA!) joined Cotts with 2 ERs and ZERO innings pitched. Maybe these guys just don't know what the root word "relief" means in reliever because they aren't really relieving anything other than the Cubs' chances of winning the game.

So let's see...today's game combined three of the posts I have done this week. Micah Hoffpauir IS seemingly taking advantage of his opportunity to play in place of the injured D-Lee going 2-5 today with a 2-run HR to move his BA up to .298 and more importantly, bring up his RBIs to 11 (just 4 behind Lee's 15 in just over half the ABs).

Second, was Lou's poor handling of the pitching staff. This one kind of cancelled itself out with the ultra-poor effort by a horrific bullpen, but it was clear to me that Dempster was done after 110 pitches through 6 innings. Lou left him in there as he doesn't trust his pen but after back-to-back jacks, he still had to go to the pen.

Third is Hendry's terrible off-season. Jim, WHERE'S the bullpen? There's one lefty in there which is OK, but not when the lefty we have cannot get lefty's out! Let's hope Freel is going to help even out the bench as DeRosa certainly could have done although he was a late scratch before the game today with a hammy.

The good news is that they are still 3 games over .500 and just 2.5 games behind the Cards as they lost again tonight too. I think the Cubs are finding that the rest of the division isn't just going to bow down and let the Cubs walk away with the division as yes, they're only 2.5 out, but they're in 4th place behind the Cards, Reds, and Brewers. It's too early to panic other than about that bullpen. What are you going to do about it Hendry?

HOW ABOUT THOSE HAWKS?!?