does a coach matter?  does he make a good team better, a bad team good, and simply babysit a great team?  Or is he a human relations guy, who's job is to put out fires, create line-ups, and do a few other jobs.  It is a difficult dilemma.  If we believe that a good coach matters then we have to determine if we feel that Lou is doing a good job.  If a coach does not matter then fire Lou and see if a different guy doing the human relations thing can motivate the boys.  Trouble is that there are examples of both options being a viable option.  The Bulls of the 90's under the zen master himself are a great example.  Phil merely steadied the ship while Michael and the crew went out and destroyed the rest of the NBA.  On the other hand, look at the job both of the coaches in LA are doing.  Joe Tore turned the Dodgers into a serious team that finds ways to win.  And Mike Sosha is a witch at making the absolute most out of what he is given every year.  There is also the case of Dusty a.k.a. wrist bands Baker who took a good team and a potential pitching staff to rival the Braves of the 90's and ran them both into the ground with approaches like "don't clog the bases with walks", or "pitch counts? we don't need no stinking pitch counts".                                                                                                                                                                                                                 The question here is, what should we do with Lou?  He is a manager who has a history of mismanaging bullpens (though that is a complant of many good managers), but he also has had great success.  Should we look to Colorado?  Many would say that Clent Hurdle wasn't the problem, however the turnaround is beyond question and more than a simple bump in 2 or 3 wins.  I don't think that anyone is prepared to say that Jim Tracy is that kind of genious as a manager.  How about the Marlins of 2003.  They fired a good coach and brought in a washed up has-been to keep the seat warm while they found a manager for the next season.  What happened, well they broke all of our collective hearts.                                                                                                                                                    I don't have a real answer, but here's a thought that has been kicking around in my mind.  Fire Lou and bring up Ryno.  Let's see if he's ready for prime time or if he needs a bit more seasoning.  You could give him the dreaded "interum" tag and say it's only until the season is over, but at least the rest of the season isn't a complete waist.  And who knows, maybe the team would respond to a no nonsense friggin' Hall of Famer and put together an improbable run of theirown.  Either way, cub fans would understand what was going on and we could sit back and watch the season with fresh eyes. 

Alright, I didn't actually see the game today as the Gay Pride Parade conflicted, but I'm pretty sure there's nothing to say about a 6-0 loss.  If any other Riders would like to add to this "recap", feel free.  Instead of a classic recap, I thought I'd pass along some stat fun.

The Cubs offense has been bad.  Real bad.  And, of course, this is
nothing new to our loyal readers, but I thought I'd just throw out a
few numbers to highlight the tremendous badness of the Cubs' offense. 
Why do I do this?  Most likely because I hate our readers and want them
to suffer.  Or, at least, that my current working theory.  Anyway,
here's a list of notable figures:

• Abraham Lincoln
• Joe Cocker
• 3.14159...

Hmm, not as elucidating as I had hoped.  Sorry about that.  Let's try a list of stats generated by the woeful Cubs' offense:

• The Cubs have exactly two starters with OPS's above average: Lee
  and Fukudome. Yes, despite all Fukudome's efforts to destroy his
  leading performance indicators, he still has been above average for
  the season.  Everyone else?  Below average.  And if you take out
  Theriot (OPS+ of 97), nobody's within 10% of league average
• Of the Cubs non-starters, only Jake Fox, Reed Johnson and...Bobby
  Scales have been above average.  That's one guy who's been up for a
  week, one guy who's on the DL, and one guy who's performing for
  farmers.  Aaron Miles?  He has an OPS+ of 30.  30.  Thirty. 
  Thiiiiiirrrrrtttty.  Hey Aaron, the suck store called and they're
  running out of you.
• But that's okay, because Ryan Freel's their all time best seller
  with an OPS+ of -22.  NEGATIVE TWENTY TWO.  I don't even understand
  these numbers but I'm pretty sure that translates to a VORP of GO HOME.
• Ted Lilly has hit better than Ryan Freel.
• Honestly, so have I.

Get well, Aramis.  You are missed.  A lot.

So there's your recap.  If anyone else who like to share their favorite The Cubs' Offense Sucks moment, feel free to chime in.

I met Jim Hendry once a few years back. I was shadowing a Sun-Times reporter for the day and was able to hang out in the Cubs dugout for a little while during batting practice. While sitting on the bench next to Jacque Jones, Hendry sat down on my other side and we started to make small talk. It was nice of him to give a young journalism student 10 minutes of his time to just shoot the breeze about whatever. Among other things, we talked about Park Ridge (where we both live) and high school football. It was nice and he was nice.

Unfortunately nice isn’t enough anymore. Especially when it comes to the GM of the Chicago Cubs.

Before the 2009 season started, lots of fans were excited at the idea of having Mark Cuban own the Cubs because we knew he was a passionate owner who would spare no expense in winning a championship. Now 70 games into the season, we’re all screaming for manager Lou Piniella to show some fire and get this team motivated.

But we are looking for passion and fire in the wrong place. We need it in our general manager.

We need a GM who doesn’t just want to win, but needs to win. We need a guy with a competitive fury that rivals that of the players on the field. We need a GM who will rip the competitions’ head off and defecate down their necks without thinking twice.

Not too long ago I read “Moneyball” by Michael Lewis and the type of psychotic behavior displayed by Oakland GM Billy Beane is the exact attitude I want my GM to have. This dude is throwing chairs through walls, telling people to eff off, and putting up 300 lbs. on the bench press during games. He is completely obsessed. All he wants to do is win. That’s what I want my GM to do.

Then I look at guys like White Sox GM Kenny Williams. Is he the smartest guy in the world? No. Does he have the biggest budget in baseball? No. But the guy makes moves that count and when he hits, he hits hard. Say what you will about Kenny, but he doesn’t believe in rebuilding and always does something that opens some eyes.

Or how about Cardinals GM John Mozeliak who not only got one of the best hitters on the trading block right now, but simultaneously gave Cubs nation a big “FU” at the same time.

Where’s our statement trade? Where’s our “FU” to our rivals?

For those of you who want to defend Hendry for not having the financial freedom to do anything because of the Cubs ownership issues, let me say that I only see this handcuffing as yet another reason to get rid of Hendry. If the Cubs can’t do anything to their roster and if Piniella’s job is safe, then there is only one move that we can/must do: Fire Hendry. We have no other options.

Jim, I like you and you’ve been a decent GM who has tried to make significant moves. Unfortunately you have come up empty over the past few years. Dems the breaks fella. Nice guys finish last today.

Lou Pinella admitted that he smoked pot.  Once.  

No big deal really, as a lot of people have tried it.  I did too in college...wasn't a fan.

But what cracks me up is that back when Sammy was linked to have tested positive for PED's back in 2003, which means steroids, Pinella said the following:  "I wouldn't know the difference between a reefer and a steroid."

Well, technically, since Lou has now admitted that he knew what a reefer is, shouldn't he know the difference between a reefer and a steroid?

When he said that comment last week, I told a friend, jokingly, that Lou had better not have tried pot, otherwise some smart aleck might bring this up one day.  I just didn't know I would be that smart aleck  ;)

Let's face it Cub's fans this season has been a disappointment thus far. There is a good chance the Cubs may need more than Aramis to get out of this funk. After last season, I thought the Cubs needed to add some pieces to prove they truly deserved the title of World Series contender.                                                   

Their most tradable player was Mark DeRosa. There was a huge belief that he peaked and it was very unlikely that he would not match last year's output. I agreed with that belief. A player who never hit more than 13 home runs in the season and before the age of 30 didn't hit double digit home runs in his career was probably would not to have season that matched '08. In hindsight, the reason why they traded DeRosa made some sense. The Cubbies also dumped Jason Marquis (somehow one of the leaders in wins.) Chicago was trying to gain the pieces to trade for Peavy. Given Zambrano's emotional and recent physical issues, it was understood that Hendry felt the Cubs needed a true ace. 

Another incredibly more important issue Hendry had to answer was the Cubs need for another bat.  His belief that the Cubs lineup was too right handed bought in Aaron Miles and the infamous Milton Bradley. Here is where things go really interested. In addition to these acquisitions, the Cubs let go of Jim Edmonds, Daryle Ward, and Hank White. Jim Edmonds was crucial for the Cubs last season. He had two clutch home runs against his former team; the hated St. Louis Cardinals. He also brought a number of exciting catches with him. However, he was at the end of the road, and there was no way the Cubs were going to resign him. Daryle Ward had a number clutch hits, but Micah Hoffpauir and Jake Fox more than replaced him. Henry Blanco on the other hand was the only man in history who could pull of a feathered mullet and tattoos. He was Big Z’s countryman. He gave guidance to Carlos. Unfortunately, he would have asked more money than the Cubs were willing to give him.

Essentially, Milton Bradley or “board game was brought into replace DeRosa’s bat in the lineup. Ideally, Fontenot would have replaced Edmonds production. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Fontenot instead of living up to the nickname of “Little Babe Ruth” has turned into “Mini Mickey Morandini” (or Mini Morandini for short). Kosuke Fukudome was expected to be much better than last year. So far, his fall has come sooner than last season. Based on last season, Milton Bradley was a great acquisition. He put up great numbers in Texas. He lead the AL in on base percentage and OPS. He even lead the majors in OPS+ which takes ballpark into consideration. One problem with Bradley was that he played more than 120 games in season only twice in nine seasons. Everyone knew about Milton being a head case. This season has only given further proof of his jackassery. In Zambrano’s own words, Milton is the living embodiment of a “screw.” Worst of all, this season he really stinks. To put things in perspective, Scott Podsednik was taken off the trash heap and he has a higher batting average, more RBIs, and only two less home runs. This is while playing fewer games than “Board Game”. I realize this is beating a dead horse, but if he played better we would probably forgive his idiocy.

Now, it is unfair to blame all of the Cubs problems on Milton and Hendry, but they have to take a huge chunk of the blame. The assumption was that the combo Bradley and Fontenot would make up 40 home runs and 136 RBIs. Fukudome was asked to bat 40 points higher than last season and produce more runs. Neither of these has happened. In my opinion only Fukudome’s hitting was the only thing that could be expected. One can say that the loss of Aramis was huge. Yes, his injury was huge loss, but it did not cause Soto bat around .220, it didn’t cause Fontenot to resemble former Cub Mickey Morandini. Soriano is a hacker that rarely thinks about pitches, so how would Aramis’ presence made any difference in his performance?

At the beginning of the season, I felt the Cubs would win 88 games and win the division. Hendry really didn’t improve the team. In fact, the team has taken a step back talent wise.

Sure, Edmonds was old and on a downslide, but it would have made more sense to find someone who could play in right field who could replace his power numbers. Everyone and their dog knew there was no way the Cubs could do anything but continue to play Fukudome. They had no choice but to platoon him with Reed Johnson.

Last season, there were a number of wins by the Cubs where they had problems against the starter but were able to light up the other teams relievers. That is what we saw against the Indians. This season starters have gone further against the Cubs. This team needed another bat, not a replacement for DeRosa. If Bradley was supposed to be a left-handed replacement for DeRosa, then he was a clearly more expensive one. If they wanted another leftie in the lineup, they could have started Fontenot and still moved DeRosa to right field. That would have been a cheaper alternative for the same result. You don’t have to overburden your lineup with lefties if they are mediocre or bad. The Phillies’ lineup is an anomaly. There is no point trying to emulate the Philadelphia lineup. The Cubs were a good team. Still, I wanted to see the Cubs sign either Ibanez or Abreu(I was leaning towards Abreu). If Hendry had more patience, he would have be able to snag either for a decent cost, but here we are overpaying for crap the next few years.

...was clearly when the Cubs traded Mark DeRosa for Milton Bradley.  I won't listen to any arguments regarding this.  If you disagree with me, then maybe you should try reading more blogs because you're an idiot.

•  Fact: the Cubs are BELOW .500 this year and last year they were ABOVE .500.
• Fact: In yesterday's game, Marmol's eye's wandered to the Cubs dugout in search of his scruffy leader.  But there was no DeRosa.  Marmol proceeded to cough up the lead.
• Fact: Bradley did not catch the double that lead to the winning run scoring.  GEE, I wonder if it would have helped to have DeRosa in right field.

What can never be replaced is a winner, and DeRosa has always been a winner when he played on the Braves and the Cubs.  Bradley has ONLY ever been a winner when he played with the Dodgers and Oakland.  And that's a FACT. 

And another FACT is that the Cubs didn't have any of these clubhouse chemistry issues when DeRosa was on the team, other than the first half of 2007 when Zambrano punched his catcher.  Yep, THAT'S RIGHT, it only took DeRosa HALF A SEASON to fix all the Cubs clubhouse problems.  It has taken Bradley only half a season to RUIN the Cubs great chemistry.  THANKS A LOT, Bradley.

And now, because the Cubs traded DeRosa for this loser Bradley, Soriano, Soto, and Fontenot are ALL struggling.  NOBODY can hit.  You'd have a hard time playing too if you lost your best teammate and the soul of your team.  

And now the Cardinals have taken away our only chance at redeeming this season.  I couldn't feel any worse if they had acquired DeRosa's closed comparable player, Mike Lamb.  Or, god forbid, Gabe Kaplar.  Yes, I kid you not.  DeRosa is THAT GOOD.  He's Mike Lamb IN HIS PRIME.  Unbelievable.

And we have Milton Bradley.  Milton Bradley, he of an OPS 74 points lower than Mark DeRosa and a heart 74 times smaller.  

Simply a massive fail, Mr. Hendry.  A massive fail.