The problems with Cubs baseball
Can you believe the astonishing way that Cubs fans have turned against the organization in the past week? Maybe I'm wrong, and it's just an incredibly vocal minority, but I get the feeling that a lot of fans are fighting mad.
There are a lot of problems with the organization that led things to become like this, but I think it boils down to just a few things.
First and foremost, they came to the conclusion that they could make a lot of money by getting us to start caring about winning. Before, the organization could successfully draw 2.25-2.5 million fans a year, win or lose. Now, they have the second-most expensive tickets in all of baseball, and they've had 3 million paying customers the last few years. (I would bet money that the Cubs make a profit comparable to the Red Sox, and should have a higher payroll than any other NL team, but that is not the point of this article.) So, they got our hopes up.
Second, they started lying to us in order to benefit the bottom line. "Oh no, Mark Prior is fine," they keep telling us every Spring. Then, sometime after tickets have gone on sale, Prior conveniently reveals an injury of some kind that could have - and has had - a drastic effect on the coming season.
Third, and this is a really big one, they keep making the same mistakes and they refuse to apologize for it. Wendell Kim as third base coach was a big mistake. As for the rest of them ... well, a lot of Cubs fans were calling for Dusty and his coaching staff to get the axe back in November, remember? Meanwhile, the Cubs were deliberating when the best time would be to give Dusty and Jim contract extensions.
To me, it really seems like these guys are suffering from head-buried-in-the-sand syndrome, or Krausitis. The more we point out how wrong they are, the angrier they get, and the more determined they become to keep the coaching staff together. This is a mentality that has saturated the entire organization. We can see examples in how the Cubs players handled Chip and Steve in 2004 - rather than acknowledge the baserunning blunders and poor defensive play, they began to complain about the criticism. These days, that criticism has been levied toward Dusty, Jim, and Andy, and so we hear stories about journalists being threatened. Why can't the Cubs just admit that they've screwed up, they've lost the game, and it's time to hit the reset button?
At this point, we can only hope for one particular series of events to occur. Andy is going to have to fire Dusty and the coaches. Jim is going to have to resign. Andy then is going to have to be let go. Our only hope - and at this point, it's a very small one at that - is that the next bunch of guys to take over this organization will be a lot better. But at this point, what track record has the Tribune shown in hiring baseball minds? They like to hire based on reputation, but history has now shown us that reputation is overrated.
I'm not expecting Dusty to be fired any time soon. I do hope that by the time I return at the end of June, it will be to a different ball club. I think that's fair.
Stanly
If it is worth doing at all, it's worth doing it right.
Lou
Ouch! who would have Thunki it! The Detroit Tigers may be back! They are my first love, but I am so bummed about the North Siders! What will the organization do next? Get rid of Wrigley and put the Cubs in a Stale looking ball park where the Upper deck is about 300 feet from the field? Nothing surprises me any more
Lance Dickson's Arm
Speaking of the aforementioned Phailings of the 2002 draft. I apologize for posting this during lucnhtime:
Rd Ovl Name Pos
1 21 Bobby Brownlie P
1 32 Luke Hagerty P
1 36 Chadd Blasko P
1 38 Matt Clanton P
2 56 Brian Dopirak 1B
2 62 Justin Jones P
3 93 Billy Petrick P
3 96 Matt Craig IF
4 112 Rich Hill P
4 123 Alan Rick C
5 153 Shawn Scobee (went unsigned)
6 183 Chris Walker OF
7 213 Joey Monahan IF
8 243 Jason Fransz OF
9 273 Adam Greenberg OF
10 303 Keith Butler OF
11 333 Chris Miller C
12 363 Jason Wylie P
13 393 Micah Hoffpauir RF/1B
14 423 Rocky Cherry
Lance Dickson's Arm
MacPhail has hired two bad GM's. And sure, he was responsible as interim GM for completely squandering all of those high supplemental picks in the infamous 2002 Bobby Brownlie draft. I wouldn't shed one tear if Andrew was shown the door.
But I still don't see any plausible scenario where MacPhail goes, at least not anytime soon. It's too easy for him to simply point the finger down at the colossal failures of Donuts and Dusty if it reaches the point that corporates ever get so sick of the situation that they demand sweeping change. Let's face it...the fan base would accept that move, and feel better (temporarily).
Here's what Andy has going for him. There isn't a massive financial failure (yet), which to the Tribsters is his #1 job. And he JUST secured them 1,800 more overpriced bleacher seats occupied by folks who tend buy a lot of $5 beers many hours before the game starts. It's difficult to overlook that recent "corporate victory" in his back pocket. MacPhail also makes a ton himself, and the Tribune can't afford another parachute right now. Hell, they can barely afford to keep their newspapers operating.
The other thing when it comes to GM's being relieved, is that they are "cheap" (well, relatively speaking)...so I don't think Hendry's 2-year extension means quite as much as it would in the case of a field manager. They fire a field manager with 2-years left...he heads for AZ and plays golf. Whereas Hendry could simply be demoted at any point. The Cubs would easily have the ability to reassign Hendry in a scouting/development capacity, and still get something for their buck...which as we saw with Lynch and Himes, they have the historical tendency to do when terminating GM's.
Chip Wesley
"My only hope is the Big Lebowski kills me before the nihilists can cut off my johnson."
As far as this season is concerned that's how I feel. There's no winning situation here. I'm for purging the staff but this summer is just gonna be brutal regardless of what happens.
And how much longer do we have to listen to Dusty site the 2005 Astros as a reason why "It ain't over yet"? The Astros last year were an incredible exception to the rule, plus they had guys that could hit/play defense, you know, that fundamental crap we seem to just gloss over.
Foster Linn
Houston, Texas – Less than twenty four hours after jurors found Enron executives, Ken Lay and Jeffery Skilling guilty, prosecutors at the Dirksen Federal Building were submitting briefs towards their goal of ultimately indicting key Chicago Cubs’ personnel, Andy MacPhail and Jim Hendry, as well as coach, Dusty Baker.
An unnamed source revealed that among the plethora of charges that are expected to be handed down include: defrauding fans, deceit, improper use of Tribune Company assets, willful intent to bankrupt the team, perjury, and operating a baseball franchise without the proper credentials.
“Despite their pleas, that things will turn around and get better, these men simply cannot be trusted to be at the helm of one of this city’s finest institutions. They are involved in one of the egregious white collar scam in this prosecutor’s recent memory. They have squandered away and misused untold corporate assets, and ruined the lives of millions of people. The damage that has been done under their tenure can never be repaired.�
Calls made to the Chicago Cubs clubhouse were not immediately returned.
Mike D.
Oh, and happy trails in Europe, Kurt. It's almost not fair that you'll be so easily able to escape this crap. We're all ignoring them a lot more these days, but it'll be easier for you to do so while over there.
Mike D.
How 'bout this--Tribune fires MacPhail and Dusty but not Donuts. They bring Hendry into the office and tell him "Make the World Series this season and you get to keep your job and the deliriously-awarded 2-year extension. Miss the World Series, and you're gone. We'll let you spend another $40 million to do it".
Technically, the season's salvagable, but only if you remove the rotted wood that is Andy MacPhail's head. Keep the box of donuts in front of Hendry and see if he wants to go for broke. What would he have to lose but the loyalty of McSweatervest? If he quit instead as a show of solidarity, he'd be walking away from all that dough. If he stays with incentive to win, then maybe something good could still come out of this season.
I know I'm grasping at straws, but desperate times...