Cubs - R.I.P.
As a good blogger, I thought I would do some research and catch up on some baseball reading. Peter Gammons managed to blame low attendance for the Cleveland Indians on George W. Bush using only the logic a sportswriter and John Kerry could love. He then went on to mention Len Kasper and Bob Brenly as one of the top 3 broadcasting teams. I honestly don't know when Peter Gammons started doing meth...
As I write this, it looks as if the Cubs will finally snap their 8 game losing streak. Excuse me while a stifle a yawn as the Cubbies crawl within 3 games of .500, 8 games of the wild card, and within oblivion of the Cardinals. Just a wee bit too late. There are many problems with the Cubs and Jim Hendry attempted to address two of them last night.
Corey Patterson, who is in his 4 consecutive major league year was sent down to Iowa last night along with first year pro Jason Dubois. Patterson's dismissal was of his own making. A .270 OBP just doesn't cut it in the bigs, even if you are clearing a near $3M paycheck. This is probably the end of the Patterson era and we can expect the Cardinals or Braves to pick him up next year and watch him become the next Lou Brock there, because he is done in Chicago.
Jason Dubois was the victim of bad management. Dusty decided he would rather turn career journeyman Todd Hollandsworth into a starter than nurture the Cubs best power prospect since... :-( rafeal palmeiro??? that can't be right, can it?). Anyway, most major league starters have gotten 300+ AB at this point. Dubois has 142. His OBP is a measly .289 - yet his SLG is an amazing .472! Imagine if the kid actually got a chance to get some AB's and push his Avg from the .230's to the .260's. He would easily have an OPS challenging .900.
But the Cubs have other issues. For one, they were robbed blind in the Rule 5 of the big lefty Andy Sisco who is now anchoring the Royals bullpen. The bullpen has been in shambles all year, the starting rotation has had the endurance of a 7-year old school girl, and Nomar went about 3 minutes before his groin fell off.
Now the hopes of the Cubs lie with a couple of young outfielders named Pie and Murton.
But there is another... hope that is. And that is the canning of Dusty Baker. He still has a year and a half on his contract. He is clueless when it comes to managing a bullpen. He somehow managed to turn Latroy Hawkins sucking and summer day games into national race baiting issues worthy of the late great Johny Cochrane. Forget about him making a reasonable decision concerning batting strategy or base runners. And when it comes to bringing along young players with promise, uh-uh. Somehow all those development at-bats end up with guys like Tom Goodwin and Jose Macias.
But then maybe that's why Hendry sent down Dubois - to protect him from Dusty till he gets canned.
Cubs Win! 9-6. Disregard the previous.
As I write this, it looks as if the Cubs will finally snap their 8 game losing streak. Excuse me while a stifle a yawn as the Cubbies crawl within 3 games of .500, 8 games of the wild card, and within oblivion of the Cardinals. Just a wee bit too late. There are many problems with the Cubs and Jim Hendry attempted to address two of them last night.
Corey Patterson, who is in his 4 consecutive major league year was sent down to Iowa last night along with first year pro Jason Dubois. Patterson's dismissal was of his own making. A .270 OBP just doesn't cut it in the bigs, even if you are clearing a near $3M paycheck. This is probably the end of the Patterson era and we can expect the Cardinals or Braves to pick him up next year and watch him become the next Lou Brock there, because he is done in Chicago.
Jason Dubois was the victim of bad management. Dusty decided he would rather turn career journeyman Todd Hollandsworth into a starter than nurture the Cubs best power prospect since... :-( rafeal palmeiro??? that can't be right, can it?). Anyway, most major league starters have gotten 300+ AB at this point. Dubois has 142. His OBP is a measly .289 - yet his SLG is an amazing .472! Imagine if the kid actually got a chance to get some AB's and push his Avg from the .230's to the .260's. He would easily have an OPS challenging .900.
But the Cubs have other issues. For one, they were robbed blind in the Rule 5 of the big lefty Andy Sisco who is now anchoring the Royals bullpen. The bullpen has been in shambles all year, the starting rotation has had the endurance of a 7-year old school girl, and Nomar went about 3 minutes before his groin fell off.
Now the hopes of the Cubs lie with a couple of young outfielders named Pie and Murton.
But there is another... hope that is. And that is the canning of Dusty Baker. He still has a year and a half on his contract. He is clueless when it comes to managing a bullpen. He somehow managed to turn Latroy Hawkins sucking and summer day games into national race baiting issues worthy of the late great Johny Cochrane. Forget about him making a reasonable decision concerning batting strategy or base runners. And when it comes to bringing along young players with promise, uh-uh. Somehow all those development at-bats end up with guys like Tom Goodwin and Jose Macias.
But then maybe that's why Hendry sent down Dubois - to protect him from Dusty till he gets canned.
Cubs Win! 9-6. Disregard the previous.
posted by Bill Gilles | 7:35 PM
2 Comments:
"as a good blogger..."
I hate to tell you this Bill, but that's still up for debate.
I'm still trying to discern what makes a "good" blogger. Was the guy that kidnapped the kid from Idaho a "good" blogger?
That'll generate a comment or two!
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